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.
]]>Lone Tree, a giant, solitary cottonwood, was a noted Platte River landmark as early as 1833. Standing on the north side of the river some three miles southwest of present Central City, the tree was visible at great distance. Several travelers estimated they could see if twenty miles away. The tree was especially prominent since timber was rare on the Nebraska prairies except in stream valleys, where it received protection from prairie fires.
The Mormon Trail passed by Lone Tree, as did the Omaha-Fort Kearny stage route. The tree also gave its name to a stage station and a town, later renamed Central City. Ten to twelve feet in circumference, the tree's total height was about fifty feet; its lowest branches were about twenty feet above the ground.
Passing travelers often camped beneath Lone Tree and carved their initials on its trunk. This probably hastened its end, for the tree was dead by 1863. A severe storm in 186 5 brought it to the earth. In 1911 residents of Merrick County erected a stone in the shape of a tree trunk on the site once occupied by Lone Tree.
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