About Carroll
Carroll is a village in Wayne County, in north-eastern Nebraska. The 2020 census counted 193 residents, down from 229 in 2010 and 238 in 2000. Elevation is 1,581 feet. The village is compact, 0.15 square miles, all land, with grain bins standing north of the business district.
History
Carroll dates to 1886, when the railroad was extended to that point. The county's account says the site was settled in October of that year and was chosen by a railroad manager for its nearness to Deer Creek. The first name was Manning, after an early settler, J. R. Manning.
How it was named
Two versions survive. In one, a man named Carroll arbitrated a dispute between the railroad company and local landowners, and the name went up on the depot afterward. In the other, recorded in the 1925 volume Nebraska Place Names, the railroad's general manager E. W. Winter named the town for Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Maryland, the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. The two accounts are not fully reconcilable, and both are still repeated locally.
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One of Wayne County’s smallest villages by land area, Carroll has seen a steady population decline over the past two decades but remains a genuine, currently incorporated Wayne County village with deep railroad-era roots.
Navigate & Explore Carroll
Get directions: search "Carroll Nebraska" in Waze or Google Maps
Road Conditions: Nebraska 511 — 511.nebraska.gov
Wayne County County Cameras: View Wayne County County cameras