Arthur Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Village · Arthur County · County seat · Population 128 (2020 census) · ZIP 69121 · Founded 1913 · Peak population 176 (1950)

About Arthur

Arthur is a village of 128 people (2020), the seat of Arthur County and the only incorporated place in it, at about 3,642 feet in the Sandhills. NE 61 and NE 92 come up together from Lemoyne on the north shore of Lake McConaughy, about 21 miles south; at Arthur NE 92 turns east toward Tryon and NE 61 continues north to Hyannis and NE 2. Arthur has the county courthouse and library, Arthur County Schools, a post office, a volunteer fire department, a bar and grill, a weekly newspaper and free RV parking in the village park; there is no clinic, bank or motel. No railroad ever reached the county. Arthur is on Mountain Time.

History

Arthur was founded in 1913 to be the seat of the newly organized county, and county business was first done from a covered wagon. A general store opened in 1914, followed by a newspaper, a church, a post office (moved from Lena in 1914) and a one-room high school. The tiny frame courthouse, 26 by 28 feet, went up in 1914 and the jail in 1915; they served until a new courthouse was built in 1960–61. Congregationalists built the Pilgrim Holiness Church in 1928 with load-bearing walls of baled rye straw, and several houses in town were built the same way. The Arthur State Bank opened in 1916 and failed in 1932, electricity came in 1926, and the village incorporated in 1944; it counted 176 people in 1950. In March 2026 the Morrill Fire, the largest wildfire on record in Nebraska, burned into northern Arthur County; its one death was Rose White, 86, of Arthur County.

Highways and trails through Arthur

Route	One way	Other way
NE 61Through town	North to Hyannis and NE 2	South with NE 92 to Lemoyne and Ogallala
NE 92Turns east here	East to Tryon and Stapleton	South with NE 61 to Lemoyne, then west along Lake McConaughy

Nearby towns

Lena	about 13 mi northeast	County roads
Calora	about 13 mi east-northeast	NE 92 and county roads
Bucktail	about 14 mi east	NE 92
Velma	about 14 mi west-northwest	County roads
Lemoyne	about 21 mi south-southwest	NE 61 and NE 92
Keystone	about 25 mi south-southeast	NE 61
Lewellen	about 29 mi southwest	NE 92
Hyannis	about 30 mi north	NE 61
Ogallala	about 31 mi south	NE 61
Ashby	about 33 mi north-northwest	NE 61 and NE 2
Whitman	about 34 mi north-northeast	NE 61 and NE 2
Oshkosh	about 36 mi west-southwest	NE 92 and US 26
Paxton	about 36 mi south-southeast	NE 61 and I-80
Tryon	about 38 mi east	NE 92

Things to see

the Pilgrim Holiness Church, the “Baled Hay Church” (1928), a National Register church with two-foot walls of baled rye straw at Cedar and Heath streets, now a museum (by appointment) · the First Arthur County Courthouse and Jail (1914–15, National Register), billed as the smallest courthouse in the country · the Mill Camp Log Cabin, an 1877 open-range line camp from the Dismal River · Arthur Village Park, with free RV parking and water · the Arthur County Fair and rodeo each summer · Lake McConaughy, about 21 miles south

Events in Arthur

Arthur County Fair
The Arthur County Fair is held annually in Arthur, Nebraska. One of the smallest county fairs in the state, it showcases the tight-knit ranching community of Arthur…

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Arthur County Schools, 111 Elm St., (308) 764-2253: Arthur County Elementary (PK–6), 310 Cedar St., (308) 764-2231, and Arthur County High School (7–12), 111 Elm St.

Health care: No clinic in the county; nearest hospital: Ogallala Community Hospital (Banner Health), 2601 N. Spruce St., Ogallala, (308) 284-4011, about 31 mi

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Arthur County (arthurcounty.nebraska.gov); NEGenWeb Arthur and McPherson counties (incl. post offices from the 1986 McPherson County history); 1926 and 1930 Nebraska Blue Books; History Nebraska; National Register nominations; SAH Archipedia; Nebraska DMV; Nebraska 211; SchoolDigger; NCES; Banner Health; Campendium; 1011 Now; Rural Radio Network; Nebraska Examiner; Alliance Times. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.