Decatur

History

The area was long occupied by the Omaha Native Americans, who settled along the creeks and river Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through the area in 1804 as their expedition traveled via the upper Missouri River on their way to and from the Pacific Coast, in their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase. The first European settler in the area was a man named Woods, who settled at the mouth of Wood Creek (his namesake) in 1837. Stephen Decatur arrived in the area in 1841. A former schoolteacher in New Jersey and New York, he had abandoned his wife and two children when he migrated to the West. Here he changed his name, dropping his former surname of "Bross." His farm was called Decatur Springs, after a spring which supplied water to the village for the next century. In 1854, the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs purchased 300,000 acres of land from the Omaha, including the area which is now Decatur. The town of Decatur was incorporated in 1856 under the name "The Decatur Townsite & Ferry Company." The other incorporators included Thomas Whiteacre, T. H. Hineman, George Mason, and Herman Glass. Peter Sarpy helped lay out the town, which developed around his Indian trading post at the mouth of Wood Creek. He also owned Fontenelle's Post and is the namesake for Sarpy County. The patents for the town were granted by the legislature on May 1, 1862. Following the dissolution of the Decatur Townsite and Ferry Company, the town was renamed Decatur Village in 1858.

Geography

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

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  297
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  288
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  237
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  222
• Common Grackle

  Quiscalus quiscula (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  221
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  205
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  196
• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  181

Most recent

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