Merrick County Historical Museum preserves heritage in new facility

CENTRAL CITY, Neb. (KOLN) - A $6.3 million museum now houses Merrick County’s history, from the Transcontinental Railroad and Oregon Trail to Highway 30.

The project was made possible by passionate members and donors, some of whom have preserved the area’s history for generations.

A carving of a cottonwood greets visitors at the Merrick County Historical Museum.

“Right down the road, 2 miles is where the original lone tree was,” said Tracey Hefner, museum president and fifth-generation Merrick County resident.

The lone tree was seen by Oregon Trail pioneers and Hefner’s ancestors.

“They’d camp actually underneath the boughs of the tree, carve their name in the tree trunk, which led to the demise of the tree, and it blew down,” Hefner said.

The landmark now serves as a gateway to other branches of Merrick County’s history in the museum.

“When you enter our exhibit hall, the first thing you’ll come to is our depot. If that train wasn’t here, Central City wouldn’t be here. Or Chapman or Clarks or Silver Creek,” said Schavon Cordsen, museum director and fifth-generation Merrick County resident.

Cordsen asked small towns to fill up shadow boxes built by high school students.

“And so I think everybody that has helped make their crate and put their own into it has just, they absolutely love doing it and they keep come checking on it and they keep bringing more little things,” Cordsen said.

The 28,000-square-foot facility is a change from the museum’s original setup, where board member Nancy Johnson began researching.

“But if you look back in the minutes, they always thought they needed a new space,” said Johnson, a fifth-generation Merrick County resident.

The Traver Home, built in the 1880s, previously housed the Merrick County Historical Museum. Displays were moved there in the 1970s, but it became apparent they would run out of room. The museum broke ground for the new facility in 2018 after years of fundraising.

After breaking ground, the museum experienced severe flooding in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Both events delayed the project and fundraising efforts.

4-H kids, FFA members and volunteers helped move the artifacts out of the Traver Home to the new facility.

“I know on the list of funds of the donation, there’s over 500 names,” Johnson said.

The support helped build an art gallery, meeting rooms and an exhibit hall, finished in May 2025.

“And that is our goal, is to present the overall picture of Merritt County, the towns, the railroad, the Lincoln Highway. But it’s also to tell those individual stories, and there’s no end to the stories we can tell,” Johnson said.

The museum continues adding to its collections.

“It just hits you right here when these families bring in their family’s uniforms and say, hey, can you please display this? And of course we can,” Johnson said.

The museum has an endowment fund and a sustainability plan to ensure the museum’s future. The museum is planning to plant prairie grasses in the front of the facility to resemble Nebraska’s native environment.

The museum will host an open house Saturday, April 18, at 10 a.m. The ribbon cutting will feature words from local officials and snacks in celebration of Merrick County’s history.

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