In 1873 Horace A. Cowles, Civil War veteran, set up the Cyclone post office in his home one mile east and one mile south of present-day Shelby. A second post office, Arcade, was established on mile east of town in 1879; a year later it moved to the present location to be near the Omaha & Republican Valley Railroad, later the Union Pacific. Shelby was named after a railroad official.
Landowners Gilbert Van Vorce and Peter Matter gave the railroad half interest in their property to develop a trade center. Original streets retain their names: Walnut, Elm, Chestnut, Pine, Cherry, and Oak.
By the 1880s, the town had a drugstore, hardware store, hotel, boot and shoe shop, livery stable, bank, brick factory, and physician. The Shelby Sun newspaper was founded in 1889. Before 1900, Shelby had its own electric light plant. Telephone service arrived in 1903 and a water system in 1911. John Dunning and his father built radio station KGBY in 1926.
Shelby was home to well-known Nebraska artist Terence Duran, 1904-1968.
]]>Polk, founded in 1906 and named after U.S. President James K. Polk, was the last town established in Polk County. When the Union Pacific Railroad began building a branch line in the area, J. Wesley Wilson, his brothers Nathan and Victor, and brother-in-law C. C. McCune, formed the City Improvement Company to obtain land and lay out the town.
After a townsite had been surveyed, the company held a public sale of lots on September 11, 1906, which attracted more than 1,000 prospective buyers. A whirlwind of building activity followed, and the village boomed. Houses and stores from nearby Arborville and Stark were moved to Polk to take advantage of the railroad.
By 1907 four passenger and two freight trains arrived daily. The village grew to include four churches, five grocery stores, three banks, two hotels, a livery barn, blacksmith, school, and newspaper. By 1914 water and electric systems had been installed. The town's peak population of 561 was reached in 1920. Agriculture was and still remains the mainstay of the area, and the village continues as a trade center for the surrounding region.
]]>The site for Stromsburg was selected in 1870 by Lewis Headstrom, member of a townsite company from Galva, Illinois. In 1872 the town was platted and named "Stromsburg," the last syllable of Headstrom's name plus "burg," which in Swedish means "village on the hill."
Headstrom built the first house and store. Businesses were built around a central square reserved for a city park. In 1879 Stromsburg welcomed the Omaha and Republican Railroad, acquired by the Union Pacific in 1898. After a fire in 1887 destroyed most businesses on the west side of the square, a volunteer fire department was organized. A standpipe was erected in 1889.
When the population reached 1,000 in 1888, Stromsburg was incorporated as a second class city with Lewis Headstrom as mayor. In 1912 Buckley Park, a gift from Mr. and Mrs. John Buckley, became a part of the town.
Many of Stromsburg's citizens trace their ancestry to Sweden. In 1966 Governor Frank Morrison declared the town the "Swede Capital of Nebraska." Stromsburg's centennial celebration in 1972 and annual Swedish Festival illustrate its Swedish pride and heritage.
]]>The early settlement of Polk County in 1867 brings us in close touch with the trail of the pioneer. Then from year to year, others came and settlement advanced. These early settlers came by covered wagon, many with ox team. The nearest railroad was 40 miles distant and the roads were trails angling from place to place. The vast expanse of prairie grass, as far as the eye could see was broken only here and there by smoke arising from some sod house on a claim.
Osceola, the county seat and geographical center of Polk County is said to have been named after the Indian Chief Osceola of Florida. It was first located three miles southeast of the present site. The present location was made permanent October 10, 1871. The post office was established June, 1872 and the town was incorporated on August 26, 1881. At this date, Osceola was the terminus of the mail route from Lincoln via Ulysses. The Union Pacific Railroad ran its first train into Osceola June 23, 1879, giving direct communication with the outer world.
Polk County has been the home of three governors: Albinus Nance, John H. Mickey and Ashton C. Shallenberger.
]]>