City · Sheridan County · Population 599 (2020 census) · ZIP 69347 · Founded 1885 · Peak population 1,091 (1950)

About Hay Springs

Hay Springs is a city of 599 (2020) at about 3,832 feet in western Sheridan County, where NE 87 comes north from Alliance to meet US 20, the Bridges to Buttes Byway. Rushville is 12 miles east and Chadron 19 miles west-northwest. The Pine Ridge country of Beaver Valley lies to the north, and the irrigated Mirage Flats along the Niobrara River are about 12 miles south. Walgren Lake State Recreation Area is about 2½ miles east and 2½ miles south of US 20. Hay Springs is on Mountain Time.

History

Hay Springs was founded in 1885 when the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad, later the Chicago & North Western, reached it, and it was incorporated on November 19, 1885. It was named for the hay meadows and the springs nearby; the post office was first called Moakler. By 1890 it had three banks, a flour mill, a brickyard, an elevator and two newspapers. Hay Springs won the November 1885 county-seat count, but the Nebraska Supreme Court confirmed Rushville in 1888. The author Mari Sandoz was born in 1896 on her father's homestead on the Niobrara south of town, and the glass-ceramics inventor S. Donald Stookey lived here as a small child.

In 1923 a "monster" was reported in Walgren Lake, a tale probably started as a hoax; Mari Sandoz used it in her books, and the town keeps a green replica. The Bureau of Reclamation's Mirage Flats project, finished in 1946–48, irrigates about 11,670 acres south of town with water from Box Butte Reservoir. The population peaked at 1,091 in 1950. The railroad through town was abandoned in 2007.

Things to see

the Camp Sheridan and Spotted Tail Agency marker on S. Post St. just south of US 20; the Camp Sheridan site itself, about 12 miles north-northwest, is on private land · Heritage Center 1, 133 N. Main St., with Mari Sandoz items, and Heritage Center 2, 230 N. Baker St., in the 1887 Methodist church with a 1910 schoolhouse and a log cabin (by appointment, June 1 to Labor Day; (308) 638-7643) · Walgren Lake State Recreation Area: 40 primitive campsites, a fishing pier and the legend of the lake monster; water was very low from drought in 2026 · Sunset Park at US 20 and NE 87, with chainsaw-carved wildlife, and Centennial Park, 1st and Main, with a Korean War memorial · the city pool, 118 S. Post St., the 9-hole golf course and Sunset RV Park, 199 S. Post St. · Metcalf WMA, about 3,200 acres of Pine Ridge country 10 miles north · the Friendly Festival the weekend before Labor Day weekend

Navigate & Explore Hay Springs

Get directions to Hay Springs: Waze → · Google Maps → · Apple Maps →

Nearby businesses: Find businesses within 20 miles of Hay Springs →

Road conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov

Cameras: View Sheridan County cameras →

Travel corridor: US 20 Corridor →

Sheridan County → · Nebraska Town Directory →