Austin

District No. 2 was established in the month the county's first school opened. Andreas's 1882 History of the State of Nebraska says that school was taught at Loup City by Miss Susan S. Gilbert from the first Monday of November 1873, with twenty-five pupils, and that by 1882 the county had twenty-eight school districts. Schoolhouses, bridges and county buildings were paid for with bonds voted soon after the county organized in 1873. Courts threw some out, Andreas still counted about $65,000 of legal debt, and he blamed gross mismanagement, if nothing worse, by some early officials.

What the plaque says

Austin Austin was named in honor of Simeon Austin, a circuit rider. In 1877 Austin post office was established on the farm of Oliver S. Brown and continued until 1919. The Union Pacific Railroad arrived in 1886; the Austin siding was built halfway between Loup City and Rockville in 1902 and removed in 1985. Although it was never incorporated, Austin had a store, 1906-31; church, 1907-46; blacksmith shop, 1916-19; stockyards and office; grain elevator; corn crib; coal bin; and several homes. Austin Irrigation functioned from 1913 to 1926. Picnics and ball games were held in a nearby grove. District No.2, the first rural school in Sherman County, was established on November 15, 1873. After 125 years of serving the Austin community it closed in June 1998 after educating the last eligible student in the district. Austin was the last rural school to close in Sherman County and had been located on three different sites in three different buildings. All that remains of Austin today is the cemetery established in 1886, and located one mile southeast of here. Sherman County Historical Society Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Jenner's Park — 5.5 mi
• Dead Horse Creek — 5.7 mi
• The Loup City Riot, 1934 — 5.8 mi
• Post South Loup Fork "Fort Banishment" — 13 mi