About Indianola
Indianola is a village in Red Willow County, in south-west Nebraska. The 2010 census counted 584 residents. The village covers about 1.25 square miles at an elevation near 2,380 feet. McCook, the county seat, is 11 miles west, and Bartley lies five miles east.
History
Indianola was platted in 1873, and its post office opened the same year. The name came from Indianola, Iowa, the former home of an early settler. Indianola was the first county seat of Red Willow County. The seat moved to McCook after the railroad chose McCook rather than Indianola for the midpoint terminal on its Omaha to Denver route, and the town declined from there. A city park holds the grave of a Pawnee woman who died of wounds received at Massacre Canyon. She was reburied there in 1975 with tribal participation.
Camp Indianola
A prisoner of war camp stood about a mile and a half north of town and operated from 1943 to 1946. Prisoners, mostly German soldiers captured in North Africa and Italy, began arriving by train in November 1943. The camp covered 250 acres with nearly 200 buildings and held as many as 2,549 men at its peak. Because of a wartime labour shortage, prisoners were sent out to work for area farmers. Foundations, two brick chimneys and the frame of a water tower remain. The ruins are the best surviving example of Nebraska's four prisoner of war camps, and the site has been added to the National Register of Historic Places.
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Indianola was platted in 1873, the same year Red Willow County organized, and served as the original county seat until the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad bypassed it in favor of McCook in 1896. The city takes its name from Indianola, Iowa, the former hometown of an early settler.
With 524 residents as of the 2020 Census, Indianola preserves a notable piece of WWII history at the nearby Camp Indianola POW site, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2019. Its town park is also home to the relocated grave of a Pawnee woman connected to the historic Sioux–Pawnee battle at Massacre Canyon.
Navigate & Explore Indianola
Get directions: search "Indianola Nebraska" in Waze or Google Maps
Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
Red Willow County Cameras: View Red Willow County cameras