Fletcher, Washington County, Nebraska Historic Towns: Fletcher Historic Towns: Fletcher -Courtesy of Washington County Nebraska History, 1980 New England is a name still used to refer to the area in the western part of the Herman township. It sprang from the fact that most of the early settlers of the area were from New England. Almost synonymous with the name New England is Fletcher. Foxwell Fletcher, a Civil War veteran, homesteaded there in 1867, after losing his wife, a son, and a daughter to a diphtheria epidemic in the east. He brought along his other two children, Linda and Cyreno. Foxwell's father had an adjoining 80 acres, and his half brother Joseph also came. Foxwell Fletcher built a country store and in March of 1883 was appointed postmaster of the Fletcher Post Office. He held the position until August of 1893 when Allen Banker was appointed. Early in the 1900's the Post Office department decided to combine many small post offices so as of January 1901, the mail was sent through Herman. Part of the time, Nels Jackson, another pioneer, was a partner with Fletcher in the business. A blacksmith shop was operated by Thomas Bailey (Fletcher's son-in-law) just west of the store. Later, Frank Erickson ran the blacksmith shop. There were two houses between the store and the blacksmith shop. By the mid-1880's, the community was made up of the Fletcher Store, the blacksmith shop, the New England Baptist Church, a school and also a pioneer cemetery. By 1914, the Fletcher Store was run by the Rogert Brothers and were dealers in general merchandise which included hardware, wire fence, and garden and field seeds. They also bought butter, eggs, and poultry. They also ran an "auto filling station." The store was closed in the 1930's. Back to Top