WATERTOWN

NAME: Watertown COUNTY: Buffalo ROADS: 2WD GRID: 1 CLIMATE: Snow in winter; very warm, windy in summer BEST TIME TO VISIT: Spring, summer, fall

COMMENTS: Head north-west from Amherst, Nebraska. At one point on the left-hand side of the road, see if you can see an old brick arch supporting what used to be a trestle for the railroad that went through Watertown. Likewise, look closely when the road curves to the left for Watertown road, the road that used to go through town. REMAINS: There is a Watertown cemetery which was restored (fence, flagpole, sign) in 1998. There is also a Lutheran cemetery about 2 miles east, still used by the church in nearby Amherst. Some concrete foundations from an unknown structure are still visible on Watertown Road, south of the one house that remains to this day.

Watertown, Nebraska was a station on the Kearney & Black Hills (Union Pacific) R.R., named for the water tower needed to fill the steam engines as they headed to the north west from Kearney, Nebraska. It was established in 1890 and had a post office in 1900 (some say 1890) with J. S. Veal as postmaster. In the year 1886 a school district, No. 101, was established; in the year 1915 there were thirty-nine pupils enrolled, two teachers employed and ten grades taught in the school. In the year 1801 a Methodist Church was organized with fourteen members. The pastor in 1915, Reverend Mr. Thurber. At one point it had a grain elevator with a capacity of 10,000 bushels, and twenty-five cars of hay, grain and live stock were shipped in the year 1914. The town gradually became deserted with the rise of diesel engines. The post office was discontinued by 1925 and even then the place was considered a neighborhood rather than a town. Submitted by: Paul von Fange

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