About Oshkosh
Oshkosh is a city in western Nebraska and the county seat of Garden County. It sits just north of the North Platte River at an elevation of about 3,396 feet, and covers about 0.67 square miles. The 2020 census counted 809 residents, down from 884 in 2010.
History
Oshkosh was founded in the 1880s by cattlemen who found the surrounding country well suited to grazing. Ranchers organised the Oshkosh Land and Cattle Company in 1885, and two of the partners came from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, which is where the name came from. In 1889 the company put up a two storey building holding a company store, a post office, a drug store and a bank. The first post office opened in 1889. The first train arrived on 8 August 1908. Garden County was created in 1909 and Oshkosh was named its seat. The city incorporated in 1910.
Landmarks and weather
The Oshkosh water tower, built in 1920, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. On 22 December 1989 Oshkosh recorded minus 47 degrees Fahrenheit, the coldest temperature measured in Nebraska. A tornado on 26 April 1938 struck nearby, destroying a school and two farms and killing three children.
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Oshkosh, the Garden County seat, was established in 1889 by five ranchers who relocated from Saint Paul, Nebraska, and is named for Oshkosh, Wisconsin, hometown of founding family members Alfred and Henry Gumaer. Rail service reached the town in 1908, and it incorporated around 1909-1910, the same years Garden County itself was organized. Oshkosh holds Nebraska's coldest officially recorded temperature, -47°F on December 22, 1989, and is home to the National Register-listed 1921-22 Garden County Courthouse.
County seat of Garden County, in Nebraska's Sandhills Panhandle, and site of the state's coldest recorded temperature.