About Minatare
Minatare is a city in Scotts Bluff County, in western Nebraska, and part of the Scottsbluff micropolitan statistical area. The population was 715 at the 2020 census, down from 816 in 2010. The city covers about 0.38 square miles and is served by Minatare Public Schools.
History
The settlement was established in 1887 under the name Tabor. George W. Fairfield had surveyed the land and filed his claim in 1885. When the Burlington Railroad arrived in 1900 it bypassed the original site, so the town moved and took the name Minatare, incorporating that same year. The name comes from the Minnataree, described in local and encyclopedic accounts as a Sioux sub-branch that hunted in the area. Accounts of the meaning differ: some give clear water, while others trace a Hidatsa term meaning crosses the water.
Irrigation and industry
Residents organised the Minatare Canal and Irrigation Company in 1887, described locally as the first such project in the area, and turned water into the system on 15 August 1888. A sugar factory built in 1926 brought growth that peaked in the 1940s. The factory closed in 1948 and the town never fully recovered. Lake Minatare, covering 2,970 acres, is a state recreation area with a lighthouse and forms part of the North Platte National Wildlife Refuge.
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Minatare was originally established in 1887 as an agricultural settlement called Tabor; when the railroad bypassed the site around 1900, the community relocated and took the name Minatare, from a Hidatsa-derived word associated with the Minnataree people. It was incorporated as a city in 1900.
Minatare, population 715 in 2020, lay directly in the path of the August 21, 2017 total solar eclipse, and each August hosts “Tabor Days” — a nod to the town's original name. It is the hometown of Thoroughbred horse-racing Hall of Famer John A. Nerud, and is distinct from nearby Lake Minatare, a separate reservoir and recreation area.
Navigate & Explore Minatare
Get directions: search "Minatare Nebraska" in Waze or Google Maps
Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
Scotts Bluff County Cameras: View Scotts Bluff County cameras