County Seat: McCook
Founded: 1873
Named For: The Red Willow Creek, a tributary of the Republican River
License Plate Prefix: 48
Population: 10,702 (2020 census)
Area: 718 sq mi

History

Red Willow County was established in 1873 and named after Red Willow Creek, which flows through the region. Settlement expanded rapidly with the arrival of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad, which selected McCook as a major division point. McCook, founded in 1882, became the county seat and grew into a regional powerhouse for transportation, agriculture, and civic life. The city is also known as the hometown of Senator and Governor George W. Norris, one of Nebraska’s most influential political figures. Indianola, Bartley, Danbury, and Lebanon developed as agricultural and rail‑supported towns, each contributing to the county’s rural identity.

The county’s history reflects railroad expansion, agricultural development, and the rise of McCook as a major economic and political center in southwestern Nebraska.

Geography

Location: Southwestern Nebraska near the Kansas border
Landscape: Rolling prairie, Republican River valleys, fertile farmland, and rural communities

Adjacent Counties:

• Furnas County (east)
• Gosper County (northeast)
• Frontier County (north)
• Hayes County (west)
• Decatur County, Kansas (south)

Culture & Landmarks

• George W. Norris Home – A National Historic Landmark honoring one of Nebraska’s most influential statesmen.
• Red Willow Reservoir State Recreation Area – Fishing, boating, camping, and wildlife viewing.
• McCook Downtown Historic District – Architecture and landmarks reflecting the county’s railroad heritage.

Notable Communities

• McCook – County seat and major regional commercial center.
• Indianola – One of the county’s earliest settlements.
• Bartley – Community with strong agricultural roots.
• Danbury – Small town with deep farming traditions.
• Lebanon – Rural village near the Kansas border.

Events & Attractions

• McCook Heritage Days – A major annual celebration featuring parades, music, and community events.
• Red Willow County Fair – Livestock shows, rodeo events, and agricultural exhibits.
• Outdoor Recreation – Hunting, fishing, birdwatching, and scenic drives along the Republican River.

Living in Red Willow County

Red Willow County blends agricultural strength, railroad heritage, and small‑town life. McCook anchors county services and commerce, while Indianola, Bartley, Danbury, Lebanon, and rural areas maintain long‑standing farming traditions. Residents value the area’s history, open landscapes, and strong community identity.

Red Willow County at a Glance

Red Willow County, Nebraska — created on 27 February 1873, and named for a botanical mistake. Red Willow Creek takes its name from the Dakota Chanshasha Wakpala, which means “Red Dogwood Creek” — for the red osier along its banks, not willow. An entire county carries the error. County seat McCook. Population peaked at 13,859 in 1930 and stands at 10,702 — more than three-quarters of its all-time high, where its neighbors hold between a quarter and a third. McCook is the reason. 188 listings across 6 towns.

Getting there: US-6, US-34 and US-83 all meet here, with NE-89. The Republican River runs west to east through McCook and Indianola, joined from the north by Red Willow Creek and by Driftwood, Beaver, Coon and Willow creeks. McCook sits at 2,582 feet. BNSF’s main line runs through, and McCook was and still is a division point — which is the whole explanation for the town. Central Time.

The county seat moved because the railroad picked a different town. Indianola was chosen at the first election on 27 May 1873. Then the Burlington made a place called Fairview its division point on the Omaha–Denver line, renamed it McCook for the Union general Alexander McDowell McCook, and the new town passed the old one almost at once. McCook petitioned for the seat by 1890; a four-year legal fight followed, with both towns promising land and courthouse money, and McCook won on 15 April 1896 after arguments over ballot validity. The present courthouse dates from 1926.

Nebraska’s only Frank Lloyd Wright house is on Norris Avenue. The Harvey P. Sutton House at 602 Norris was designed by Wright in 1905 and listed on the National Register in 1978 — where, incidentally, it appears under the garbled name “Stutton.” Four doors up at 706 Norris is the Senator George Norris State Historic Site, a National Historic Landmark: the home of the congressman and senator who wrote the Rural Electrification Act and fathered Nebraska’s unicameral legislature, still the only one-house legislature in the United States. His widow gave the house and its furnishings to the state in 1968. It opens Thursday to Saturday afternoons, and admission is free. Norris himself was born in Ohio.

For visitors: Norris Avenue is close to a museum street in itself — the Museum of the High Plains, the Carnegie library, the YMCA building and the Keystone Hotel are all National Register listings alongside the Wright house and the courthouse. Northwest of town at the old McCook Army Air Base stands a Norden bombsight vault, purpose-built to hold the war’s most secret instrument at a base that trained B-17, B-24 and B-29 crews. At Indianola, Camp Indianola held German prisoners of war — most taken in North Africa and Italy — from November 1943; it ran to 250 acres and nearly 200 buildings, with a peak population of 2,549, and hired men out to farmers short of labour. Some of its buildings were moved into town and turned into houses. In the Indianola town park lies the grave of a Pawnee woman who died of wounds from the 1873 Massacre Canyon fight, reburied there in 1975 with Pawnee representatives present. Add the Bartley Sales Barn, the Danbury depot museum, the Buffalo Commons Storytelling & Music Festival and the Kiplinger Arena at the fairgrounds.

One thing this county does not have. There is no state park here, and Red Willow Reservoir — Hugh Butler Lake — is in Frontier County, ten miles northwest of McCook, despite the name and despite every listing that files it under McCook. Only the 5,216-acre Red Willow Reservoir wildlife management area reaches across the line into this county.

Born here. Ben Nelson (McCook, 17 May 1941), Governor of Nebraska 1991–99 and United States Senator 2001–2013. And Frank B. Morrison Jr. (McCook, 1937), a Justice of the Montana Supreme Court from 1981 to 1987 — whose father governed Nebraska but was born in Colorado. The son is the Nebraska native; the governor was not.

Claimed here, but born elsewhere — and worth getting right. John R. McCarl, the first Comptroller General of the United States, was born in a log cabin near Des Moines; his widowed mother brought the family to McCook in 1893, he finished McCook High School in 1897, practised law and married here, and is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery. Ralph G. Brooks, McCook’s school superintendent and junior college president, became Governor of Nebraska — but he was born at Eustis, in Frontier County. And Phil Niekro, whom McCook lists among its notables, pitched for the McCook Braves from 1956 to 1959 on his way up. A minor-league season is not a birthplace, but four of them are worth a plaque.