Oak Nebraska

Village · Nuckolls County · Population 54 (2020 census) · ZIP 68964 · Founded 1884 · Peak population 237 (1910)

About Oak

Oak is a village of 54 on the Little Blue River in northeastern Nuckolls County, where the Oregon Trail followed the valley; its main street sits on the trail. The S-65A spur runs 5 miles north to NE 4, and Nelson is about 9 miles west-southwest.

History

Oak Grove, on the north side of the Little Blue about 1½ miles east-southeast of today's village, was a stage station from about 1856; E. S. Comstock took it over in 1861, and it is usually identified as Pony Express station No. 7. On August 7, 1864, during raids that closed the trail for two months, warriors attacked the ranch and killed two men; the defenders held the house, but the ranch was burned. The same day several members of the Eubank family were killed upriver at the Narrows, and five people were taken captive: Lucinda Eubank, her children Isabelle and Willie, her nephew Ambrose Asher and 16-year-old Laura Roper. Laura, Isabelle and Ambrose were released that September, and Lucinda and Willie in May 1865. On August 9 nine men herding stock near Little Blue Station, northwest of Oak, were killed. Nuckolls County was organized at Oak Grove on June 27, 1871, with 33 votes cast under an elm.

The post office opened as Oak Grove in June 1874 and later became Oak. A gristmill was built in 1882, and the first town site was platted in April 1884. When the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad (Chicago & North Western system) arrived in 1888, every business except the mill moved two miles west to the present site; the White Oak Roller Mills ran into the 1940s and were razed in 1977. The village peaked at 237 people in 1910, and the railroad was abandoned around 1969 after a bridge washout at Oak. Major-league outfielder Russ Snyder, a member of the 1966 world-champion Baltimore Orioles, was born here in 1934. Every four years the community has staged a re-enactment of the 1864 raids; the last confirmed one was in August 2022.

Things to see

Oregon Trail Park, Maple and Clay Sts., with the "Indian Captives" state marker and a Pony Express monument for Little Blue Station · the Oak Grove Station monument, about 1½ mi east-southeast (only the fenced monument area is open) · the Original Townsite of Oak marker, about 2 mi southeast on the Oak–Ruskin road · the 1912 Indian Ambush marker, 4839 Road R, about 4 mi east, where stage driver Robert Emery turned his coach and saved nine passengers on August 9, 1864 · 1912 Oregon Trail stones west and northwest of town · the Eubank Ranch Cemetery site (private land, not open)