DeWitty Nebraska

Former Black homestead settlement · Cherry County · about 1907–1936

About DeWitty

DeWitty, later called Audacious, was a settlement of Black homesteaders strung along the North Loup River in southern Cherry County, about 10 miles northwest of Brownlee. No buildings remain. The DeWitty Cemetery, with a few graves still visible, is on private land. The DeWitty historical marker, dedicated in 2016 on US 83 south of Brownlee Road, now stands at the Cherry County Historical Society Museum in Valentine. Brownlee Road is one lane and not suited to large RVs.

History

Black families began filing claims here about 1907 under the 1904 Kinkaid Act, which allowed 640-acre homesteads in the Sandhills. Some were former slaves who had fled to Canada before the Civil War, and their descendants. The 1910 census counted 82 Black residents, and occupied homesteads peaked in 1914; at its height the settlement had about 150 people. Miles DeWitty kept the store and opened the post office in 1912; it was renamed Audacious in 1916 and moved to Gard in 1918. St. James AME Church was built in 1910, three rural schools served the children, and the North Loup Sluggers baseball team played neighboring towns. DeWitty and Brownlee held joint Fourth of July rodeos and picnics. A square mile was too little for ranching and poor for farming, and drought and low prices after 1921 and in the 1930s drove families out; the last Black resident left in 1936, and the last parcel owned by a descendant was sold in 1993. Ava Speese Day told her family's story in Sod House Memories.

Things to see

the DeWitty marker at the Cherry County Historical Society Museum, Valentine · the DeWitty Cemetery (private land) · the Twin Bridge over the North Loup, about 3 miles away