About Giltner
Giltner is a village in Union township, Hamilton County, in south central Nebraska. The population was 406 at the 2020 census, up from 352 in 2010. The village covers about 0.39 square miles and sits near 1,831 feet. Two churches are active in town, the United Methodist church and St Joseph's Catholic church.
History
The Lincoln Land Company platted the townsite in May 1886 along the railroad. It was first called Huntington, after the Pennsylvania home town of a railroad employee. Mail kept getting confused with Hartington in Cedar County, so in 1887 the name was changed to Bromfield. In 1895 it changed again, to Giltner, honouring the Reverend H. M. Giltner, who had established the Presbyterian church here in 1893.
Early years
By 1890 the town supported hotels, a newspaper, implement dealers, a barber shop, livery stables, a drugstore, general stores, a butcher shop, a hardware store, a bank, a lumberyard and two grain elevators. Population peaked at roughly 410 in 1910, then declined through the 1930s and 1940s as people left for Hastings and Grand Island. In 1903 Giltner fielded a minor league baseball team as a charter member of the short-lived Central Nebraska League.
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Giltner has carried three names in its history. Platted in 1886 by the Lincoln Land Company as "Huntington," it was renamed "Bromfield" the following year to resolve postal confusion with Hartington, Nebraska, then renamed a final time to "Giltner" in 1895 — this time to resolve confusion with Bloomfield, Nebraska, and chosen to honor Rev. H. M. Giltner, the minister who had founded the town's Presbyterian church in 1893. The village briefly fielded a team in the short-lived Central Nebraska League in 1903, and its United Methodist and St. Joseph's Catholic congregations remain active today.
A Hamilton County village that changed its name twice before settling on Giltner, honoring the minister who founded its Presbyterian church.