Sutton

Sutton was the county's first seat of government. A. T. Andreas's 1882 history has Luther French laying out his homestead as the town on August 10, 1871, and selling it that November 1 to I. N. and M. Clark. At the first county election, held October 14, 1871, at Alexander Campbell's house, Sutton took 56 of 89 votes for county seat, and a two-story frame courthouse went up that winter. Five businesses failed in the 1873 money panic and the 1874 grasshopper famine, yet by 1882 the town had about 1,000 people and 284 buildings.

What the plaque says

Sutton The first permanent settler in the town of Sutton was Luther French, who arrived in 1870. He and his seven children lived near here in a dugout on the bank of School Creek. This dugout had a tunnel to the creek bank and the inside entrance could be concealed by a crude cupboard. In the event of an Indian attack, the children were instructed to take cover in the tunnel. Apparently Indians never bothered the family. In 1871 the French homestead was laid out as a townsite and named for Sutton, Massachusetts. Soon after its founding, the town found itself engaged in disagreement with the Burlington and Missouri Railroad. Sutton wished to have a depot and offered land for the construction of facilities. Because the title to the Sutton land was not clear, the railroad located its depot some four miles from Sutton and laid out a townsite there. By 1873, the railroad had decided to relocate the depot in Sutton. This area was hard hit by the grasshopper plague of 1874. Sutton became a distribution center for federal, state and private aid which enabled the settlers to withstand the hardships of the following winter. Sutton Community Betterment Committee Historical Land Mark Council

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• The German Russians Come to Sutton — steps away
• The Soldiers' Monument — steps away
• Farmers' Valley Cemetery — 7.6 mi
• Henderson, Nebraska, Centennial 1887-1987 — 12 mi