Explore Columbus, Nebraska

Your guide to Columbus, the Platte County seat, and the surrounding communities.

Welcome to Columbus

Columbus sits where the Loup River meets the Platte, at the crossing of two of Nebraska's great road corridors — U.S. Highway 30, the old Lincoln Highway, and U.S. Highway 81, the Meridian Highway. With 24,028 residents it is the largest city in Platte County and one of the anchor communities of east-central Nebraska.

It is a working city as much as a stopping point: Becton Dickinson, Behlen Manufacturing, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland all run operations here, and the Nebraska Public Power District has its headquarters in town.

Population

• 2020 Census: 24,028
• 2010 Census: 22,111
• County seat: Platte County
• Elevation: 1,447 feet

Location and Nearby Towns

• County: Platte County
• Region: Northeast Region
• Highways: U.S. 30 and U.S. 81
• Distances: about 85 miles west of Omaha and 75 miles northwest of Lincoln
• Nearby towns:
  Duncan (west on U.S. 30),
  Monroe (northwest along the Loup),
  Platte Center (north),
  Humphrey (northwest),
  Creston, Lindsay and Tarnov,
  Schuyler (east on U.S. 30),
  David City (south) and Osceola (southwest)

History

The Columbus Town Company founded the settlement on 28 May 1856 and named it for Columbus, Ohio, where most of the original settlers had lived. The site was chosen deliberately — it lay on the surveyed route of the proposed transcontinental railroad, and the Union Pacific did indeed come through, making Columbus a division point and a supply town for the Platte Valley trail traffic that had passed this way for decades.

The city later gave the country Andrew Jackson Higgins, born here in 1886, whose landing craft carried Allied troops ashore on D-Day. Eisenhower called him the man who won the war for us. The Andrew Jackson Higgins National Memorial in Columbus honours him.

Things to See and Do

• Andrew Jackson Higgins National Memorial — the Higgins boat and the Columbus-born designer behind it
• Glur's Tavern — serving since 1876 and long claimed as the oldest continuously operating tavern west of the Missouri River
• Freedom Memorial — built around a steel beam from the World Trade Center
• Pawnee Park — the city's largest park, on the south edge of town
• Pawnee Plunge — municipal water park
• Ag Park — home of the Platte County Fair
• U.S. 30 Speedway — dirt track racing from April through September
• Lake North, Loup Park and Lake Babcock — Loup Power District recreation areas north of the city, with boating, fishing and camping

Annual Events

• Columbus Days — August, with the city's biggest parade
• Platte County Fair — summer, at Ag Park
• Columbus Marching Festival — September

Schools and Services

• Columbus Public Schools — Columbus High School, home of the Discoverers
• Scotus Central Catholic — the Shamrocks
• Lakeview Community Schools — the Vikings, just outside the city
• Central Community College — Columbus campus
• Columbus Community Hospital

Why Visit Columbus?

Columbus is the practical hub of east-central Nebraska — the place people in four counties come to for shopping, medicine, machinery and a night out. For travellers it is the natural stop where U.S. 30 and U.S. 81 cross, with a genuine 19th-century tavern, a national memorial, and a river confluence that shaped the whole valley.

Navigate & Explore Columbus

Get directions to Columbus: Waze → · Google Maps → · Apple Maps →

Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov

Cameras: View Platte County Cameras →

Platte County → · Nebraska Town Directory →