Abie

History

The book Butler County Nebraska History records that the first settlers in the area were "Yankees". When the Yankees moved out, the German people moved in. They too left to find more level ground. The Czech immigrants first went to Linwood, then to Abie. A wagon train of 13 families came to Nebraska from Spillville, IA arriving in July 1869. Abie was platted in 1877. Czech people organized their reading and dramatic clubs shortly after their arrival, and many older people still speak Czech. The applicant for the post office, Charles "Yankee" Stevens, successfully petitioned to have the post office named for his wife, Abigail Stevens. Stevens was postmaster of Abie from 1878 to 1888. The Rural Free Delivery was installed in Abie in 1905 with John O. Hasik as carrier. T.B. Semrad succeeded Hasik on April 1, 1940. He carried the mail on that route until July 15, 1945, when it was consolidated with the Linwood route. The first railroad, The Chicago Northwestern was built in Abie in 1887 at which time the old settlement was moved south three-quarters of a mile to the present location in order to be nearer to the railroad. The new village was laid out by the Western Townsite Co. in July 1887. The Catholic cemetery stands in the spot where Abie was originally settled. The railroad started a boom in the area which did not end until 1928, although there were a few periods of hard times. The boom years lasted until 1928. In this time, Abie grew and was quite a business town. There were two general stores, a meat market, hardware-implement business, two grain elevators, two lumber yards, two blacksmith shops, a livery stable and dray service. Later on there were two service garages, a trucking firm, a bulk oil agency, two taverns, a barbershop and a beauty shop. The Bank was…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  163
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  163
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  150
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  114
• Killdeer

  Charadrius vociferus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  112
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  110
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  95
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  94

Most recent

• M 3.3 — 2010-11-18
  4 km E of Octavia, Nebraska