Red Willow County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 10,702. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is McCook. In the Nebraska license plate system, Red Willow County is represented by the prefix 48 (it had the forty-eighth-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922).

History

Red Willow County was formed in 1873. It was named for the Red Willow Creek. The name is reported to be a mistranslation of the Dakota Indian name ''Chanshasha Wakpala,'' which literally means Red Dogwood Creek. The Dakota referred to the creek thus due to red dogwood shrubs that grew along the creek banks. Its stem and branches are deep red in color, and it is favored in basket making.

Geography

Red Willow County lies on the south line of Nebraska. The south boundary line of Red Willow County abuts the north boundary line of the state of

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. The

Republican River The Republican River is a river in the central Great Plains of North America, rising in the High Plains of eastern Colorado and flowing east U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map acce ...

runs easterly through the north-central part of the county. The county terrain consists of rolling hills, sloping to the east. The portions of the terrain in the

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

s are used for agriculture. The county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.1%) is water.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 6 * US 34

U.S. Highway 34 * US 83

U.S. Highway 83 * N-89

Nebraska Highway 89

Transit

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a Amtrak Long Distance, long-distance passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago, Illinois, Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville station, Emeryville), via Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha, Denver, Sa ...

'' (''

McCook station McCook station is an Amtrak intercity train station in McCook, Nebraska, served by the ''California Zephyr''. The depot opened on April 13, 1926, by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad to replace an earlier structure from 1882. The ...

'')

Adjacent counties

* Furnas County – east *

Decatur County, Kansas Decatur County is a county located in Northwest Kansas. Its county seat and most populous city is Oberlin. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 2,764. The county was named in honor of Stephen Decatur, Jr., a commodore in the U ...

– south *

Rawlins County, Kansas Rawlins County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kansas. Its county seat and largest city is Atwood. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 2,561. It was named after John Rawlins, a general in the American Civil War. His ...

– southwest * Hitchcock County – west * Frontier County – north

Protected areas

* Red Willow Reservoir State Wildlife Management Area (part)

Demographics

As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 11,448 people, 4,710 households, and 3,188 families in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 5,278 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.55%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.16%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.38% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.02%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 0.93% from other races, and 0.80% from two or more races. 2.45% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 4,710 households, out of which 30.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.50% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 7.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.30% were non-families. 28.60% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.92. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.90% under the age of 18, 8.80% from 18 to 24, 24.60% from 25 to 44, 22.60% from 45 to 64, and 19.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 93.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.30 males. The median income for a household in the county was $32,293, and the median income for a family was $40,279. Males had a median income of $27,768 versus $18,768 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $16,303. About 7.60% of families and 9.60% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 11.40% of those under age 18 and 7.60% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Cities

* Indianola * McCook (county seat)

Villages

* Bartley * Danbury *

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

Unincorporated communities

* Marion *

Perry Perry or pear cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented pears, traditionally in England (particularly Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, and Worcestershire), parts of South Wales, France (especially Normandy and Anjou), Canada, Austral ...

* Shippee

Politics

Red Willow County voters have been reliably Republican for several decades. In no national election since 1936 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate (as of 2024), and only five total from 1900 to the present.

References

External links

{{coord, 40.18, -100.48, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-NE_source:UScensus1990 1873 establishments in Nebraska Populated places established in 1873