Gurley Nebraska - Nebraska Directory

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About Gurley

Gurley is a village in Cheyenne County, in the Nebraska panhandle. The 2020 census counted 187 residents, down from 214 in 2010. At about 4,285 feet, it sits higher than most towns in the state. The village covers roughly a fifth of a square mile.

History

The town dates from 1913. It is named for Fred Gurley, a superintendent with the Burlington Railroad, who served here from 1916 to 1919 and laid out a park. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy line and its grain elevators are what put this string of Cheyenne County villages on the map. Gurley's first grain elevator went up in 1914 and 1915; it burned on 14 March 1941. The first depot opened in the winter of 1915 and 1916 and was made of three bunk cars, with George Wallen as the first agent. Clara Anneva Flora, born in 1914, was the first child born in the village. The Gurley State Bank operated from 1915 to 1921.

Around town

The Outlaws Cafe opened in 1954. In 1979 a group of twenty-four investors bought it so they would keep a place to meet for coffee, and it is still community-owned.

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Gurley is a Cheyenne County village founded in 1913 when the Burlington Railroad extended its tracks to the site, with the first depot opening the following winter out of three converted bunk cars.

The village takes its name from Fred R. Gurley, a Burlington Railroad superintendent. Early Gurley grew around a grain elevator (built 1914-15, lost to fire in 1941), a lumber company, a combined general store, post office and pharmacy, and its own State Bank. Like neighboring Dalton, Gurley merged its school district in 1978 to form Leyton Public Schools.