Taylor Nebraska

Village · Loup County · County seat · Population 141 (2020 census) · ZIP 68879 · Founded 1883 · Peak population 349 (1940)

About Taylor

Taylor is a village of 141 (2020) and the seat of Loup County, at about 2,274 feet in the valley of the North Loup River. US 183 runs north–south through town and NE 91 east–west; the two share about a mile south of town before NE 91 turns east to Burwell, and NE 96 leaves US 183 north of town for the Calamus country. Taylor has the county courthouse, Loup County Public Schools, the Taylor City Library, a bank and a café, but no clinic or hospital; the nearest hospital is Valley County Hospital in Ord, about 26 miles southeast. Taylor is on Central Time.

History

Joseph Rusho, remembered as the “Father of Taylor,” gave the land for the townsite in 1883 and named it for his friend Edward H. Taylor; he also gave the courthouse block. When the new county chose its seat that year, Kent, the temporary seat, backed Almeria, and Taylor won by two votes; the commissioners declared it the permanent seat on August 4, 1883. Almeria's founder sued over the vote in 1884, and the case was dismissed a year later. Taylor grew on the promise of a railroad: in 1887 Herman Carter built the Pavillion Hotel, and by the 1890s the town had several stores, two banks, two hotels and newspapers, including the Taylor Clarion, founded at Kent in 1883. The railroad reached Burwell, 13 miles east, in 1887 but never came farther, and grades begun toward Taylor were abandoned. Drought in 1894 closed businesses. Taylor incorporated in 1911; its population peaked at 349 in 1940. The 1884 frame courthouse was replaced in 1957–58.

Since 2003 local artist Marah Sandoz has made the Villagers, life-size black-and-white plywood figures of people who might have lived in Taylor around 1890–1920; there were more than 120 by 2024, with a few added each year, standing on porches, at the square and along the highways.

Things to see

the Villagers, more than 120 life-size figures by Marah Sandoz around the village (map at the visitor information center in the old Farmers Filling Station) · the 1887 Pavillion Hotel (National Register, often spelled Pavilion), at Murray Street and US 183 on the northeast side of the square (closed; exterior only) · the Loup County Historical Society museums: a 1941 log cabin and the Sunnyside School District 23 schoolhouse (by appointment) · the 1957–58 Loup County Courthouse, 408 4th St. · Calamus Reservoir State Recreation Area, about 10 miles east by NE 96 or NE 91: a 5,123-acre lake with camping at Hannaman Bayou, Valley View Flat and Nunda Shoal on the Loup County side · river tanking and kayaking on the Calamus River with Calamus Outfitters at the Switzer Ranch, north on US 183 and east on NE 96 · Kent Diversion Dam WMA, 5½ miles east on NE 91 · the Loup County Fair in early August