Beatrice City Hall is the municipal office for Beatrice, Nebraska, at 400 Ella Street. Beatrice is the county seat of Gage County, population 12,261, Nebraska's 15th most populous city. Founded 1857 and named for Julia Beatrice Kinney, daughter of one of the founders. The city runs its own electric utility as well as water and sewer, garbage and recycling and a municipal landfill. Other departments include Police, Fire and Rescue, Parks and Recreation, the public library, Engineering, and Planning and Zoning. Homestead National Historical Park, on Daniel Freeman's 1863 claim and the site of one of the first claims filed under the Homestead Act, is just west of town. The Beatrice Creamery Company, founded here in 1894, grew into the Beatrice Foods conglomerate.