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Hershey is a village in western Lincoln County, strung along the U.S. Highway 30 corridor and the Union Pacific main line between North Platte and Sutherland. It was platted on 5 February 1892 by Annie S. Guthrie as a station on the Union Pacific’s Overland Route, and takes its name from J. H. Hershey, a pioneer settler. The village was formally incorporated in April 1909.
Hershey counted 649 residents at the 2020 census, down slightly from 665 in 2010. It remains a farming and ranching community with a strong school at its centre, close enough to North Platte for its amenities while keeping its own identity.
Adjacent Counties & Nearby Towns
Hershey sits in Lincoln County, which borders McPherson County to the northwest, Logan County to the northeast, Custer County and Dawson County to the east, Frontier County to the southeast, Hayes County to the southwest, and Perkins County and Keith County to the west.
In Lincoln County: Sutherland lies about 7 miles west; North Platte, the county seat, about 12 miles east; Wallace about 24 miles south-southwest; Maxwell about 25 miles east-southeast; Wellfleet about 31 miles south-southeast; and Brady about 34 miles east-southeast. Distances given here are straight-line rather than driving distances.
Points of Interest & Events
Hershey Fall Festival. The village’s big weekend runs from Friday to Sunday in late August. It opens with a community golf tournament and takes in a pie baking contest, a fall festival breakfast, a parade, a pie and ice cream social, karaoke, a cornhole tournament, a main street dance, a community cowboy church service and a Sunday brunch. Recent years have brought touring country acts to the main stage.
The railroad. Hershey began as a station on the Union Pacific’s Overland Route and the main line still runs through the village, one of the busiest freight corridors in the country. An opera house stood in the village by 1920, alongside a number of churches and fraternal lodges.
The Platte valley. The North Platte River south of the village offers fishing, birdwatching and scenic driving, and the village maintains local parks and ball fields that serve as the community’s recreation hub.
Education & Health
Hershey Public Schools, 301 South Lincoln Avenue, (308) 368-5572, serves the village and surrounding countryside as home of the Panthers.
Health care. Hershey has no hospital of its own. The nearest full-service facility is Great Plains Health in North Platte, about 12 miles east, which operates the region’s emergency department.
Notable resident. Ben Kuroki grew up in Hershey, where his family farmed after moving from Gothenburg when he was a year old, and he graduated from Hershey High School in 1936. After Pearl Harbor he became one of the first Nisei to enlist, and went on to become the only American of Japanese descent in the U.S. Army Air Forces to fly combat missions in the Pacific theatre — 58 missions in all, 30 over Europe and 28 in the Pacific, earning three Distinguished Flying Crosses. He needed the personal intervention of Secretary of War Henry Stimson to be allowed to serve in the Pacific at all.
Highway Access
U.S. Highway 30 — the Lincoln Highway — runs east and west through Hershey beside the Union Pacific main line. Interstate 80 lies just south across the Platte valley, so the village sits within a few minutes of the interstate.
Eastbound it is about 12 miles to North Platte and its regional services; westbound about 7 miles to Sutherland and on toward Ogallala.
Hershey is a village of 649 in western Lincoln County, platted in 1892 as a station on the Union Pacific Overland Route and named for pioneer settler J. H. Hershey. It sits on U.S. Highway 30 between North Platte and Sutherland, and marks the turn of the season with its Fall Festival each August.
Navigate & Explore Hershey
Get directions to Hershey: Waze → · Google Maps → · Apple Maps →
Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
Cameras: View Lincoln County Cameras →
Travel Corridor: US-30 Corridor →