Arcadia Centennial, 1885-1985

The centennial plaque leaves out one of the town's proudest buildings. The cornerstone of Arcadia's Carnegie library was laid on March 24, 1917, and it opened that October, one of 69 Carnegie libraries built in Nebraska between 1902 and 1922. The Lincoln firm Fiske and Meginnis designed it in the Classical Revival style, and the Arcadia Ladies Up-to-Date Club helped raise the money for its site and furnishings. It is still the town's library, with its original wood floors, center desk and tables, and in March 2020 it joined the National Register of Historic Places.

What the plaque says

Arcadia Centennial, 1885-1985 In 1873 the first settlers, George McKeller and Porter Brown, arrived near the Valley County site which would later become Arcadia. They were followed in 1874 by Samuel Hawthorne, his brother Boone and their families. Mrs. Hawthorne named the community Arcadia, after the Greek region of Arcadia, which symbolizes ideal simplicity and contentment. Samuel Hawthorne established a post office and was appointed the first postmaster on June 27, 1874. The first school was established in the house of Boone Hawthorne with Mingerson Coombs as teacher. The Arcadia town site was platted by John Wall and Parley Round and put into the record October 3, 1885. The first buildings housed a general store, hardware store, and harness shop. The community's economy improved with the arrival of the Burlington Railroad in 1887. The Arcadia Roller Mills, estab- lished in the late 1880's, also boosted prosperity. The residents of the Arcadia area have experienced setbacks and natural disasters: Indian scares and locust attacks in 1874; the blizzards of 1888 and 1948-1949; major fires in 1890, 1904, and 1937; and tornados in 1904, 1959, and 1974. Despite the setbacks, Arcadia simply and contentedly anticipates tomorrow. Valley County Centennial Commission Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Hartsuff State Historical Park — 22 mi
  A small infantry post of 1874 in the North Loup valley, built of local lime concrete on the raiding road between Lakota and Pawnee country, and kept nearly whole by eighty years of farming.

More markers nearby

• Arcadia Congregational Church — 0.5 mi
• Mitchell and Ketchum Homesteads — 6.7 mi
• The Blizzard of 1888 — 9.4 mi
• Westerville 1880-1980 — 13 mi