Kearney Nebraska History & Facts

Kearney is the county seat of Buffalo County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 30,787 in the 2010 census. It is home to the University of Nebraska at Kearney. The westward push of the railroad as the Civil War ended gave new birth to the community.

Kearney is located at 40°42′3″N 99°4′52″W (40.700731, -99.081150) on I-80 with access to the major markets of Omaha-Lincoln, Denver, Kansas City, Des Moines, Wichita and Cheyenne, Kearney is at the center of a seven-state region and 20 million people.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.00 square miles (33.67 km2), of which 12.77 square miles (33.07 km2) is land and 0.23 square miles (0.60 km2) is water.

As of the census of 2010, there were 30,787 people, 12,201 households, and 7,015 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,410.9 inhabitants per square mile (930.9/km2). There were 12,738 housing units at an average density of 997.5 per square mile (385.1/km2). The racial makeup of the city was 92.3% White, 1.0% African American, 0.3% Native American, 1.8% Asian, 3.1% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.3% of the population.

There were 12,201 households, of which 29.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 43.7% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, 4.0% had a male householder with no wife present, and 42.5% were non-families. 30.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.36 and the average family size was 2.96 .

The median age in the city was 29 years. 22.2% of residents were under age 18; 20.5% were between ages 18 and 24; 25.6% were aged 25 to 44; 20.6% were aged 45 to 64; and 11.1% were aged 65 years or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.9% male and 51.1% female.

American settlers traveling westward arrived in significant numbers along the Mormon Trail and Overland Trails in the late 1840s, marking the beginning of Kearney's role as a crossroads on major east-west transportation arteries. In 1848, to safeguard westward migrants traveling through the region, the US Army established a military fort several miles southeast of the present city. Named after famed frontier military officer Stephen W. Kearny, Fort Kearny would become the namesake of the present city and serve as a comfort station for gold prospectors, Pony Express riders, and Union Pacific Railroad workers until 1871.

The first permanent settlement in the area was called Dobytown, located 2 miles (3.2 km) southeast of the present-day Kearney. The "e" in Kearney was added by mistake sometime afterwards by postmen who consistently misspelled the town name; eventually the spelling became nomenclature. The region forever changed in 1866 with the arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad. The fixing of a junction point with the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in 1871 anticipated the establishment of a townsite in the summer of that year. The city of Kearney was incorporated on December 3, 1873. The current location of the city is on the north side of the Platte River and steadily grew as a result of the influence of the railroad. Chosen to be the seat of Buffalo County in 1874, Kearney quickly developed as a regional center and experienced a period of unprecedented population and economic growth through the next twenty odd years. Enterprising investors poured into the burgeoning community from the East and elsewhere, hoping to enrich themselves through speculative development schemes like the building of an irrigation canal, an electric street railway, and a five-story opera house. These flush times would come to a sudden halt as a result of the agricultural depression and economic crisis of the early 1890s.

Famous Peoples From Kearney Nebraska

Andrew James Anderson

(born March 22, 1994) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Hiroshima Toyo Carp of Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). He was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 21st round of the 2012 Major League Baseball draft. Anderson made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut in 2017. He previously played for the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, and Texas Rangers.

Anderson was born in Reno, Nevada, and attended Galena High School in Reno.

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