Redbird, Nebraska

Redbird, Nebraska is a vanished pioneer settlement in far northeastern Holt County, where Redbird Creek empties into the Niobrara River near the Boyd and Knox county lines. Named for the cardinals that nested along the creek banks, the community grew up in the late 1800s and at its peak supported two general stores, a garage, a blacksmith shop, and a cream station before slowly emptying out through the twentieth century.

Location

• County: Holt County
• Region: Sandhills Region
• Highways: Local county roads along Redbird Creek and the Niobrara River
• Nearby Towns:
  Paddock (7 miles west),
  Dorsey (7 miles southeast),
  O'Neill (23 miles southwest)

Adjacent Towns

• Paddock - 7 miles west
• Dorsey - 7 miles southeast
• O'Neill - 23 miles southwest

Adjacent Counties

• Holt County (surrounding)
• Boyd County (north)
• Knox County (east)

Points of Interest Near Redbird

Outdoor & Recreation

• Redbird Creek and the Niobrara River valley, where the settlement grew up along the creek banks
• Rural ranch country and river-bottom timber marking the original townsite

Cultural & Historical

• Homestead burial bluffs above the Niobrara, including pioneers Isaac and Martha Enders, who claimed land here with ox teams in 1876
• The former site of Redbird's District 3 school, among the very first schools organized in Holt County
• The birthplace, on a Redbird farm in 1921, of "Lubber" — billed at the time as the biggest horse in the world

Historical Background

Redbird took its name from the flash of cardinals that nested along the creek banks where Redbird Creek empties into the Niobrara River in far northeastern Holt County. The settlement's first post office was almost accidental in its modesty — a dugout carved into a hillside north of where the village would eventually rise, run in the late 1800s by a postmistress remembered only as a Mrs. Moore or a Mrs. Cook. When that office closed in 1887, it took over a decade to reopen, this time a mile to the south under postmaster Peter Just. When Just later left the country, his bondsman kept the office supplies at his own home until homesteader J. L. Witherwax took over, serving as postmaster for the next thirteen years.

Witherwax's tenure set a pattern of neighbors passing the postmaster's duties hand to hand for the better part of a century: John Wrede took over the office along with the town's store in 1914 and kept it for twenty-seven years, followed later by Polly Truax, Pete Mohr and Hall Rosenkrans, until the post office finally closed for good in 1960. Redbird's school, organized as District 3, may actually have been the very first school established in Holt County — but because its early teacher lacked a formal certificate, the "District 1" designation went instead to the nearby Paddock school. Melva Hazard, Mae McElhaney, Jennie Shannon and Cecil Sproul taught generations of Redbird children in the years that followed.

At its peak, around the turn of the century, Redbird supported two general stores, a garage, a blacksmith shop and a cream station — a full working village serving ranch families scattered along the creek and river bottom. There was never a cemetery in town; families buried their own on the homesteads they had proved up, including pioneers Isaac and Martha Enders, laid to rest on a hillside overlooking the Niobrara on land they had claimed with ox teams in 1876. Like many small Holt County settlements bypassed by the railroad, Redbird slowly emptied out through the twentieth century; by 1965 only the schoolhouse and a handful of homes remained.

The Niobrara shaped daily life here from the start. In the 1870s the federal government resettled a band of Oklahoma Indians on the river's north bank directly across from the Enders' cabin, and storekeeper Ben Akin did a brisk trade with Native families who crossed the river to buy goods. The town also produced one genuine curiosity: in 1921, a Redbird farm was the birthplace of "Lubber," billed at the time as the biggest horse in the world, standing seven feet tall and weighing roughly 3,000 pounds. Nearby, the house George Mellor built with his son Leon's help was one of the first in the settlement to boast indoor plumbing — a small luxury along a stretch of the Niobrara where most families still hauled water and stoked wood stoves well into the new century.

Read the full chapter history of Redbird in Chapter 39 of “Before Today: A History of Holt County, Nebraska.”

Education

Local Schools

• West Holt Public Schools (K-12) serve the Redbird area of northern Holt County.

Health Resources

Clinics & Local Care

• Local medical clinics and care providers in the region

Hospitals

• Avera St. Anthony's Hospital (O'Neill) — 23 miles southwest

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