Broken Bow Nebraska

Broken Bow is a city in and the county seat of Custer County, Nebraska, sitting at the junction of Nebraska Highways 2, 21, and 92 in the heart of the state. The townsite was platted in 1882, incorporated as a village in 1884, and became a city in 1888, taking on the county seat designation in January 1883. The name comes from a broken bow and arrow found at a former Native American campsite nearby; homesteader Wilson Hewitt suggested it to the Post Office Department. The geographic center of Nebraska lies about 10 miles southwest of town, and Broken Bow is home to Adams Land and Cattle, one of the state’s largest cattle feedlots with an 85,000-head capacity. The city’s historic downtown district is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Notable residents have included homestead-era photographer Solomon D. Butcher, who lived in Broken Bow from 1915 to 1926 and whose images of sod-house pioneer life remain iconic; race car driver Earl Cooper, a Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee; U.S. Representatives Augustin Reed Humphrey and Omer M. Kem; and football player Kent McCloughan. With a population of 3,506 (2020 census), Broken Bow remains the commercial and civic hub of Custer County — Nebraska’s second-largest county by area.

Broken Bow, the Custer County seat, was platted in 1882 and named for a broken bow and arrow found at a nearby Native American campsite. It’s home to Adams Land and Cattle, one of Nebraska’s largest feedlots, and was long the residence of homestead-era photographer Solomon D. Butcher. The geographic center of Nebraska lies just southwest of town, and its historic downtown is on the National Register of Historic Places.