Mullen, Hooker County

Mullen's best-known neighbor came a century after the railroad. In 1990 Lincoln developer Dick Youngscap began surveying several thousand acres of ranch land near town, and Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw spent two years walking it, finding more than 130 natural golf holes and keeping 18. They moved only about 4,000 cubic yards of earth. The round native sand matched the mix used for greens, so they needed no drainage. Sand Hills Golf Club, established in 1994, ranks among the best courses in the world, yet its fewer than 200 members almost all live elsewhere.

What the plaque says

Mullen Hooker County The Grand Island and Wyoming Central branch of the Burlington railroad came through this area in 1887 and built a siding here named Mullen after a railroad contractor. In 1888 Trefren and Gandy platted the village of Mullen. Hooker County, named for Civil War General Joseph Hooker, was established March 29, 1889, with Mullen as the county seat. A two-room courthouse was constructed the same year. By 1900 Mullen had some forty buildings including a school, bank, depot, blacksmith shop, and stores. The village was incorporated in 1906, and the present courthouse was built in 1912. The old courthouse now houses the Hooker County Tribune, established in 1888. The 1904 Kinkaid 640-acre Homestead Act spurred settlement, and county population peaked in 1920. Even 640-acre homesteads proved inadequate for agriculture and ranching in the Sand Hills, and drought and depression in the 1930s accelerated the trend to larger ranches and fewer people. Hooker County, with Mullen as its only town, is one of Nebraska's most productive cattle-raising regions. Mullen Public School District is one of the largest by area in the state. Hooker County Historical Society Nebraska State Historical Society, 2009

Where it stands

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