Editing Fillmore County, Nebraska (section)

==History==
Fillmore County was established, and its boundaries defined, by the [[Nebraska Territorial Legislature]] in 1856. It was named for [[Millard Fillmore]], the thirteenth president of the United States, who had left office in 1853.<ref name=established/><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ|title=The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States|publisher=Govt. Print. Off.|author=Gannett, Henry|year=1905|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_9V1IAAAAMAAJ/page/n124 125]}}</ref>

The first [[Homestead Act|homesteaders]] arrived in the county in 1866. Ohio natives William O. Bussard and William C. Whitaker filed claims on the West Fork of the Big Blue River in the county's northeastern portion.<ref name=bussard/><ref name=marker-1971/> Settlement of the area was slow until 1870;<ref name=archives/> it was concentrated in the county's northern part, in part because the surveyed route of the [[Burlington and Missouri River Railroad]] ran through [[York County, Nebraska|York County]] just north of the present-day York-Fillmore county line.<ref name=gaffney-3/> In 1870, Fillmore City, the county's first town, was established on the Big Blue about {{convert|4|mi|0|spell=in}} north of present-day Grafton;<ref name=gaffney-3/><ref name=casde-grafton/> in 1871, the county's first post office opened in Fillmore City.<ref name=andreas-1/>

In 1871, the Burlington and Missouri laid its tracks through the area. A recent change in federal law allowed them to alter their route, shifting it about {{convert|5|mi|0|spell=in}} south of their original surveyed path. This placed the route on more level country, reducing the cost of cutting and bridging; it also shifted the line from York County to northern Fillmore County.<ref name=gaffney-3/>

The county was formally organized in 1871;<ref>{{cite book|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=englishunsllc|title=Nebraska Place-Names|last=Fitzpatrick|first=Lilian Linder|publisher=University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature, and Criticism|location=Lincoln|date=1925|page=59|access-date=December 14, 2014}}</ref> up to this time, it had been administered from, and taxed by, [[Saline County, Nebraska|Saline County]], its neighbor to the east. In April, an election was held to choose officers to organize the county; at this time, it was decided to place the county seat in the county's center. The town site was surveyed and platted, and given the name "Henry". It could not be occupied, since it was on school land owned by the state; an act of the legislature was necessary before the land could be sold.<ref name=andreas-1/><ref name=gaffney-4-5/><ref name=andreas-3/>

The legislature passed a bill in the summer of 1872 to allow sale of the school lands. At about that time, the new county seat's name was changed from "Henry" to "Geneva", at the suggestion of the daughter of a local settler, who wanted it named after her family's old home of [[Geneva, Illinois]].<ref name=andreas-1/><ref name=gaffney-5/><ref name=geneva-name/>

The county grew rapidly through the first years of the 1870s. Three towns were established along the Burlington line; in keeping with the railroad's practice of naming their towns alphabetically, they were dubbed Exeter, Fairmont, and Grafton.<ref name=alphabetical/> By 1873, the entire county had been "thickly settled".<ref name=andreas-1/> Its growth suffered a check in the mid-1870s, due to the worldwide depression following the [[Panic of 1873]] and an infestation of grasshoppers in the late summer of 1874.<ref name=andreas-1/><ref name=gaffney-15/>

As additional railroad lines were constructed through the county, new towns were established. In about 1886, the Burlington built a branch line from [[Beatrice, Nebraska|Beatrice]] to [[Holdrege, Nebraska|Holdrege]], running east–west through southern Fillmore County; Shickley, Strang, and Ohiowa were founded on or near the route. A north–south line connected this branch to the Burlington's main line, running from Strang to Fairmont.<ref name=bn-1886/><ref name=casde-shickley/><ref name=casde-strang/><ref name=casde-ohiowa/>  Milligan was established in 1887, on the Kansas City and Omaha line.<ref name=gaffney-254/><ref name=casde-milligan/>

Several ethnic European enclaves developed during the time of the county's homesteading. An extensive Czech settlement covered much of Saline County and extended into eastern Fillmore County, including Milligan.<ref name=nomform-milligan/>  A concentration of Swedish immigrants developed in eastern Clay County, extending into southwestern Fillmore County in the area between Shickley and [[Ong, Nebraska|Ong]].<ref name=nomform-stockholm/>  German settlements formed in both the county's southeastern and southwestern corners.<ref name=andreas-1/>