About Deweese
Deweese is a village in Clay County, in south central Nebraska. It covers about 0.13 square miles. The 2020 census counted 43 residents. The village falls within the Hastings micropolitan statistical area. Its ZIP code is 68934, and it stands at roughly 1,690 feet above sea level. Fairfield lies about five miles north and Lawrence about seven miles south-west.
History
The town site was platted in 1885, when the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was extended past that point south of the Little Blue River. Deweese was named for J. W. Deweese, an attorney for the railroad. The first freight arrived on Thanksgiving Day 1886. The village reached its largest recorded population, 156, in 1930.
Schools and churches
A school was built in 1888 and replaced by a brick school in 1915. Deweese ran a high school from 1926 to 1945. A Christian church went up in 1909 and was rebuilt in 1945. A Catholic church followed in 1910 and was replaced in 1978. St Martin's Catholic Church, in the countryside nearby, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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Deweese is one of Nebraska's smallest villages, platted in 1885 in Clay County and named for railroad attorney J.W. Deweese.
Many of Deweese's original 1880s settlers were recruited from Czechoslovakia. The area also includes the historic Liberty Farm Ranch, a Pony Express station that operated in 1860-61. The village's population has fallen sharply from a peak of around 156 residents in 1930.