Emerald Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Emerald Area Cameras

Unincorporated community · Lancaster County · Population 45 (2020 census)

About Emerald

Emerald is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (45 people in 2020) in western Lancaster County, at about 1,204 feet on US 6, about 8 miles west of Lincoln. Denton is about 5 miles south. Pawnee State Recreation Area lies about 2 miles north and 1½ miles west.

History

Emerald was a station on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, and its name is said to come from the land being “as green as an emerald.” Its post office ran from 1884 to 1943. The 1890 state gazetteer gave Emerald about 50 people, a station agent, a general store whose owner, G. W. Lee, was also postmaster, and a blacksmith. History Nebraska holds records of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church at Emerald from 1878 to 1952. Merle’s Food & Drink, which drew people to Emerald for about 60 years, has closed. The census counted 28 people in 1990 and 59 in 2010.

Highways and trails through Emerald

Route	One way	Other way
US 6Through the community	East to Lincoln	West to Milford and Seward County

Nearby towns

Denton	about 5 mi south	County roads
Yankee Hill	about 6 mi east-southeast	County roads
Malcolm	about 7 mi north-northwest	County roads
Lincoln	about 8 mi east	US 6
Raymond	about 10 mi north-northeast	County roads
Martell	about 13 mi south-southeast	County roads
Sprague	about 14 mi south-southeast	County roads
Agnew	about 14 mi north	County roads

Things to see

Pawnee State Recreation Area, about 2 miles north and 1½ miles west

Health care

Hospitals: Bryan Medical Center (East and West), CHI Health St. Elizabeth and Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, Lincoln, about 8 mi

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (2020 census-designated places); Citypopulation.de; Wikipedia; Fitzpatrick and Link, Nebraska Place-Names (1960), and Forte postal history as cited by Wikipedia; 1890 Nebraska State Gazetteer (Lancaster County); History Nebraska; National Register; Nebraska Game and Parks; Lower Platte South NRD; TrailLink; KOLN/KGIN (2018); Seeing Lincoln. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.