Elk City Nebraska

Former village · Douglas County · post office 1857–1966 (Elkhorn City until 1884)

About Elk City

Elk City is a former village in Elkhorn Precinct, northwestern Douglas County, about 5.6 miles west of Bennington and 6 miles northeast of Valley. Its cemetery remains. The location shown is estimated from the cemetery's legal description.

History

This was the original Elkhorn City, chartered by an act of the territorial legislature on January 22, 1856; its post office opened as Elkhorn City in 1857. In 1884 the names were exchanged: the Union Pacific station town to the south took the name Elkhorn, and the older town became Elk City. The post office ran until 1966. No railroad reached the town.

In 1890 Elk City had about 70 people, a hotel, a blacksmith, a meat market and the Culp & Turner general store, with H. Culp as postmaster; Methodist Episcopal and Free Methodist churches were active in the 1880s and 1890s. The Elk City School was built in 1931. The Elk City Cemetery was platted in 1882 and incorporated in 1885; its earliest recorded burial is from 1880. The older Elkhorn City (Britton) Cemetery, deeded in 1871, is on private land.

Things to see

Elk City Cemetery, 4 acres in section 10 of Elkhorn Precinct · King Lake, about 4 mi south-southwest · Elkhorn Crossing Recreation Area on the Elkhorn River