Fontanelle is an unincorporated community in Washington County, about ten miles northeast of Fremont. It was one of the earliest settlements in Nebraska Territory and was home to Nebraska University, chartered in 1855 and run by the Congregational Church, which moved to Crete in 1872 and became Doane College. The town lost its momentum when the railroad passed it by, and it gave up its village charter in the 1890s. The Fontanelle Township Hall, built in 1896, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. There is no city or village government today; Fontanelle is administered as part of Washington County.