Western is a village in Saline County in southeast Nebraska. It was laid out in 1872 and incorporated as a village in 1880, and the name honors a settler named West, a homesteader on whose farm a post office had been established the year before the town was surveyed.
The 2020 census counted 224 residents, continuing a long slow decline from 287 in 2000 and 235 in 2010. The village covers about half a square mile. Its population skews older than the state as a whole. Children from Western attend Meridian School or Tri County High School, both consolidated districts that draw from a wide stretch of countryside rather than from any one town.
The surrounding country was settled in part by Czech immigrants, and about nine miles north of town stands Rad Saline Center cis. 389 Z.C.B.J., a rural meeting hall built in 1939 for the local Czech fraternal lodge. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 and remains one of the more distinctive buildings in this part of Saline County.
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Western is a village in Saline County, Nebraska, platted in 1872 and incorporated in 1880. It's likely named for Wesley West, an early pioneer settler.
With 224 residents at the 2020 Census, Western preserves three National Register-listed sites, including the Saline County Bank building and the Michael Witt Fachwerkbau, a rare example of German half-timbered construction.
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Get directions: search "Western Nebraska" in Waze or Google Maps
Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
Saline County Cameras: View Saline County cameras