DeWitt Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

DeWitt Area Cameras

Former town · Cuming County · 1857–1871

About DeWitt

DeWitt is a ghost town in Sherman Township, Cuming County, near US 275 about 5 miles north-northwest of West Point and 4 miles east-southeast of Beemer. It was the first permanent settlement in the county. A state historical marker and the restored DeWitt Cemetery remain.

History

When the county's first seat, Catherine, proved to be a town only on paper, its backers moved upriver, and in the summer of 1857 B. B. Moore, the county's first settler, settled here; an Omaha townsite company laid out DeWitt that year. The post office opened on February 3, 1858. At the county's first election, on October 12, 1858, DeWitt lost the county seat to West Point, 7 votes to 12.

During the Pawnee scare of June 1859, a party of about 30 men came up to protect the settlers near DeWitt. A Methodist mission began meeting at Moore's house in 1866. The railroad passed DeWitt by, the post office closed on May 26, 1871, and the town faded away. The Cuming County Historical Society restored its sod cemetery.

Nearby towns

Beemer	about 4 mi west-northwest	US 275
West Point	about 5 mi south-southeast	US 275
Wisner	about 11 mi northwest	US 275
Bancroft	about 15 mi northeast	NE 9 and NE 51