Seward County

Seward county was named for William H. Seward (1801-1872), secretary of state during President Lincoln's administration. It was originally named for General Greene of Missouri and was renamed when General Greene joined the Confederacy during the Civil War. The name was changed to Seward by an act of the
legislature approved January 3, 1862.

The original county was established and its boundaries defined by an act approved January 26, 1856. The boundaries were previously defined by an act approved March 6, 1855.

Beaver Crossing:  

This town was named after a place not far from the town-site where the overland trail from Fort Leavenworth crossed Beaver creek. The town-site was platted by the Pioneer Town-Site Company in 1887. Beaver creek gets its name from the former presence of beaver in the vicinity.

Bee:  

The sixteen precincts in Seward county are lettered alphabetically from A to P, beginning in the northeast corner of the county with the letter A. The town of Bee is in B precinct and is named after it.

Cordova:  

This town was established on the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley railroad, now the Chicago and Northwestern, in the fall of 1887. It was originally named Hunkins in honor of C. W. Hunkins, the first postmaster, but on account of the fact that there was a town by the name of Huskins in Wayne county, Nebraska, the United States post office department advised a change of name in order to prevent confusion of mail. Mr. Hunkins suggested the name Cordova, after Cordova, Spain, because of its dissimilarity to the name of any other post office in the state. This name was accepted by both the post office department and the railroad.

Garland:  

The name of this town was formerly Germantown.  It was changed to Garland during the World War, in honor of Ray Garland, a soldier from the vicinity, who died in France. The former name, Germantown, was given with reference to local German settlers.

Goehner:

Goehner was named in honor of Mr. John F. Goehner of Seward, Nebraska, a prominent merchant and a member of the legislature. The Pioneer Town-Site Company platted this town in 1887.

Milford:  

Mr. J. L. Davison made the first settlement in this vicinity in the spring of 1864. He built a log house on the site of the present hospital building at Milford (The Pines), and opened a ranch on the steam wagon road. Later he improved a ford on the Blue River and moved a mill from Weeping Water Falls and placed it just above the ford. Thus the name Milford originated.

Pleasant Dale:  

The late J. H. Culver, a captain in the United States Army, gave the name Pleasant Dale to the town, because of the beautiful valley, in which it is situated. The town originally stood one mile east and one-half mile north of its present location and was supplied by stage service.

Seward:  

The town of Seward was named after Seward County of which it is the county seat.

Staplehurst:  

In 1873, Ebenezar Jull settled on a piece of land one and one-half miles south of Staplehurst on the banks of Lincoln Creek. He, with his wife and children, came here from the little village of Staplehurst, England. Three years later when a post office was established at his home his eldest daughter, May Jull, was post-mistress, and she named the office Staplehurst after her old home in England. In 1879 the post office was moved to its present location, but it retained its name.

Tamora:  

This place was surveyed into lots in 1879. Philip G. Tyler, who built the first house in the town, says that J. W. Scott, J. N. Scott, William Riser, and Mr. Chapen each donated ten acres from their quarter sections at the common corner for a free town-site in order to get a depot located. Each donator wanted the town named for him but the town was too small for so many names "so they called it Tamora to suit all," evidently a play on the word tomorrow with the idea if they could not select the name today they would tomorrow, spelling the word as it was frequently pronounced on the frontier. It is also suggested that the name may have been derived from Tamoria, a variant of Tamaroa, the name of a tribe of Indians of Illinois, for whom a village in Perry County, Illinois, was named.  Another guess is that the name is for T. A. Mora.

Utica:  

When a post office was established in the neighborhood in the home of G. A. Derby, his daughter was appointed postmistress and the name Utica was chosen, this being then the name of the precinct or township in which it was located. Later Dr. Derby laid out the town, and named it Utica after the original post office. The first store building was erected by Thomas Standard; and Miss Derby (now Mrs. Harry Vanderhoof of Seward, Nebraska) resigned her position in his favor. The name was taken from Utica, New York.

Nebraska Place Names – Lillian Fitzpatrick – 1925

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