Westerville Nebraska

Westerville holds a distinctive place in Custer County history: platted on August 11, 1880, under the original name “Elm Bridge,” it was the first town established in the county — predating even Broken Bow. Its post office opened in 1882, and the community was renamed for James Westervelt (also recorded as “Westerville” in some sources), a storekeeper who became the area's first resident when he opened a store there in the fall of 1880. Westerville hosted a string of county firsts: the first frame church (Methodist), the first newspaper (The Custer Leader), the first doctor, lawyer, banker, and monument cutter, and the county's first two fairs in 1881 and 1882, along with its first teachers' institute. The town's fortunes faded after the railroad was built farther south in 1886 and after it lost the county-seat designation; it became formally unincorporated in the 1960s. Notable resident John W. Speese (also spelled Speess), an African American homesteader who settled there in 1881, later documented his experiences in the Omaha World-Herald. Westerville sits at the junction of US Route 183 and Nebraska Highway 70, and today is tracked by the Census as a small community with a 2020 population of 31, down from 39 in 2010.

Westerville, platted in 1880 as “Elm Bridge,” was the first town founded in Custer County — predating Broken Bow — and hosted the county's first church, newspaper, and fairs. Notable homesteader John W. Speese settled there in 1881. Population has fallen to 31 (2020) from 39 in 2010.