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Eustis is a village in northern Frontier County that began as a post office called "Somerset," established in 1884. The Lincoln Land Company purchased the townsite and renamed it Eustis in 1896, honoring Percy S. Eustis, a passenger agent for the Burlington Railroad. Eustis has produced two notable Nebraskans: Ralph G. Brooks, the 29th Governor of Nebraska, who died in office in 1960 after an earlier career as a teacher and college administrator; and Clayton K. Yeutter, who served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture from 1989 to 1991, U.S. Trade Representative from 1985 to 1989, and chairman of the Republican National Committee, after an earlier career leading the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. The village is served by the Eustis-Farnam Public Schools district. With a 2020 population of 389, Eustis has declined gradually from a peak of 460 residents in 1980.
Eustis punches well above its weight in notable natives for a village its size, having produced both a Nebraska governor and a U.S. Cabinet secretary. Its rename from "Somerset" to honor a railroad passenger agent reflects the same Burlington-driven settlement pattern found across much of Frontier County.
