Gordon 69343 (MM 105)

City · Sheridan County · Population 1,504 (2020 census) · ZIP 69343 · Founded 1884 · Peak population 2,223 (1960)

About Gordon

Gordon is a city of 1,504 (2020), the largest in Sheridan County, at about 3,557 feet on Antelope Creek at the north edge of the Sandhills, 15 miles east-northeast of Rushville. US 20, the Bridges to Buttes Byway, crosses NE 27 here; NE 27 runs north to the South Dakota line and south through ranch country past Mari Sandoz's grave to Ellsworth and NE 2, a route the markers call the Mari Sandoz Sandhills Trail. Gordon has Gordon Memorial Hospital, Gordon-Rushville High School, the county fairgrounds, a state-designated creative district and a municipal airport a mile east. Gordon is on Mountain Time.

History

In the winter of 1884 the Rev. John A. Scamahorn brought a colony of about 105 people from Sullivan, Indiana, by rail to Valentine and then by ox wagon west to the Lone Willow on Antelope Creek, a landmark on the Gordon Trail; the first church service was held in a tent in May 1884. When the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad, later the Chicago & North Western, built through in 1885, the town moved about a mile west to the tracks, and it was incorporated on November 19, 1885. It was named for John Gordon of Sioux City, whose wagon train of Black Hills gold seekers was turned back by the Army in the 1870s. Gordon was eliminated in the 1885 county-seat contest that Rushville finally won.

Dwight Griswold edited the Gordon Journal from 1922 to 1940 before he became governor. The population peaked at 2,223 in 1960. In 1972 the killing of Raymond Yellow Thunder in Gordon led to American Indian Movement protests. The railroad was abandoned in 2006, and the Cowboy Trail now follows its grade west to Rushville. Gordon's people also include Nobel physicist Val Fitch, the outlaw Doc Middleton and legislator Tom Brewer.

Highways and trails through Gordon

Route	One way	Other way
US 20The Bridges to Buttes Byway, through town	West to Clinton, Rushville and Chadron	East to Merriman and Valentine
NE 27Meets US 20 at Main St. on the south side of town	South past the Mari Sandoz grave to Ellsworth and NE 2	North to the South Dakota line

Nearby towns

Clinton	about 8 mi west-southwest	US 20
Rushville	about 15 mi west-southwest	US 20
Whiteclay	about 22 mi northwest	US 20 and NE 87
Pine Ridge, South Dakota	about 23 mi northwest	US 20 and NE 87
Hay Springs	about 26 mi west-southwest	US 20
Merriman	about 27 mi east-northeast	US 20
Chadron	about 40 mi west	US 20
Ellsworth	about 52 mi south	NE 27

Things to see

the Tri-State Old Time Cowboys Memorial Museum in Winship Park, 4th and Oak Sts., with more than 100 saddles, a chuck wagon and over 200 brands (June 1 to Sept. 15, 1–5 p.m. daily; free) · the Scamahorn Museum in an 1884 church in Wayland Park, 200 block of W. 5th St. (Mon., Wed. and Fri. 1–4) · the 1909 Fritz House, 132 N. Oak St. (National Register) · the Lone Willow marker east of town at the Cowboy Trail and 190th Ln., where the Scamahorn colony camped · the outdoor Gordon Swimming Pool, 300 W. 4th St., and Gordon Golf & Country Club, 9 holes on the west edge of town · the Sheridan County Fair & Rodeo in late July and the Willow Tree Festival in Winship Park in September · the Mari Sandoz grave, about 29 miles south off NE 27

Events in Gordon

Sheridan County Fair
Sheridan County Fair, a county fair in Gordon, Nebraska.
Willow Tree Festival

Know of another event here? Tell us about it.

Schools and health care

Schools: Gordon-Rushville Public Schools, 810 N. Oak St., (308) 282-1323: Gordon-Rushville High School (9–12), 810 N. Oak St., (308) 282-1322; Gordon-Rushville Elementary–Gordon (PK–5), 500 W. 2nd St., (308) 282-0216; the middle school is in Rushville

Health care: Gordon Memorial Hospital, 300 E. 8th St., (308) 282-0401, a 25-bed critical access hospital, with a VA clinic on Fridays; Gordon Clinic, 807 N. Ash St., (308) 282-2200; Gordon Countryside Care nursing home, 500 E. 10th St., (308) 282-0806

Sources: U.S. Census; Wikipedia; Who's Who in Nebraska, Sheridan County (1940); NEGenWeb Sheridan County (Evans and Manion accounts, Perkey data); Nebraska State Gazetteer (1890); Fitzpatrick, Nebraska Place-Names; History Nebraska and its markers; National Register nominations; Nebraska Game and Parks; Nebraska Department of Transportation; Nebraska Emergency Management Agency; U.S. Bureau of Reclamation; Sheridan County; Sheridan County Historical Society; Visit Sheridan County; Visit Nebraska; Gordon-Rushville Public Schools; Hay Springs Public Schools; Sheridan County Journal Star; Nebraska Examiner; Nebraska Public Media; Clint D. Andersen, Potash (2003). Distances marked "about" are straight-line estimates.