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Town Overview
North Loup is a village of 254 people in southeastern Valley County, named for the river in whose valley it sits. Its founding is unusual for Nebraska: a party of Seventh Day Baptists from Wisconsin scouted the valley in 1871 and established a colony here in May 1872. A post office and general store followed in 1873, and the village was formally organized in 1877.
The Union Pacific reached North Loup in 1882 and set off a four-year boom that doubled the population to about 200 before it ran out in 1886. The village has drifted down since — 339 residents in 2000, 297 in 2010, 254 in 2020 — across 0.41 square miles.
On 12 June 2010 the privately owned Bredthauer Dam upstream failed, sending water eight inches deep down Main Street and forcing the village to evacuate.
Adjacent Counties & Nearby Towns
Valley County takes its name from the land lying between the North Loup and Middle Loup rivers. It covers 570 square miles of rolling hills and river bottom, had 4,059 residents in 2020 and is classed as entirely rural. It borders Garfield County to the north, Wheeler County to the northeast, Greeley County to the east, Sherman County to the south and Custer County to the west.
Nearest towns. Scotia is the closest, about 4 miles east-southeast, and shares a school district with North Loup. Ord, the county seat, is about 11 miles northwest. Greeley lies about 13 miles east-northeast, Elyria about 15 miles north-northwest, Loup City about 18 miles southwest and Arcadia about 19 miles west-southwest. Grand Island is roughly 45 miles south-southeast. Distances given here are straight-line measurements.
Points of Interest & Events
Popcorn Days — North Loup's claim to fame, and a real one: first held in 1901, it is Nebraska's longest continuously running festival. The origin is agricultural. Drought through the 1890s pushed valley farmers to experiment with crops that could stand dry years, and popcorn turned out to suit the sandy Loup valley soil well enough that the area came to bill itself as Popcorn County USA. The celebration runs over three days each August and includes what organisers describe as the area's largest parade, plus a juvenile parade, turtle races, team penning and sorting, a men's slow-pitch softball tournament, sand volleyball, kids' games and a carnival. It is run on volunteers and local donations.
The North Loup River runs past the village and gives it its name. This stretch of the valley is quiet, shallow and sand-bottomed — the same river that draws swimmers and tubers to Anderson Island upstream at Ord.
North Loup has no businesses listed in this directory yet. If you run one here, it belongs in the listings above.
Education & Health
Schools. There is no school building in North Loup today. The village is part of Central Valley Public Schools, a district spanning Greeley, Howard, Nance, Sherman and Valley counties with roughly 339 students across three buildings; its teams are the Cougars. Central Valley Elementary is at 303 N. Indian Street in Scotia, about 4 miles east-southeast, with the high school at Greeley. The former North Loup Scotia Middle School building in Scotia closed in 2015.
Health care. The nearest hospital is Valley County Health System's 16-bed critical access hospital at 2707 L Street in Ord, about 11 miles northwest, which also runs the area's clinics, rehabilitation services, home health and hospice, and the ambulance service.
Highway Access
North Loup sits at a genuine crossroads. Nebraska Highway 11 and Nebraska Highway 22 meet here and run concurrently for about two miles through the village.
NE-11 is the Loup Rivers Scenic Byway, a 175-mile route from Wood River to Dunning that follows the Loup valleys north-west through Scotia, Ord, Elyria and Burwell into the Sandhills. NE-22 runs east from its western terminus at Nebraska Highway 70 south of Ord, through North Loup and Scotia and on past Wolbach, Fullerton, Genoa and Monroe to U.S. Route 81 near Columbus.
There is no interstate nearby; Interstate 80 is reached via NE-11 south through Elba and Cairo to Wood River, about 45 miles away. The Union Pacific line that built the town in 1882 still runs beside it, freight only.
North Loup is a village of 254 in southeastern Valley County, founded in May 1872 by Seventh Day Baptist colonists from Wisconsin and organised in 1877. It sits where Nebraska Highways 11 and 22 meet, on the Loup Rivers Scenic Byway. Its Popcorn Days celebration, first held in 1901 after drought pushed valley farmers into popcorn, is Nebraska's longest continuously running festival and still fills the village every August.
Navigate & Explore North Loup
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Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
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