Editing Crete, Nebraska (section)

==History==
The railroad reached Crete in 1870, attracting new settlers. In 1871, two competing settlements merged to form a new town, which was named after [[Crete, Illinois]], the former hometown of an early settler.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.casde.unl.edu/history/counties/saline/crete/ | title=Crete, Saline | publisher=University of Nebraska | work=Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies | access-date=22 August 2014 | archive-date=February 23, 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140223002438/http://casde.unl.edu/history/counties/saline/crete/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> The name was also chosen to conform to the alphabetical stops on the new [[Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad|Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad]] line traveling westward from Lincoln: [[Berks, Nebraska|Berks]], Crete, [[Dorchester, Nebraska|Dorchester]], [[Exeter, Nebraska|Exeter]], [[Fairmont, Nebraska|Fairmont]], [[Grafton, Nebraska|Grafton]], Harvard, Inland, Junianta, Kenesaw, Lowell, Minden etc. Some towns, such as Friend and Sutton, already existed and were later incorporated into alphabetical naming pattern. A town every 9 miles on the railroad, as a steam engine required regular water stops.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.casde.unl.edu/history/counties/clay/saronville/ | title=Saronville, Clay County | publisher=University of Nebraska | work=Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies | access-date=22 February 2018 | archive-date=February 22, 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222165453/http://www.casde.unl.edu/history/counties/clay/saronville/ | url-status=dead }}</ref> Crete was once a contender for county seat.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=InM_AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA135 | title=History of Hamilton and Clay Counties, Nebraska, Volume 1 | publisher=S.J. Clarke Publishing Company | author=Burr, George L. | year=1921 | pages=135}}</ref>

On February 18, 1969, Crete was the site of a railroad accident that released a fog of [[anhydrous ammonia]] fumes from a ruptured railroad tank car, killing five residents and seriously injuring 11 others in their homes.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=19690219&printsec=frontpage&hl=en "Eight Killed As Ammonia Gas Escapes"] — Tank Car Splits, Explodes Near Nebraska Town", ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', February 19, 1969, p2</ref>  Another three people, hoboes who had been riding on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad freight train as it traveled from Denver to Chicago, died of injuries received in the train derailment.