Buffalo County was organized and its boundaries defined during the first session of the Nebraska legislature by an act approved March 14, 1855.

It was so named because it was the feeding round for many herds of buffalo.

Amherst

 Established in 1890 when the branch of the Union Pacific railroad was extended from Kearney to Callaway in 1890.  John N. Hamilton, the first president of the Kearney and Black Hills railroad branch from Kearney, suggested the name Amherst after the college in Massachusetts. This statement is made on the authority of William G. Nye of Kearney. Amherst, Massachusetts,
was named for Lord Amherst (1717-1797).

Buda

 On August 1, 1886, the Union Pacific railroad was completed to this point and a station was established. This station was named Kearney on account of its proximity to Fort Kearney.  In 1872 the name was changed to Shelby because of its similarity to Kearney Junction, a town five miles distant. Later a station in the eastern part of the county was named Shelton and, because there was confusion of freight shipments, the town of Shelby again changed its name. This time,according to local tradition, it "was called Buda after an old religious center," but more probably either directly or indirectly after Buda, now part of Budapesth, Hungary.

Butler

Situated in Valley township. Named after General Ben States on the Greenback ticket.

Denman

 A village on Elm island in the southeastern part of Buffalo County, in Shelton township. The name is after a former owner of the site and a pioneer of the neighborhood, Francis Marion Denman (1839-1917), a Civil War veteran. On an early government map the island is named Denman Island.

Elm Creek

 Located in Elm Creek Township. The town was named after Elm Creek, a small tributary of the Platte river, which runs by the town and empties into the Platte near by. Elm Creek was so named because of the presence of many elm trees in the vicinity.

Gibbon

Located in Gibbon Township. This town and its township were named in honor of Major-General John Gibbon (1827-1896), a graduate of the United States Military Academy in 1847. General Gibbon served in the Mexican and Civil wars and on the frontier against hostile Indians.

Glenwood Park

This name was given to the village after a near-by park located on Wood river.

Kearney

Originally named Fort Childs. Later the name was changed to Kearney Junction and finally shortened to Kearney.  The last name was given to the town in honor of General Stephen Watts Kearny (1794-1848), who served in the War of 1812 and the Mexican war, and until 1857 the name was spelled without e in the final syllable. The town was incorporated by an act of the legislature approved January 4, 1860. Kearney is the county seat of Buffalo County. Gannett, Place Names in the United States, affirms, probably erroneously, that Kearney was named for General Philip Kearny (1815-1862), prominent in the Mexican and Civil War.

Luce

Situated in Gardner precinct. Named after the first postmaster and storekeeper.- The post office has been discontinued.

Majors

Situated in Cedar township. It was named in honor of Colonel T. J. Majors, of Peru, Nebraska. The post office has been discontinued.

Miller

This town was named after Dr. George L. Miller of Omaha, member of the printing firm of Gibson, Miller, and Richardson, and who at one time owned land in this vicinity. In a deed he provided that if a railroad were ever built in the vicinity the town was to be called Miller. Robert Miller homesteaded in the vicinity in 1874.

Nantasket

 A name of Indian origin for a neighborhood where a branch of the Union Pacific crosses the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy railroad. A town was platted and promoted but fell into decay as it was too near Ravenna. The name derives from Nantasket, Massachusetts.

Odessa

Originally named Crowellton after Daniel A. and D. Allen Crowell who were homestead settlers in the vicinity in 1871.   There was some confusion in mail, however, because of the similarity of the names Crowellton and Carrolton; hence in the winter of 1873-1874 the citizens of Crowellton met at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Knox and selected the name Odessa for the town.  The name comes from Odessa, Kherson, the city by the Black Sea.  There is also an Odessa, Ontario.

Optic

This place is a station on the Union Pacific railroad between Gibbon and Buda. It was named by the officials of the Union Pacific railroad.

Peak

A settler by the name of Peake homesteaded in Rusco Ttownship in 1874 and secured the establishment of a post office.  The post office has long since been discontinued but the name still applies to the neighborhood.

Pleasanton

Located in the beautiful valley of the Loup River which was known locally in the early settlement of the county as Pleasant Valley. In 1890 a branch of the Union Pacific railroad was extended from Nantasket to this point, and the new town was named Pleasanton after the valley.

Poole

This town was established in 1889 under the name of Poole Siding which later was shortened to Poole. Both names were given the town in honor of W. W. Poole who came to the vicinity and started a ranch in 1876.

Ravenna

 Known as Beaver Creek until 1886 when the present town-site was laid out by the Lincoln Town-Site Company.  The name Ravenna was selected by R. O. Phillips, a member of the company, after the ancient city of Ravenna, Italy. It is interesting to note that the streets in this town are also given Italian or other ancient names, such as Genoa, Verona, Seneca, Padua, Pavia, Alba, Syracuse, Corinth, Carthage, Sicily, Piedmont, Utica, Milan, and Appian Way (now Grand Avenue).

Riverdale

 Established in 1890. This town and Riverdale Township in which it is situated were so named because of their location in the beautiful and fertile Wood River valley of the Platte river.

Saint Michael

 Established by the Lincoln Land Company in 1886. An Irishman named Mike Kyne owned the land on which the town is located and he told the company he would sell it to them cheap if they would name the town Saint Michael. Mr. Kyne was a homestead settler in the vicinity in 1879 and now resides in Ravenna, Nebraska.

Sartoria

 This name was coined by Mr. John Swenson, a homestead settler in the county in 1874. Mr. Swenson writes that he made many combinations of letters before he finally decided upon the present arrangement. His special aim was to form a name which was euphonious in sound and which no tongue could mispronounce. He also gave the name Sartoria to the Township in which the village is located.

Shelton

 Known as Wood River Center until February 3, 1873. On this date the name was changed to Shelton in honor of N. Shelton, an auditor in the land department of the Union Pacific Railroad Company. The township is also named Shelton in his honor.

Sweetwater

This is a station on the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, now the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad, in Beaver township. It is situated on Sweetwater creek from which it takes its name. The creek was so named because of the excellent water which was found there in pioneer days.

Watertown

 Established in 1890. This place is a station between Amherst and Miller and has a water tank for railway engines.  There is no town, only a neighborhood. The post office was recently discontinued.

Nebraska Place-Names by Lillian Linder Fitzpatrick, A. M. - 1925

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