Wheeler 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 ...

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 774. 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 Bartlett. The county was formed in 1877 and organized in 1881. The county was named for Major Daniel H. Wheeler, longtime secretary of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture. In the Nebraska license plate system, Wheeler County is represented by the prefix 84 (it had the 84th-largest number of vehicles registered in the state when the license plate system was established in 1922).

Geography

The terrain of Wheeler County consists of low rolling hills, sloping to the east. A local drainage, Beaver Creek, flows to the SE and east through the upper part of the county, exiting near the midpoint of the county's east boundary line. The county has an area of , of which is land and (0.07%) is water.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 281 * N-70

Nebraska Highway 70 * N-91

Nebraska Highway 91

Adjacent counties

* Antelope County – northeast * Boone County – southeast * Greeley County – south * Valley County – southwest * Garfield County – west * Holt County – north

Protected areas

* Pibel Lake State Recreation Area

History

Wheeler County was authorized in 1877. It was organized in 1881, following the establishment and rapid growth of the town of Cumminsville, in anticipation of a

Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United Stat ...

line through that town. Cedar City (now disbanded) was the site of the first seat of government for the county, which covered an area of 48 miles west to east and 25 miles north to south. On November 25, 1884, this area was halved, with the western portion becoming Garfield County, leaving the remainder as Wheeler County with its present boundaries. The county's government was overseen by three commissioners, two from two districts in the more heavily populated southern half of the county, the third from the North. In 1885, the government was deemed to be outgrowing its small courthouse in Cedar City and two men, Cumminsville school superintendent Begelow and Ezra Bartlett Mitchell offered land options outside of Cedar City to build a new courthouse. In a heated election, Mitchell's site was chosen over Begelow's by a vote of 193 to 90, and the new courthouse led to the establishment of a surrounding town, named Bartlett (Mitchell's middle name), to serve as the seat of government. Cedar City collapsed shortly after the government offices there were abandoned. In 1886, a spur line of the C.B.& Q. railroad was built into the county, ending at a point where the town of Ericson was established. In 1895, while attempting to construct a ditchway to irrigate farm land between Ericson and Spalding, a dam was built across Clear Creek. Though the ditch construction was ultimately not successful, the dam created present-day Pibel Lake. Wheeler County's population began to wane after the turn of the 20th century, but in 1904, with the enactment of the

Kinkaid Act The Kinkaid Act of 1904 (ch. 1801, , Apr. 28, 1904, ) is a United States government, U.S. statute that amended the 1862 Homestead Act so that one section (land), section (1 mi2, 2.6 km2, 640 acres) of public domain land could be acquire ...

, a new round of settlers reinvigorated the population.

Demographics

As of the 2000 United States Census, there were 886 people, 352 households, and 243 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 561 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 99.10%

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 ...

, 0.23% Native American, 0.56% from other races, and 0.11% from two or more races. 0.56% 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. 47.4% were of German, 9.4% Irish, 7.8% English, 7.2% Swedish and 7.0%

American ancestry In the demography of the United States, some people self-identify their ancestral origin or descent as "American", rather than the more common officially recognized racial and ethnic groups that make up the bulk of the American people. The ...

. There were 352 households, out of which 31.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.80% 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, 3.10% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.70% were non-families. 29.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.52 and the average family size was 3.10. The county population contained 29.10% under the age of 18, 6.40% from 18 to 24, 21.90% from 25 to 44, 25.70% from 45 to 64, and 16.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 96.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.00 males. The median income for a household in the county was $26,771, and the median income for a family was $33,750. Males had a median income of $21,563 versus $17,083 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 $14,355. About 15.40% of families and 20.90% 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 27.80% of those under age 18 and 16.70% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

Villages

* Bartlett (county seat) * Ericson

Former communities

* Cumminsville * Cedar City * Wheeler

Politics

Wheeler County voters have been reliably Republican for decades. In no national election since 1948 has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate (as of 2024).

References

{{authority control 1881 establishments in Nebraska Populated places established in 1881