About Burwell
Burwell is the county seat of Garfield County and the county's only incorporated community. It sits in the Nebraska Sandhills, in country drained by the North Loup and Calamus rivers. The 2020 census counted 1,087 residents. Elevation is 2,175 feet and the town covers 1.05 square miles. Ranching and farming carry the local economy. The town has a swimming pool, ball fields, a bowling alley, a cinema and a nine-hole golf course.
History
Burwell was platted in 1883. Garfield County had been organised in 1884 and named for President James A. Garfield, with its seat first at Willow Springs. The seat moved to Burwell in 1890, after railroad development favoured that site. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was extended to Burwell in 1887.
Nebraska's Big Rodeo
Burwell hosts Nebraska's Big Rodeo, usually the last weekend in July. The first was held in September 1921, put on by townspeople who wanted an annual community celebration. It has run every year since except 1943 to 1945, when it was called off during the war. The grounds keep their original wooden covered grandstands and a large outdoor arena, and the county fairgrounds are on the National Register of Historic Places. The rodeo was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in 2022.
Outdoors
Calamus Reservoir, formed by Virginia Smith Dam in the 1980s for irrigation and flood control, lies just outside town, with a state recreation area for camping, fishing and boating. The Calamus State Fish Hatchery and Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park are also close by.
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Burwell, the seat and only incorporated town in Garfield County, was platted in 1883 on land donated by founder Frank Webster near the confluence of the North Loup and Calamus rivers. It became county seat in 1890 after the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad routed its tracks through Burwell rather than the original seat, Willow Springs, which was subsequently abandoned. Burwell is home to Nebraska's Big Rodeo, held every July since the early 1920s and billed as the state's oldest continuous rodeo, plus the National Register-listed 1914 Burwell Carnegie Library and 1940 Burwell Bridge.
County seat and only incorporated town in Garfield County, home to Nebraska's Big Rodeo since the early 1920s.