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Arnold is a village in Custer County, Nebraska, platted in 1883 in anticipation of a railroad that did not actually arrive until 1912 — leaving the young town to grow slowly through its first three decades. It sits along Nebraska Highway 92 (known locally as Carroll Street) at its junction with Nebraska Highway 40, in the western reaches of the county. The community takes its name from George Arnold, a pioneer settler who located in the area in 1875 as a member of the ranch firm Arnold and Ritchie. Arnold has recorded some of the region's more extreme weather, with a high of 106°F set in both 1988 and 2006, and a low of −31°F on December 22, 1989. With a population of 592 (2020 census), Arnold remains one of the more populous towns in rural Custer County, serving the surrounding ranching and farming community.
Adjacent Counties
- Valley County (northeast)
- Loup County (northeast)
- Blaine County (northwest)
- Logan County (west)
- Lincoln County (southwest)
- Dawson County (south)
- Buffalo County (southeast)
- Sherman County (southeast)
Nearby Towns
- Broken Bow — the Custer County seat, about 28.6 miles east via NE-92
- Callaway — about 16.7 miles southeast via Arnold River Road
Arnold was platted in 1883, well before the railroad it anticipated finally arrived in 1912. Named for pioneer settler George Arnold, the village sits at the junction of Nebraska Highways 92 and 40 and has recorded temperatures ranging from 106°F to −31°F. Its 2020 population was 592.
Points of Interest & Events
Arnold Lake, Campground and Recreation Area — immediately south of town, and the main reason travellers stop. Ten acres of ground around a 22-acre lake, with 29 campsites, a roping arena and a playground. The lake is stocked periodically by Nebraska Game and Parks. For anyone crossing the state on Highway 92, this is a good place to break the drive.
Finch Memorial Library, 205 North Walnut Street, (308) 848-2219 — listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 1 July 2015, holding more than 12,000 books, and marking a century of service in 2025.
Old Mill Park — an enclosed ballpark, two tennis courts and six horseshoe pits.
Center School Museum — a restored schoolhouse of the early 1900s, which also operates as a bed and breakfast.
The Sandhills Open Road Challenge. Arnold’s best-known event by a distance. SORC has been run every August since 2001 and draws up to 120 drivers from more than forty states and Canada for an open-road race, a shootout, a parade and a burnout contest. A town of under six hundred people hosting a national-standard road race is not a common thing.
Other annual events run right through the calendar: Kegs & Corks in February; a chili cook-off and Easter egg hunt in March; the alumni banquet and Memorial Day services in May; community garage sales and a farmers market in June; Independence Day fireworks and the Devils Den Bike Show in July; SORC and a barbecue in August; a fall festival and the Junk Jaunt in September; a Halloween carnival in October; a housing tour in November; and Christmas Around Town in December.
Education & Health
Schools. Arnold Public Schools is a K–12 Class D district at 405 North Haskell, (308) 848-2226, with an elementary building for pre-kindergarten through sixth and a high school for seventh through twelfth. The district covers more than 550 square miles. Teams have been the Cardinals; since 2007 athletics have run as a cooperative with Callaway Public Schools, competing as the South Loup Bobcats. The two districts remain separate.
Health care. The Arnold Medical Clinic is in town at 104 North Broadway Street, on Highway 92, (308) 848-3259, open Mondays and Wednesdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. It is a satellite of Callaway District Hospital. Arnold Fire and Rescue runs two ambulances with 23 active volunteers over a district of more than 450 square miles.
The village gives its own driving times as roughly 20 minutes to Callaway District Hospital, 40 minutes to Melham Medical Center at Broken Bow, and 45 minutes to Great Plains Regional Medical Center at North Platte.
Highway Access
Arnold sits on the western edge of Custer County where Nebraska Highway 92 meets Nebraska Highway 40. N-92 runs through the middle of town as Arnold Avenue.
Nebraska Highway 92 is the through route. East it runs toward Merna, where it joins Highway 2, and on through Broken Bow to Ansley, then Loup City and St. Paul. West it goes to Stapleton, about 17 miles, and carries on across the state. N-92 is the only Nebraska highway that runs the full width of the state from the Wyoming line to the Missouri River.
Nebraska Highway 40 has its western terminus here, at N-92. It runs south out of Arnold, turns east at N-47, passes the spur into Callaway, then continues south-east to Oconto at the N-21 junction, and on through Eddyville, Sumner, Miller, Amherst and Riverdale to finish at N-10 north of Kearney — nearly 86 miles.
Distances. The school district gives Arnold as about 35 miles west of Broken Bow and 45 miles north-east of North Platte.
Reaching the Interstate. South on N-40 and N-47 toward Gothenburg, or south-east by way of Callaway and Oconto to Lexington — both around 50 miles to I-80. North Platte, about 45 miles south-west, is the nearest city.