Steinauer is a village in Pawnee County, in southeastern Nebraska, about eleven miles northwest of Pawnee City. Famine and depression had forced the Steinauer brothers, Anton, Nicholas and Joseph, to leave their native Switzerland in 1852, and warnings to avoid bloody Kansas brought them here instead. They arrived in September 1856, only two years after the creation of Nebraska Territory. Other immigrants of Swiss, German, Austrian and Bohemian descent soon settled nearby. Turkey Creek and Linden were early popular designations for the site, which became the Steinauer post office in 1874.
After the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway reached Steinauer in 1887 the village grew steadily, and incorporation followed in March 1893. St. Joseph, Missouri became the chief urban market for the area’s agricultural products. By 1910 the peak population of 248 had been reached, and the village then had a bank, a saloon, a lumber yard, a hotel, a tin shop, a shoe repair shop, a furniture store, a telephone office and a livery stable, along with two grocery stores, two blacksmith shops and two hardware stores. Over the years the pronunciation of the name evolved to Steener, though the original spelling has been kept.
The Bank of Steinauer, established in 1888 by Joseph Steinauer, has been continuously owned and operated by his descendants. St. Anthony’s Catholic church was built in 1889 with a parochial school added in 1912, Salem United Church of Christ was established in 1879, and the Knights of Columbus Hall, built in 1929, hosts fundraisers through the year. Bowwood State Wildlife Management Area lies two miles south, 320 acres of grassland, cropland, woods and two ponds. The 2020 census counted 59 residents.
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Steinauer was settled in 1856 by Joseph, Anton, and Nicholas Steinauer, brothers who had emigrated from Switzerland in 1852; the village itself was platted in 1887 when the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad reached the site. Joseph Steinauer founded the Bank of Steinauer in 1888, formally chartered in 1898, and the bank building — which still holds its original vault and oak counters — has remained under Steinauer family ownership for five generations. Its upper floor houses the Steinauer Opera House, individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which retains its original stage and backdrop. The village's name is locally pronounced "Steener."
Steinauer, founded by Swiss immigrant brothers in 1856, is home to the National Register-listed Steinauer Opera House.
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