Phelps County
Posted by: 
NevaP
N 40° 26.354 W 099° 22.212
14T E 468603 N 4476575
This marker, which relates history of the county, stands on the courthouse square in Holdrege, Nebraska
Waymark Code: WM3KTC
Location: Nebraska, United States
Date Posted: 04/17/2008
Views: 16
The marker reads:
PHELPS COUNTY
The great immigrant roads to the West which followed the Platte River brought the first settlers to this area. Beginning in the late 1850's, these frontiersmen operated stage stations, road ranches, and trading posts. An August attack upon a wagon train in present northwestern Phelps County, known as the Plum Creek Massacre, was the initial incident of the Indian War of 1864.
Phelps County was organized on April 23, 1873, with the northern town of Williamsburg being named the county seat. The seat of government was moved to Phelps Center in 1879 and again to Holdrege, its present location, in 1883. Early settlers, lured by government homestead lands and cheap railroad lands, were mainly of Swedish descent. Excellence in education, religion, and agriculture was their goal, as it is today.
This area is credited with one of the world's largest underground water supplies. Phelps County is 348,000 acres in size of which 338,300 are farmland. In 1973, the county's centennial year, over 62% of its cropland is watered by 1,041 irrigation wells and over 350 miles of ditches and laterals.
The marker, #154, was placed by the Phelps County Historical Society and the Nebraska State Historical Society
Marker Name: Phelps County
City: yes
Web Address if available:: [Web Link]
Roadside: Not Listed
Other: Not Listed
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Visit Instructions:
Post Pictures:
1. Close up of historical marker
2. Picture of surrounding area (would prefer to have the marker in the picture also). Thanks!