Stanton County

Pilger, where this marker was set up in August 2020, is a rebuilt town. On June 16, 2014 a supercell produced twin EF4 tornadoes, one of which struck the village directly while the other crossed farmland to the east. About three quarters of Pilger was heavily damaged or destroyed, and a five-year-old girl was killed there. The village received a $5.6 million FEMA grant, ruined buildings were bulldozed, the grain silos were replaced within months and St. John Lutheran Church about a year later. The population was reported to fall from 352 to 240.

What the plaque says

Stanton County Named for Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in 1862, Jacob Hoffman and Francis Scott filed the first homestead applications in the county on November 18, 1865. The first farms, however, were those of Charles and Mitchell Sharp, who homesteaded near here in the autumn of 1865. This fertile region, enhanced by the Elkhorn River, attracted settlers of German, Norwegian, Czech, Irish Canadian and Swedish origin. The town of Stanton, platted in 1870, was incor- porated in 1881. The Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad was built through the county in 1879. The following year the village of Pilger was platted. Named for Peter Pilger, who owned the original town- site, it was incorporated in 1887. The first large scale farming in the county was the "Township Farm" of Walter Cragg and Ephraim Clark. The farm was divided into four sections, one for crops, one for orchards, and the remaining two for the raising of swine and cattle. The "Town- ship Farm" attested to the versatility of the region, which makes Stanton County a most productive agricultural area today. Stanton County Historical Society Historical Land Mark Council

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Wayne — 15 mi
• Wayne State College — 16 mi
• Verges Park (Norfolk Brick and Tile Company) — 19 mi
• St. Paul's Lutheran Church — 19 mi