West Point is a city in and the

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 ...

Cuming County, Nebraska Cuming County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 9,013. Its county seat is West Point. In the Nebraska license plate system, Cuming County is represented by the prefix 24 since i ...

, United States. The population was 3,504 at the 2020 census.

History

West Point was founded in the spring of 1857, when Omaha businessmen formed the Nebraska Settlement Association in order to find suitable townsites in the Elkhorn Valley. Uriah, John, and Andrew Bruner (three brothers from Pennsylvania), and William Sexauer chose its location on a bend along a river, which they called New Philadelphia. The name was soon changed to West Point because it was the westernmost outpost along the valley. West Point became the county seat of Cuming County on October 12, 1858, after winning the election over the community of DeWitt. A total of 19 votes were split between the two towns with West Point obtaining 12 votes. By the spring of 1859, over 4,000

Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska * ...

natives flooded the Elkhorn Valley during a hunting excursion and, displeased to find white settlers in the valley, burned several homesteads and killed livestock. The so-called Pawnee War ended near Battle Creek without a fight. West Point grew slowly at first, but with the coming of the railroad in 1870, its population boomed to over 700. By the mid-1970s, the future of railroad service came into question. The Chicago & North Western tracks had been experiencing declining freight traffic volumes. Revenue railroad service ended in spring of 1982, when flooding from the Elkhorn River damaged sections of the track. With freight traffic declining and flooding damage, the C&NW filed a request with the

Interstate Commerce Commission The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. The agency's original purpose was to regulate railroads (and later Trucking industry in the United States, truc ...

to abandon the line. Permission was granted a short time later, leaving the tracks with a dismal future. Plans were made to revive railroad service from the newly formed Fremont & Elkhorn Valley Railroad, who purchased the abandoned C&NW track. Those plans were to bring tourists in that got on the train in Fremont & possibly run freight. However, the costs were too high to revive railroad service, and the tracks were removed in 1988. On August 26, 2019, the DHHS announced that the city's water was unsafe to drink after a year of complaints from citizens of the town. The maximum safe level of

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

for infants had been exceeded by over 700 micrograms per mL.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. West Point lies on the eastern bank of the

Elkhorn River The Elkhorn River is a river in northeastern Nebraska, United States, that originates in the eastern Sandhills and is one of the largest tributaries of the Platte River, flowing and joining the Platte just southwest of Omaha, approximately ...

Climate

Demographics

2010 census

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2010, there were 3,364 people, 1,432 households, and 899 families living in the city. 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 1,580 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 87.7%

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 ...

, 0.3%

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 ...

, 0.4% Native American, 0.3% Asian, 0.1%

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 ...

, 10.3% from other races, and 1.0% from two or more races.

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 were 16.8% of the population. There were 1,432 households, of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.0% 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, 7.3% had a female householder with no husband present, 3.5% had a male householder with no wife present, and 37.2% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.97. The median age in the city was 43.2 years. 25.5% of residents were under the age of 18; 5.4% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 20.9% were from 25 to 44; 25.6% were from 45 to 64; and 22.6% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 48.1% male and 51.9% female.

2000 census

As of the

of 2000, there were 3,660 people, 1,432 households, and 946 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 1,552 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 92.02%

, 0.22%

, 0.41% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 5.74% from other races, and 1.45% from two or more races.

or Latino of any race were 12.02% of the population. There were 1,432 households, out of which 30.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.7% were

living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 30.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 18.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.45 and the average family size was 3.04. In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 18, 7.0% from 18 to 24, 25.0% from 25 to 44, 19.6% from 45 to 64, and 23.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.3 males. As of 2000 the median income for a household in the city was $32,616, and the median income for a family was $38,702. Males had a median income of $27,981 versus $20,774 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 city was $19,053. About 5.4% of families and 9.0% 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 8.9% of those under age 18 and 6.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The school district is West Point Public Schools.
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Notable people

* Lawrence Bruner, internationally recognized entomologist from the

University of Nebraska A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

. * Richard C. Hunter,

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

from

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 ...

* Eldon Johnson,

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

state legislator. * Martin E. Marty, religious scholar. * Karl H. Timmermann, who led the initial assault on the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen, and was the first American officer to cross the

River Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Swiss-Austrian border. From Lake Const ...

into Germany during WWII. * Edward K. Valentine, former

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of th ...

and Sergeant at Arms of the U.S. Senate *

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz (; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician who has served since 2019 as the 41st governor of Minnesota. He was the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic nominee for Vice President of the United States, vice pre ...

Governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory ...

, former

, and 2024 Democratic nominee for

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest ranking office in the Executive branch of the United States government, executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks f ...

References

External links

City website

West Point News
{{Authority control Cities in Cuming County, Nebraska Cities in Nebraska County seats in Nebraska 1857 establishments in Nebraska Territory Populated places established in 1857