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Sutherland is a village in western Lincoln County, on the north side of the Platte valley where the Lincoln Highway and the Union Pacific main line run side by side. It was platted in 1891, after the Union Pacific Railroad had been built through the settlement, and the railroad has shaped the town ever since.
The village counted 1,313 residents at the 2020 census, up from 1,286 in 2010 — one of the few small Lincoln County communities to have grown over that decade. Sutherland Reservoir, a lake of more than 3,000 acres, lies just south of town and gives the village an outdoor draw well out of proportion to its size.
Adjacent Counties & Nearby Towns
Sutherland sits in Lincoln County, which borders McPherson County to the northwest, Logan County to the northeast, Custer County and Dawson County to the east, Frontier County to the southeast, Hayes County to the southwest, and Perkins County and Keith County to the west.
In Lincoln County: Hershey lies about 7 miles east; North Platte, the county seat, about 19 miles east; Wallace about 22 miles south; Maxwell about 32 miles east; Wellfleet about 34 miles southeast; and Brady about 41 miles east-southeast.
Beyond the county line: Keith County adjoins to the west, with Paxton about 12 miles west and Ogallala about 31 miles west along the Interstate 80 and U.S. Highway 30 corridor. Distances given here are straight-line rather than driving distances.
Points of Interest & Events
Fourth of July Rodeo. Sutherland’s NSRA-sanctioned rodeo is traditionally held on 3 and 4 July, with slack the evening of the 2nd — the village’s biggest weekend of the year.
Sutherland Reservoir and State Recreation Area. The reservoir covers more than 3,000 acres just south of town and offers fishing, boating, swimming and birding. The adjoining state recreation area takes in the lake plus roughly 37 acres of wilderness with three public access areas.
Sutherland Oregon Trail Golf Course is a nine-hole course on the north shore of the reservoir, (308) 386-4653.
Parks and recreation. Pool Park on the west edge of town has an outdoor pool, playground and softball complex; the Union Pacific Railroad Park south of the Lincoln Highway offers a shelter, playground, barbecue grill, picnic tables and horseshoe pits; and the Flat Rock Riders Off-Highway Vehicle Park covers 15 acres about four miles south of town.
Maxine White Memorial Library, founded in 1905, holds about 11,000 volumes and offers inter-library loan.
Steam on the main line. Union Pacific runs its historic steam locomotives past downtown Sutherland roughly three times a year, and the village reports that several hundred people pull to the side of the road to watch. Birdwood Creek, a major Sandhills stream, drains into the North Platte River nearby.
Education & Health
Sutherland Public Schools, 401 Walnut Street, (308) 386-4656, serves the village from elementary through high school as home of the Sailors.
Health care. Sutherland has no hospital of its own; the nearest full-service facility is Great Plains Health in North Platte, about 19 miles east, which operates the region’s emergency department.
Notable resident. Major-league outfielder Cliff Mapes was born in Sutherland on 13 March 1922. He played for the New York Yankees from 1948 to 1951, then the St. Louis Browns and the Detroit Tigers. He is chiefly remembered as the Yankee who wore both Babe Ruth’s number 3 — until it was retired in Ruth’s honour — and, after a spell in number 13, the number 7 that Mickey Mantle took over when Mapes was traded in 1951.
Highway Access
U.S. Highway 30 — the Lincoln Highway — runs east and west through Sutherland alongside the Union Pacific main line, one of the busiest freight railroads in the United States.
Interstate 80 passes just south of the village, placing Sutherland minutes from the interstate. Eastbound it is about 19 miles to North Platte; westbound about 31 miles to Ogallala.
Sutherland is a village of 1,313 in western Lincoln County, platted in 1891 when the Union Pacific was built through. It sits on U.S. Highway 30 beside the railroad, just north of the 3,000-acre Sutherland Reservoir, and holds an NSRA rodeo every Fourth of July.
Navigate & Explore Sutherland
Get directions to Sutherland: Waze → · Google Maps → · Apple Maps →
Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
Cameras: View Lincoln County Cameras →
Travel Corridor: US-30 Corridor →