Howe began life as “Bedford,” platted on January 20, 1882, before taking its current name that same year in honor of Major Church Howe, a Nebraska political and railroad figure. As a station and shipping point on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, local historical accounts describe it as a thriving community in the early 1900s, complete with a bank, hotel, and grain elevators.

Howe’s post office operated from 1882 until 1962, when it closed and left Auburn, about five miles away, as the nearest postal facility. No population is separately tracked for the community today, and it functions as a small unincorporated rural hamlet within the Bedford Election Precinct rather than an active town.

Howe, originally platted as “Bedford” in 1882, was once a thriving railroad shipping point with a bank and grain elevators; today it’s a small unincorporated hamlet whose post office closed in 1962.