Ceresco, Nebraska USA Historical Background

History of Ceresco 1869-1983

    Ceresco, Nebraska, is located on the southern edge of Saunders County just thirteen miles north of Lincoln.   Its first settlers were Ashel and Horace Andrus, who came to the southern part of Saunders County in 1868.  They settled in a section bordering the county line and one mile west of what is now Highway 77. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Ira Nelson came and settled north of them.  Mrs. Nelson was a sister of the Andrus brothers. 

    The Andrus families came from the vicinity of Ceresco, Michigan, and chose to scale their new town by that name.  Although they probably named the town after their former home, they no doubt also had in mind the derivation of the name itself from Ceres, the mythological Roman Goddess of Grain and Fertility.  The "co" was added to represent the company of settlers who were soon to follow them.  The fertile land must have been impressive even then.

    The open, treeless prairie probably seemed stark to settlers who came from the east where forests predominated.  James Henry Teachman, who came to Ceresco with his parents from New York, spent some of his early years transplanting trees form an Island in the Platte river to his home east of town. 

    Land was available for sale around the Ceresco in the late 1800's for $2.00 to $10.00 per acre from the Burlington Missouri River Railroad.  Attractive land prices and a promise of a new life drew thousand s of settlers westward. Ceresco grew as a trade center with the influx of home-steader from the eastern United States and northern Europe.  A great majority of the foreign settlers were first of second generation Swedes.  In the early 1900's, Czech families settled in eastern Nebraska, some in the rural Ceresco area.Sam Pearson, the Sward sisters, and Amos Sklenar.  Horace Andrus was th4e Postmaster.  The Post office was again moved to a part of the house now occupied by the Larry Stark family, one half mile south of the corner of 7th and Pine Streets.

    The first mail delivered in Ceresco was carried by Charles Whitney and was brought daily by horseback or stage. The stage horses were kept at the Ira Nelson farm, and the driver ate his meals there also.  for this service the Nelsons received $12.00 a year. 

    The Country was wide open , with few roads and bridges and mostly trails for horse and carriage travel.  A daily stage coach went form Lincoln (population 2,500) t Fremont in 1872.   In December of that year, widespread disease among the horses in the area forced carriers to walk with the mail between the two cities.

    Horace Andrus, and later John Riddle, had a store in connection with the Ceresco Post office.   Johannes and John Oberg operated a Blacksmith shop, and a Physician, Dr. Crickbaum, set up a practice in what is know as the "old Ceresco."  Religious activities were conducted by circuit riding ministers serving scattered groups of settlers.

    When the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railroad was to be built through the southeastern part of Nebraska, the tiny village of Ceresco apparently was overlooked.  The rails were laid one mile to the east of the village, and it became necessary to move the town to the railroad.  This was begun on June 10, 1886, when the Townsite Company bought from Louis Palman the original 160 acres of land for $3000 which is part of where the town still stands.

    John Oberg built a blacksmith shop in new Ceresco and the town's first house. In 1886 two of his children were born . Mamie was born in old Ceresco, and Ernest William was born in December after the family had moved to new Ceresco.  In 1968 it was burned to the ground.  It was a spectacular fire driven by a strong northwest wind.  Thirty building were destroyed.  The fire originated in a building owned by Frank Ide with a saloon in it known as "Hole In The Wall"  It was located at N. 2nd and Beech Street.

    In spite of the hard times with drought, wind, and grasshoppers, Ceresco was built a third time. Hod Andrus immediately rebuilt his store as a brick structure .About this time the saloon license was raised and Crisco's saloonkeeper refused to pay it. In order to prevent the return of the saloon, men strictly opposed to the it were placed on the Town Board.

    About 1909, three or four men came to Ceresco one night to rob the old State Bank at 2nd and Elm streets. while they were getting ready to blow open the vault, one stood as a lookout by the Livery Stable a little further west on Elm Street. Jim Boyle was returning home from a date that night, and aware that something was going on at the Bank, cut through the alley towards the Livery Stable. The lookout nabbed Boyle and brought him to the Bank.  The men blew the vault, took about $400, tied Jim Boule to a chair where he spen the night.

        A Light and Water bond election, held December 8, 1914, brought approval for a plant put in operation of August 15, 1915. The original$15,000.  Later the plant was remodeled and changed to alternating current.

    In 1911, a Dr. Frank Wright moved to Ceresco and set up a medical practice. Dr. Wm. W. Noyes and joined him in 1923.  Dr. Wright moved to Lincoln in 1925 while Dr. Noyes remained to care for the sick.

    The Great Depression of the 1930'swas felt in the village of Ceresco. In rural Saunders County dust bowl conditions and poor crop prices make it barely possible for the farmer to carry on.   Businesses in town did not thrive during these years.

    The town has had a park since 1929 when it purchased 5 1/2 acres from the Township Site Company for a park an a baseball field. In 1968, Ceresco commemorated the Nebraska and Ceresco Centennial, at which time a large picnic shelter was built by the Booster Club. Five years later, playground equipment was added.

    Highway 77 was first laid form Lincoln to Waco in 1937.  This affected Ceresco because the previous route between the two cities passed through Ceresco's business district.  When the new highway was routed it missed the town.

    Through the years, new buildings have replaced the old. In 1948, the American Legion Memorial Building was built.  When electricity use began to increase in 1944, REA current was brought into Ceresco. The entire electric  system was sold to Omaha Public Power District in September 1965.  A lighted park, featuring shelters, picnic tables, rest rooms, playground equipment and a new backstop and bleacher was completed in 1973.

   A new Community Building housing the Fire Department, Library, Village offices, Senior Citizens room plus a large fellowship hall was completed in 1979.  The farmer Co-op expanded their storage facilities in the fall of 1982 by building a large steel bin on the site of the old Railroad property.  Many residents have since moved into our town to live in a growing and progressive community and also to send their children to an aggressive school. Ceresco now has a population of  825 according to 1990's census.

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