Village of Halsey

Halsey sits on a county line, and both counties shrank from the same high-water mark. Thomas County, named for General George H. Thomas, counted 1,773 people in 1920 and 669 in 2020. Blaine County, named for James G. Blaine and organized in 1886, peaked at 1,778 in 1920 and had 431 in 2020, the third-smallest county in the state. Halsey itself counted 68. Blaine has no state historical marker of its own in the 2021 register, so the county line named on this one is as close as the program comes.

What the plaque says

Village of Halsey In 1885 surveyors designated a route through the Sand Hills for a Burlington Railroad branch line. The rails reached this point on the Blaine-Thomas county line in 1887, and a town was laid out. It was named Halsey after Halsey E. Yates, the son of Burlington official Charles E. Yates. A depot was constructed, followed by a post office and school/church, both built of sod. The first general store was on the west side of Main Street, a block north of the depot. Other buildings included a blacksmith shop, saloon, and the "Shady Nook" hotel. Area ranchers drove their cattle to town for shipment to market, bought supplies, and often stayed at the hotel. In 1904 the depot burned, bringing change to Halsey's configuration. The town was resurveyed and rebuilt mostly in Thomas County. In 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt designated a national forest reserve (now part of the Nebraska National Forest) southwest of Halsey, where all the trees were hand-planted. While the population has declined, Halsey remains alive with community spirit. Village of Halsey Thomas County Visitor Committee Halsey-Purdum Service Club Nebraska State Historical Society, 2014

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Nebraska National Forest, Bessey Ranger District — 1.4 mi
  A pine forest planted by hand on the Sandhills from 1902 to prove a botanist's theory, still raising seedlings at its nursery and still recovering from the Bovee Fire of 2022.

More markers nearby

• The Sandhills — 15 mi
• The Haumann Sisters: Lost in the Sandhills — 16 mi
• Anselmo — 29 mi