Schuyler

History

In 1866, the Union Pacific Railroad reached present-day Schuyler, at the time known as Shell Creek Station. Three years later, the Nebraska State Legislature divided large Platte County into three smaller counties, including Colfax County. In 1870, Shell Creek Station was renamed Schuyler. In 1870, the Union Pacific chose the town as the point at which Texas cattle being driven north would be loaded onto trains. With this, Schuyler became Nebraska's first "cow town". However, the resulting boom, which saw a six-fold increase in the town's population (from 100 to 600) and around 50,000 head of cattle pass through, was only temporary: the next year, the terminus of the cattle trail had moved west to Kearney. The city's early residents were Czech, Irish, and German settlers. Settlement was enabled by Schuyler's geographic position, which caused the community to be associated with a number of historic overland transportation routes, including: * Oregon Trail (1836–1869) * Mormon Trail (1840s–1850s) * Transcontinental Railway (1866–present) * Coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway (1913–1925) Beginning in the late 1980s, reductions in wages at the Cargill beef processing plant led to a change in Schuyler's demographic makeup. By 2017, an estimated 60% of the population was Latino, and immigrants from other parts of the world, including Somalia and Thailand, had also moved to the city. In December 2020, the Schuyler City Council voted to reject the formation of a board of health, which would have potentially resulted in a mask mandate. In January 2021, the city council voted to establish a board of health and appointed members, after two previous attempts failed. The council passed a revised ordinance which gave the board power to only suggest actions to the city council. In…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  127
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  110
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  104
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  103
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  89
• Barn Swallow

  Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  83
• Eurasian Collared-Dove

  Streptopelia decaocto (Frivaldszky, 1838) · Aves
  80
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  78

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2025-02-05
  8 km SSE of Tilden, Nebraska
• M 3.3 — 2010-11-18
  4 km E of Octavia, Nebraska