Peru Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

Peru Area Cameras

City · Nemaha County · Population 648 (2020 census) · ZIP 68421 · Founded 1857 · Peak population 1,380 (1970)

About Peru

Peru is a city of 648 on the bluffs above the Missouri River in northeastern Nemaha County, reached by the S-64G spur north from NE 67, about 8.5 miles northeast of Auburn and 15 miles south of Nebraska City. It is home to Peru State College, the "Campus of a Thousand Oaks."

History

Settlers from Peru, Illinois, tried to settle here in 1853 but were removed by troops; settlement began in earnest in 1855, and the town was surveyed on May 11, 1857. The post office began as Mount Vernon in 1855, for a rival town on the hill where Peru's cemetery now is, and later moved to Peru. A Methodist academy of the early 1860s became the Nebraska State Normal School, established on June 20, 1867, with 32 students and one building; it is Nebraska's first state-supported college, and it became Peru State College in 1963.

A railroad line from Nebraska City through Peru to Brownville opened about 1875 and later became part of the Burlington; its grade is now the Steamboat Trace trail. Floods in the 1860s moved the river nearly a mile from town, and an 1867 flood created McKissick Island across the river. In 1943 the town fought off the Missouri, an effort remembered by Old Man River Days. The population peaked at 1,380 in 1970. In 2019 the levee north of town failed in five places and thousands of acres flooded. Herbert Brownell Jr., U.S. attorney general from 1953 to 1957, was born in Peru.

Highways and trails through Peru

Route	One way	Other way
S-64GSpur from NE 67 into town	South to NE 67	Ends in Peru
NE 67South and west of town	West to US 75, Brock and Talmage	South to US 136, Brownville and Nemaha

Nearby towns

Brownville	about 7 mi southeast	NE 67 and US 136
Julian	about 8 mi west-northwest	NE 67 and US 75
Auburn	about 9 mi southwest	NE 67 and US 75
Glenrock	about 9 mi west-southwest	County roads
Nemaha	about 10 mi south-southeast	NE 67
Brock	about 12 mi west	NE 67
Camp Creek	about 7 mi north-northwest	County roads
Nebraska City	about 15 mi north-northwest	US 75

Things to see

Peru State College, 600 Hoyt St. (historical marker at Park Ave. and 5th St.) · the Steamboat Trace trail, 21 miles of crushed limestone on the old railroad, with a trailhead at the north end of 5th St. · Peru Bottoms WMA, about 2,000 acres along the Missouri, and the Peru Boat Ramp · Duck Creek Recreation Area, a 62-acre lake with 32 campsites west of town (Nemaha NRD) · Neal Park and Sid Brown Memorial Park, with a splash pad · St. Clara Catholic Church, 604 6th St. · Old Man River Days, the first weekend of June (June 5–7 in 2026)

Events in Peru

Old Man River Days
Old Man River Days is held in Peru, Nebraska, on the first weekend of June.

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Auburn Public Schools: Calvert Elementary, 2103 O St. (PK–5); Auburn Middle School and Auburn High School, 1829 Central Ave., Auburn

Health care: No hospital or clinic in Peru; Nemaha County Hospital, 2022 13th St., Auburn, 402-274-4366 (critical access hospital, 24-hour emergency room)

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Andreas, History of the State of Nebraska (1882); Nemaha County Beauty-Bounty (1967); History Nebraska; National Register of Historic Places; Nebraska Game and Parks; Nemaha NRD; Nebraska Department of Transportation; city, village, school, library and museum websites. Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.