Fontanelle Nebraska

Unincorporated community · Washington County · Population 67 (2020 census) · ZIP 68044

About Fontanelle

Fontanelle is an unincorporated community of 67 on NE 91 above the Elkhorn River in western Washington County, about 7 miles north-northwest of Arlington and 10 miles northeast of Fremont. It has the Fontanelle Township Hall (National Register), a marker for its pioneer university and Fontanelle Orchard; Salem Lutheran Church and Camp Fontanelle are nearby.

History

The Nebraska Colonization Company, organized at Quincy, Illinois, in June 1854, chose this site above the Elkhorn, and settlement began on September 20, 1854. The town was named, with a changed spelling, for the Omaha leader Logan Fontenelle, and incorporated in March 1855. It was the first seat of Dodge County; when the county line was moved to the Elkhorn on January 12, 1860, Fontanelle became part of Washington County. Two settlers were killed in July 1855, and the Army stationed troops here that summer.

The colony's Congregationalists chartered Nebraska University in 1855; an academy opened in 1856 and the university building in 1858. The building burned in 1865, and in 1872 the Congregationalists moved their college to Crete, where it became Doane College. No railroad came, and the town dwindled. The one-room brick township hall, built after an 1896 vote, is the only known brick township hall in Nebraska; it belongs to the Washington County Museum and was listed on the National Register in 1982.

Things to see

Fontanelle Township Hall, 10976 8th St. · the Nebraska University marker · Fontanelle Orchard, 26982 Hwy 91 · Salem Lutheran Church (founded 1860), about 4 mi northeast · Hartung pioneer cemetery