Map of Decatur village, Nebraska

Decatur is a village in Burt County, Nebraska, United States, adjacent to the upper Missouri River. The population was 481 at the 2010 census. This town is named after one of its incorporators, Stephen Decatur. It developed around a trading post established by Colonel Peter Sarpy, the namesake for Sarpy County in the state.

Decatur village overview:
Name:	Decatur village
LSAD Code:	47
LSAD Description:	village (suffix)
State:	Nebraska
County:	Burt County
Elevation:	1,070 ft (330 m)
Total Area:	1.02 sq mi (2.65 km²)
Land Area:	1.02 sq mi (2.64 km²)
Water Area:	0.00 sq mi (0.00 km²)
Total Population:	410
Population Density:	401.57/sq mi (155.06/km²)
ZIP code:	68020
Area code:	402
FIPS code:	3112525
GNISfeature ID:	0828631

Online Interactive Map

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Decatur online map. Source: Basemap layers from Google Map, Open Street Map (OSM), Arcgisonline, Wmflabs. Boundary Data from Database of Global Administrative Areas.

Decatur location map. Where is Decatur village?

Decatur location on the U.S. Map. Where is Decatur village. — Decatur location on the U.S. Map.

Decatur location on the Nebraska map. Where is Decatur village. — Location of Decatur in Nebraska.

History

The area was long occupied by the Omaha Native Americans, who settled along the creeks and river Explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark passed through the area in 1804 as their expedition traveled via the upper Missouri River on their way to and from the Pacific Coast, in their exploration of the Louisiana Purchase.

The first European settler in the area was a man named Woods, who settled at the mouth of Wood Creek (his namesake) in 1837. Stephen Decatur arrived in the area in 1841. A former schoolteacher in New Jersey and New York, he had abandoned his wife and two children when he migrated to the West. Here he changed his name, dropping his former surname of “Bross.” His farm was called Decatur Springs, after a spring which supplied water to the village for the next century.

In 1854, the U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs purchased 300,000 acres of land from the Omaha, including the area which is now Decatur. The town of Decatur was incorporated in 1856 under the name “The Decatur Townsite & Ferry Company.” The other incorporators included Thomas Whiteacre, T. H. Hineman, George Mason, and Herman Glass. Peter Sarpy helped lay out the town, which developed around his Indian trading post at the mouth of Wood Creek. He also owned Fontenelle’s Post and is the namesake for Sarpy County.

The patents for the town were granted by the legislature on May 1, 1862. Following the dissolution of the Decatur Townsite and Ferry Company, the town was renamed Decatur Village in 1858.