About Morrill
Morrill is a village in Scotts Bluff County, in Nebraska's western panhandle. U.S. Highway 26 runs east and west through the village. Morrill covers about 0.61 square miles at an elevation near 3,990 feet, and keeps Mountain time. The 2020 census counted 934 residents, up from 921 in 2010.
History
Settlers from Fort Collins, Colorado, reached the valley at the mouth of the Sheep Creek draw in 1886 and named their settlement Collins after their former home. A sod schoolhouse was built there in 1889. When the Burlington Railroad came through in 1900, the settlement moved to the present townsite a short distance away. The village was incorporated in April 1907.
The name
Morrill takes its name from Charles Henry Morrill, president of the Lincoln Land Company, who had the new townsite surveyed and platted after learning the railroad planned a depot and station there.
Water and farming
Early settlers hand-dredged an eight-mile irrigation canal, working with hand tools and horses, to bring water to the valley through drought years. Irrigated row crops followed, among them sugar beets, potatoes and beans.
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Business & Economic Categories
Morrill began as a settlement called Collins, founded in 1886 by settlers from Fort Collins, Colorado, about a mile north of the present townsite. Anticipating the Burlington Railroad's arrival, the town relocated south in the early 1900s and was replatted as Morrill, named for Charles Henry Morrill, president of the Lincoln Land Company — a different man from Justin Morrill, the U.S. Senator for whom Nebraska's separate Morrill County is named.
Incorporated as a village in 1907, Morrill had a 2020 population of 934, roughly stable over the past two decades. U.S. Highway 26 runs directly through the village.
Navigate & Explore Morrill
Get directions: search "Morrill Nebraska" in Waze or Google Maps
Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
Scotts Bluff County Cameras: View Scotts Bluff County cameras