Built in 1906 and remodeled in 1923, this was the home of cattleman Heber Hord until his death in 1949. Hord was the only son of Thomas Benton (T.B.) Hord, who founded a livestock feeding company based in Central City. T.B. Hord began his career during the era of the great cattle drives and the open range, and the Hords played an important role in the birth of the modern livestock industry.
The company became one of the world’s largest livestock feeding operations by the early 1900s, accommodating 16,000 cattle and 12,000 hogs by 1908. The Hords made pioneering use of technology and modern management practices, making their business a model for the industry.
Heber expanded the company further and served for 25 years on the board of the directors of Omaha’s Union Stockyards. He also supported the community through philanthropy, donating his father’s house for use as a local hospital, and donating land for the city’s library and post office.
]]>After the Civil War, herds of Texas cattle were driven north to marketing points in eastern Nebraska, but settlement by homesteaders forced the trail further west each year. Beginning in 1875, Union Pacific selected Ogallala as its main shipping point. During the following decade, thousands of longhorn cattle were trailed through Perkins County, in this vicinity.
Beginning in Texas the trail turned northward through the Indian Territory into western Kansas. From Dodge City on the Arkansas River, the trail continued to Buffalo Station, Kansas, entering Nebraska in Hitchcock County. The hardest day's drive for the trail-weary men and cattle was the 30 miles from the head of Stinking Water Creek in southeast Perkins County to Ogallala on the South Platte; it was the longest and driest drive of the trip.
In 1876 over 60,000 Texas cattle were driven over the trail, and between 1879 and 1884 over 100,000 cattle made the trip each year, with the last great drive occurring in 1884. Due to settlement in the counties to the south, as well as in Perkins County, the last drives were made through the western part of the county.
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