Sarpy Center Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Sarpy Center Area Cameras

Former town · Sarpy County · founded 1874; moved to Springfield 1881

About Sarpy Center

Sarpy Center was a town near Fairview Rd. and 120th St., in the middle of Sarpy County between Papillion and Springfield. It was the forerunner of Springfield. The map point is approximate.

History

J. D. Spearman, a Civil War officer, founded Sarpy Center in 1874, hoping it would become the county seat. In a special election in September 1875 it won a clear majority, but Spearman's bill to make it the seat failed, and Papillion won the regular election that October. The town had a blacksmith, a hotel, a store, a school and a newspaper, the Sarpy County Sentinel, whose press moved to Louisville in 1877.

When the Missouri Pacific built through in 1881, Spearman laid out Springfield on his land along the railroad, and late that year nine buildings, including the Nichols House, were moved from Sarpy Center to the new town. Ghost-town writer Gary Speck called the site, where an old school and a store were reported to survive as farm homes, the county's best ghost-town site.

Nearby towns

Richfield	about 1 mi east-northeast	Fairview Rd.
Springfield	about 2.6 mi southwest	County roads
Papillion	about 4.4 mi northeast	County roads
La Vista	about 5 mi north-northeast	County roads