Valparaiso is a village in Saunders County whose name comes from a Spanish phrase meaning vale of paradise. A 1925 survey of Nebraska place names credits the Johnson family, who settled in the vicinity in 1866 and thought the valley deserved the title; the settlement had first been called Raccoon Forks. The village was incorporated in 1880, and the 2020 census counted 595 residents.
The Oak Creek Trail starts here and runs twelve miles to Brainard on crushed limestone, with a natural surface equestrian trail running alongside it the whole way and trailer parking at the Valparaiso trailhead. The Lower Platte South Natural Resources District owns and maintains the corridor, which passes through oak woodland and highland vistas, and more than a hundred registered geocaches are hidden along the route.
In town there is a square with a gazebo, ball diamonds that host games and tournaments through the summer, horseshoe pits, two small parks and a five hole golf course. The rolling country around the village is known as the Bohemian Alps, a nickname left behind by the Czech families who settled this part of eastern Nebraska.
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Valparaiso's early history is only loosely documented — the site first appears on an 1863 map, with no confirmed platting story surviving — but the town was incorporated in 1880. Its name is Spanish for “vale of paradise.”
With a 2020 population of 595 spread across just over half a square mile, Valparaiso reported a median household income of $39,444 and a poverty rate of only 4.2% as of the 2000 Census.
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Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
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