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Town Overview
Hickman is one of the fastest-growing communities in Nebraska: 2,607 residents at the 2020 census, up from 1,657 in 2010 — a rise of well over half in a single decade — packed into just 0.72 square miles about 14 miles south-southeast of Lincoln. Its median age of 32.8 and the fact that more than a third of residents are under 18 tell the story: this is a young commuter town filling up with families.
The town owes both its existence and its name to the railroad. Reverend C. H. Heckman and Samuel Egger platted the site in 1872 after the Atchison and Nebraska Railroad put a station on the Rulo–Lincoln line here. When they submitted the plat for recording, the county clerk misspelled Heckman as Hickman — and the mistake stuck. The town incorporated under the wrong name in 1885 and has kept it ever since.
Adjacent Counties & Nearby Towns
Lancaster County is Nebraska's second most populous county, with 322,608 residents in 2020 across 846 square miles, and its seat is Lincoln, the state capital. It borders Saunders County to the north, Cass County to the northeast, Otoe County and Johnson County to the southeast, Gage County to the south, Saline County to the southwest, and Seward County and Butler County to the northwest.
Nearest towns. Roca is closest, about 3 miles north-northwest. Firth lies about 6 miles south-southeast, Sprague about 6 miles west and Panama about 6 miles east-southeast. Martell is about 7 miles west and Bennet about 7 miles east-northeast. Downtown Lincoln is about 14 miles north. Distances given here are straight-line measurements.
Points of Interest & Events
Hickman is a growth story rather than a tourist stop, and that is worth saying plainly. What draws people is proximity: a short drive to Lincoln, a well-regarded school district, and housing on the edge of open country. The category buttons above show what is currently listed in the directory here.
Downtown. Locust Street remains the town's commercial spine, laid out along the old Atchison and Nebraska Railroad alignment that created the place.
Notable residents include the Olympic swimmer Adam Mania (born 1983) and Bernice Slote (1913–1983), the University of Nebraska English professor and Willa Cather scholar.
Events. No recurring town-wide celebration could be independently verified for Hickman at the time of writing, so none is claimed here.
Education & Health
Schools. Norris School District 160, founded in 1964 and named for Senator George W. Norris, serves nine small communities across Lancaster, Gage and Otoe counties — Roca, Hickman, Firth, Cortland, Panama, Princeton, Holland, Cheney and Rokeby — from a single 160-acre campus about 12 miles south of Lincoln, surrounded by the Norris Forest School Arboretum. Four buildings (elementary, intermediate, middle and high school) hold just under 2,000 students. The campus was badly damaged by the May 2004 Hallam tornado and took more than 20 months and over $35 million to rebuild.
Health care. There is no hospital in Hickman. Lincoln, about 14 miles north, has the region's full range of hospital care.
Highway Access
Hickman sits in the belt of small towns south of Lincoln, reached from the city by way of U.S. Route 77 and the county road network. Roca, about 3 miles north-northwest, sits at the eastern terminus of Nebraska Highway 33, which runs west from there through Crete to U.S. Route 6 near Dorchester.
The nearest interstate is Interstate 80 on the far side of Lincoln, roughly 20 miles north. The Atchison and Nebraska Railroad line that founded the town still runs through it, freight only.
Hickman is a city of 2,607 about 14 miles south-southeast of Lincoln and one of Nebraska's fastest-growing communities, up more than half since 2010. It was platted in 1872 by Reverend C. H. Heckman and Samuel Egger after the Atchison and Nebraska Railroad built a station here; the county clerk misspelled Heckman when recording the plat, and the town has been Hickman ever since. It is served by Norris School District 160.
Navigate & Explore Hickman
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