About DeWitt
DeWitt is a village in Saline County, in south-east Nebraska. It covers about 0.42 square miles and sits at an elevation of 1,293 feet. The 2020 census counted 520 residents. The village stands about a mile west of the Big Blue River. Local students attend Tri County Public Schools, formed in 1966 from a consolidation of earlier districts.
History
DeWitt was established in 1872, when the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad was extended to that point. The town was first called Dennison, after a land company secretary. It was renamed DeWitt in recognition of the Rev. DeWitt Talmage, following a donation Dennison made to the local Congregational church. Residents of Swan City, the original Saline County seat, moved houses and businesses to the new railroad town. The first school was built in 1873.
The Vise-Grip
The Vise-Grip locking pliers were invented in DeWitt by William Petersen, a Danish immigrant blacksmith, during the Great Depression. Petersen Manufacturing Company made the tools here and at its height employed several hundred people. Newell Rubbermaid closed the DeWitt plant on 31 October 2008 and moved production to China. About 330 jobs were lost. In 2018 the building was put back to work making Eagle Grip pliers.
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DeWitt is a village in Saline County, Nebraska, established in 1872 when the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad was completed from Crete to Beatrice. The new railroad town absorbed much of the population and business of the older Swan City settlement, Saline County's original county seat, located about two miles away.
With 520 residents at the 2020 Census, DeWitt is known as the birthplace of the Vise-Grip locking pliers, invented here by Danish immigrant blacksmith William Petersen; the plant operated for 84 years before closing in 2008, and pliers manufacturing resumed at the site in 2018 under the "Eagle Grip" brand.
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Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
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