Arago Nebraska

Former town · Richardson County · founded 1858; incorporated 1860

About Arago

Arago was a Missouri River town in eastern Richardson County, on the bottoms and bluffs about 8 to 10 miles northeast of Falls City and 6 miles north-northwest of Rulo. The river has since moved nearly a mile east. St. Mary Catholic Church and the Arago Cemetery remain; the map point is the church.

History

A German colonization society formed in Buffalo, New York, in 1857 chose the name in March 1858, for the French scientist François Arago, and twelve families landed on July 4, 1858, on about 1,600 acres bought from Stephen Story and the Nuckolls family. Arago was incorporated by territorial act on January 10, 1860, the first incorporated town in the county, and grew to perhaps 1,000 to 1,500 people by about 1870, with saw and flour mills, Gehling's brewery, a distillery, pork packing, stores, hotels and a half-German newspaper. Cholera struck in 1866.

Arago absorbed St. Stephens, a mile to the north. Railroads on the Missouri side, and the Atchison & Nebraska to Falls City in 1871, drew off its trade, and businesses moved to Falls City. The Arago post office moved a few miles west and kept the name, while the old river village became known as Fargo, with a post office from 1895 to 1913. In 1917 six families lived on the site.

Things to see

St. Mary Catholic Church, a frame church of 1899 served from Rulo (Sunday Mass 10 a.m.) · Arago Cemetery · the site of St. Stephens, a ferry town of 1855, about a mile to the north