Callaway is a village in Custer County, Nebraska, platted in 1885 and incorporated on January 13, 1888, with a village seal bearing the motto “Excelsior” alongside a plow and open book. The town takes its name from S. R. Callaway, general manager of the Union Pacific Railroad. Callaway sits along Nebraska Highway 40, about 65 miles northwest of Kearney and 45 miles north of the Lexington exit on Interstate 80. The village is home to a genuinely distinctive piece of county history: the First Custer County Courthouse, built in 1876 — predating Broken Bow's designation as county seat by seven years — was moved to its current Callaway location in 1933 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. With a 2020 population of 563, Callaway remains one of Custer County's more substantial towns outside the county seat.

Callaway, platted in 1885 and incorporated in 1888, is named for Union Pacific general manager S. R. Callaway. It's home to the First Custer County Courthouse — built in 1876, predating Broken Bow's own seat designation — later moved here in 1933 and NRHP-listed. Population was 563 in 2020.

Adjacent Counties & Nearby Towns

Custer County is the largest county in Nebraska by area, covering 2,576 square miles of the central part of the state, with Broken Bow as its county seat. It borders Valley County and Loup County to the northeast, Sherman County and Buffalo County to the southeast, Dawson County to the south, Lincoln County to the southwest, Logan County to the west, and Blaine County to the northwest.

Nearby towns. Callaway sits in the South Loup valley in the south-west quarter of the county. Oconto is about 13 miles south-east at the N-21/N-40 junction, Merna roughly 16 miles north-north-east, and Arnold about 17 miles west-north-west — the town Callaway shares its school sports with. Broken Bow, the county seat, is some 17 miles east-north-east. Etna lies about 16 miles south-west and Buckeye about 20 miles east-south-east. Distances are straight-line; by road it is farther, since Callaway is reached by a spur rather than sitting on a through highway.

Beyond the county. Callaway is roughly 45 miles north of the Lexington interchange on Interstate 80, and about 65 miles north-west of Kearney by way of Highway 40.

Points of Interest & Events

The first Custer County Courthouse, at Pacific Street and Cameron Avenue — built in 1876, moved to its present site in 1933, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on 19 April 1990. Custer County has had its seat at Broken Bow since the 1880s, so this modest building is a survivor from the county’s first decade.

Seven Valleys Historical Museum, 102 North Grand Avenue, (308) 870-2107 — the local history collection for the South Loup country.

Morgan Park — basketball and tennis courts, picnic areas, a playground, and camping and RV spots. The park is also the site of the first log cabin built in Custer County.

Nigel Sprouse Memorial Library, 102 East Kimball Street, (308) 836-2610.

Annual events. The Pioneer Picnic, with a rodeo and street dance, runs alongside Alumni Weekend on the last full weekend of June. Kite Flight is held over Labor Day weekend in September. A farmers market runs Wednesdays from June through September, and an Old Fashioned Christmas Around Town falls on the first Wednesday of December. The village seal carries the motto Excelsior.

Education & Health

Schools. Callaway Public Schools keeps every grade in town at 101 North Needham — Callaway Elementary for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, and Callaway High School for seventh through twelfth. Since 2007 the district has run its athletics as a cooperative with Arnold Public Schools, competing as the South Loup Bobcats. The two districts remain separate; only the teams are combined.

Health care. Callaway is one of the few Nebraska villages of its size with its own hospital. Callaway District Hospital, 211 East Kimball Street, (308) 836-2228, serves the south-west corner of Custer County and also runs the satellite Arnold Medical Clinic at 104 North Broadway in Arnold. The Callaway Medical Clinic is next door at 213 East Kimball Street, (308) 836-2294. For anything the district hospital cannot handle, Jennie M. Melham Memorial Medical Center, 145 Memorial Drive, Broken Bow, (308) 872-4100 is the county hospital, and Kearney and North Platte are the nearest larger centers.

Highway Access

Callaway does not sit on a numbered through route. It is reached by Nebraska Spur 21B, a short link running north from Nebraska Highway 40 into the village.

Nebraska Highway 40 is the road that matters. West and north-west it runs to Arnold, where it ends at N-92. East and south-east it passes Oconto at the N-21 junction, then Eddyville, Sumner, Miller (where US-183 crosses), Amherst and Riverdale, finishing at N-10 north of Kearney — about 86 miles end to end.

Reaching the Interstate. The shortest run to I-80 is south-east on N-40 to Oconto, then south on N-21 to Lexington — roughly 45 miles. Kearney is about 65 miles by Highway 40.

To the county seat. Broken Bow is about 17 miles east-north-east, reached by way of N-40 and N-21, or across country on the county roads that the South Loup valley farms use.