Orum, Washington County, Nebraska Historic Towns: Orum Historic Towns: Orum -Courtesy of Washington County Nebraska History, 1980 The name "Orum" today refers to perhaps more the area or community than just the specific village. The nucleus of the town remains intact and there are still seven homes there (as of 1980, at least). The store, which constituted the beginning of the town, is the link of the present to the past. Now the only rural store still operating in the county, it is owned at operated by Mrs. Jens Hansen. Carrying mainly groceries and sundries now, it serves a wide area, both for supplies and for community news (again, as of 1980). Robert Orum, a Danish immigrant who lived briefly in Omaha, carried on trade with Niels Andersen's store at Andersenville, bringing commercial goods out from the city on his wagon, and taking back produce. Soon he went into partnership with Mr. Andersen, and then bought the business from him. He leased a small piece of land from H. C. Larsen, in the southwest corner of his 80 acres (about a mile east and half a mile south of Andersenville), and quickly put up a two-room house and store (or moved the Andersen building to the new site). As usually happened in that period, as soon as the store was established the government put a post office in it for mail service in the area, and the name Orum was recorded. Robert Orum stayed only about three years, returning with his wife and two small children to Denmark. No more was heard of him locally for many years. C. M. Herre tried his hand at operating the store for a short time, taking out a loan from J. C. Christensen and eventually turning the store over to him. Christensen assumed the remainder of the ten-year lease and returned from a business venture to take care of the store temporarily. Fifty-two years later he retired from the same store, having become a well-known and influential part of the community. During the life of Orum, there have been a number of businesses: a creamery, another store, two doctors, a blacksmith shop, a telephone exchange, a garage (an outgrowth from the blacksmith shop), a jeweler, a confectionary, a barber, and in later years a plumbing and building business. The Town House was located on the south side of the road east of the school. Here the residents of the township went to vote for many years, until the polling place was moved to the Orum Lutheran Church in the 1970's. The building is now used as a machine shed on a local farm. One by one, H. C. Larsen leased, then sold, lots from the southwest corner of his 80 acres, running east along the road. Lots were sold to J. C. Christensen, Hans Jensen; the blacksmith, Martin Rasmussen, Rasmus Peterson, and Robert M. Herre. An interesting postscript to the Orum story unfolded eventually as well, the mystery of what happened to Robert Orum. Two different grand-nephews (Carol Orum of Carthage, Illinois, and Peter Orum of St. Charles, Illinois) made the trip to see the "little town in Nebraska" named for their ancestor. The last time Peter Orum visited, he brought an uncle, H. Orum of Copenhagen, a nephew of the founder. This nephew told that after Robert Orum moved back to Denmark, he had a total of eighteen children from three wives, all of whom lived. The entire Orum family was aware of the settlement out in the middle of America, and still showed an interest in the village. Back to Top