Our Historical Markers across Nebraska highlight fascinating moments and places in our state’s past. Today we focus on Ingham, a railroad town established in 1886 that was only a memory by the early 1950s.
Location
Rural Nebraska 23, Farnam, Frontier County, Nebraska
View this marker’s location 40.700013, -100.2814
Marker Text
In 1886 the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad established Ingham where its tracks crossed Deer Creek Canyon, about 2 miles northwest of here, in one of the few level spots between Farnam and Moorefield. Ingham was a way station on the Burlington Highline, which followed the divide between the Platte and Republican rivers, connecting Holdrege, Nebraska, and Sterling, Colorado. Later Ingham became a trading center for the small dryland farms and cattle ranches in the area. A post office was established in 1898, and the first class was graduated from the Ingham High School in 1924. Silica, used chiefly in scouring powder, was mined, refined, and shipped by rail. The late 1920s and 1930s Ingham’s fortunes began to decline. Dryland farming had from the first been only marginally profitable. Improved roads enabled the dwindling number of area residents to shop and market their grain and cattle in larger communities. In 1928 the silica mill was moved to Eustis. By the early 1950s Ingham had become a memory. Wagons and other agricultural equipment are reminders of the era of horse power on the farm and of the many who contributed to settlement of the area.
