Cuming City, Washington County, Nebraska

Historic Towns: Cuming City
-Courtesy of Washington County Nebraska History, 1980

Cuming City was claimed by Paris Green Cooper and two others in September 1854. No settlement was made until the spring of 1855 when actual settlers came in sufficient numbers to justify the project of a city.

In 1859, the town had 53 dwellings, 3 hotels, several boarding houses, several business houses, 2 churches, a school, and was third in importance to Omaha and was one of the most desirable residence towns in all of Nebraska territory.

Aside from P. G. Cooper, one of the men deeply interested in the town was L. M. Kline, who settled there is 1856. Kline raun the first fruit tree nursery in Kanesville, or Council Bluffs, Iowa, and was the first man to provide Nebraska settlers with fruit trees. He was the publisher of the "Nebraska Pioneer".

Cuming City even had two newspapers at one time; the "Cuming City Star" and the "Nebraska Pioneer". The Cuming City Star was published on Saturday and the Pioneer on Tuesday. The subscription price to both papers was $2.00 per year in advance. If a customer lacked the $2.00, he was given the opportunity to earn a fre subscription by securing 10 subscribers at the regular price.

Advertising was plentiful and interesting in both papers. Cuming City, De Soto, and Omaha merchants and professional men were represented.

The newspaper reported the first general 4th of July celebration in Washington County at the grove on North Creek near Cuming City in 1860. Almost the entire population of Washington County was in attendance. Cuming City at this time was more flourishing and populous than at any later date.

In 1869, Blair was plotted and lots sold. It soon became a boom town because of the location of the railroad. After the auction of the first lots on March 10 and the completion of a depot for the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad, business flocked to the new town from Cuming City. All of the houses that were worth removing were taken to Blair, as well as both of the churches. The Methodist Church was moved from Cuming City to Blair in 1869 and the Baptist Church was moved in 1872.

With railroad towns at Blair and Herman there was no need of a town at Cuming City, and it soon became history. The town site is now farmland. There is a school building to mark the site, but not the original building. One house, no longer occupied, remains on the Jas. Juul farm.

Both L. M. Kline and his wife, Emily Rittenhouse Kline, are buried in the Cuming City Cemetery. This cemetery is the only evidence that a community once thrived in the neighborhood.

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Andreas' History of Cuming City
-Courtesy of Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska

Cuming City was claimed by P. G. Cooper and two others in September, 1854, but no settlement was made until the next spring, when a site was mapped and surveyed, and named in honor of Acting Governor Cuming. Cuming City, like many another Western town, "aimed high," but has failed to reach the coveted elevation. A ferry charter was granted P. G. Cooper, in January, 1856, and in the same month the Legislature incorporated "Washington College," and located it at Cuming City, at the same time appointing a board of eight Trustees, consisting of the following distinguished gentlemen: B. R. Folsom, James C. Mitchell, T. B. Cuming, Mark W. Izard, P. G. Cooper, William B. Hail, John C. Campbell, and J. B. Radford.

In 1856 the Nebraska Pioneer was started , under the editorial management of a Mr. Dimmick, and in 1858 the Cuming City Star was started, and flourished for a while, conducted by L. M. Kline.

Cuming City was frequently represented in the Territorial Legislature. In 1856, James S. Stewart, who was one of the earliest settlers, was chosen Representative. In 1857 Mr. Stewart was re-elected with P. G. Cooper, and of Cuming City, as colleague. In 1858 Mr. Cooper was re-elected, with L. M. Kline as colleague.

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Links to Cuming City History