Deshler, Thayer County's second city (after Hebron), was founded in 1887 with the arrival of the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad and named for town-site owner John G. Deshler. Once touted as a regional industrial hub, the town today centers on its historic opera house and small-town agricultural economy.

Deshler's 2020 population of 739 reflects the gradual contraction common to small Nebraska railroad towns, but it remains one of Thayer County's two incorporated cities and a steady community anchor in the county's southeast.