This history of
Murdock, Nebraska is now available in book format. Contact the
Historical Society to purchase the book. All proceeds will go to
benefit the Historical Society and Museum.
Read a little bit of history from the book
below....
In 1890, the Chicago Rock Island Railroad Company
started their line from Omaha
west. It would come through
the area. The railroad needed
a town built every 7 miles along its tracks. South Bend
was already to the northeast and Alvo would be established to the
southwest. Locomotives needed
to take on water about every 7 miles.
The Kansas
Land
and Townsite Company surveyed and wished to lay out a town in this
vicinity. Mr. Thompson was the
land Company representative. The
company really had an eye on the NE 1/4 in Sec. 21 Elmwood Precinct at the
intersection of 298th and
Bluff Rd.
where Highway 1 turns south; but the owner, a Mr. Connelly, kept holding
out for a higher price. The
company finally took Louis Eickhoff's price of $8000.
So it was that the land company bought land in the NE quarter of
Sec. 15 Elmwood Precinct. This
was done in the fall of 1890. Surveying would soon begin.
What was the new town to be named?
Louis Neitzel bought the first lot sold in Jan., 1891.
He declined the use of his name.
Louis Eickhoff did not consent to the use of his name.
The town had to have a name! Finally,
Neitzel proposed the name of a Rock Island Railroad official….Murdock!
This isn't a very romantic story, but the name stuck!
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