A discarded Indian bow suggested the name for a town. Wilson Hewitt, an early homesteader, had applied for the location of a post office on his place. Approving the location, the government rejected Hewitt's first three suggested names as being too similar to names previously approved. Remembering a broken bow recently found nearby, Hewitt then submitted the name "Broken Bow," which the Post Office Department readily approved. This area was the center of what eventually came to be known as the Sod House Frontier. As homesteaders began to enter this largely treeless region, they made their first homes of prairie sod, which they cut into strips. Early churches, schools and some business places were also made of sod. Homesteaders used sod to construct corrals, henhouses, corn cribs, wind breaks, and even pig pens. One enterprising Custer County resident even constructed a full two storied sod house while others were usually a single story or story and a half. As the region became more settled, Broken Bow grew, and in 1882 became the county seat of Custer County. That same year, Mr. Jess Gandy donated the sites for the county courthouse and for the city square.
]]>Broken Bow was platted 1882 by Jesse Gandy. He donated lots to people who would build a house or establish a business. He did this to influence voters to make the new town the Custer County seat, which they did in an election that fall. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad reached Broken Bow in 1886. Anticipating new commerce, the Lincoln Land Company purchased large tracts of land. The town flourished with the arrival of the railroad. The region’s rich agricultural territory was now open to distant markets, and Broken Bow became a regional trade center.
Gandy’s plat reserved one block as a public square surrounded by business lots. The square has served as the commercial district’s focal point, landscaped with trees, walkways, and a bandstand. The town square centers on buildings dating to the late nineteenth century through the mid-twentieth century, representing the town’s periods of development. The Broken Bow commercial historic district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.
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