Editing Shelton, Nebraska (section)

==History==
Shelton, evolving from Wood River Centre, is one of the older communities in Nebraska.<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton">{{cite web|last=Duncan|first=Douglas|title=Shelton - Buffalo County|url=http://casde.unl.edu/history/counties/buffalo/shelton/|work=Virtual Nebraska|publisher=Consortium for the Application of Space Data to Education (CASDE)|accessdate=November 9, 2012}}</ref>  The first European settler to live in the area was a [[Mormon]] by the name of Joseph Johnson in 1858.<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton"/>  His store, blacksmithery, wagon repair shop, tintype gallery, bakery, place where meals could be obtained, and printing office served early pioneers.<ref name="Bassett 1916 145">{{cite book|last=Bassett|first=Samuel Clay|title=Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1|year=1916|publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|location=Chicago|oclc=3358457|pages=145}}</ref>  The "Huntsman's Echo", his publication, was the first newspaper west of [[Omaha]]<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton"/> and was established in April 1860.<ref name="Bassett 1916 145"/>  His establishment (Johnson's Ranche) found itself as an important point of supply serving Mormons and other travelers on the Council Bluffs Road.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wood River Valley Historical Society|title=JOSEPH E. JOHNSON AND THE HUNTSMAN'S ECHO|url=http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/markers/texts/huntsmans_echo.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040820033709/http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/markers/texts/huntsmans_echo.htm|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 20, 2004|work=State Historical Marker, Shelton NE|publisher=Nebraska State Historical Society|accessdate=November 11, 2012}}</ref>

Prior to service by the railroad, The Great Western Stage Company established a stage station at Wood River Center in 1860 to serve its Fort Kearny route.<ref name="Bassett 1916 146">{{cite book|last=Bassett|first=Samuel Clay|title=Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1|year=1916|publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|location=Chicago|oclc=3358457|pages=146}}</ref>  The Union Pacific Railroad came to the area in 1866;<ref>{{cite book|last=Bassett|first=Samuel Clay|title=Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1|year=1916|publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|location=Chicago|oclc=3358457|pages=145–161}}</ref> with additional settlers, the need to establish government was realized.  Patrick Walsh, Martin Slattery, and a Sergeant Cody petitioned the governor to organize Buffalo County in 1869.<ref name="Bassett 1916 146"/>  Wood River Centre (Shelton) was selected through election to be the county seat.<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton"/>   Within a year, the seat was moved to [[Gibbon, Nebraska|Gibbon]].<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton"/>

Patrick Walsh, the community postman, wrote the Postmaster General in 1873 with the plea to change the name of Wood River Centre to Shelton to avoid confusion with [[Wood River, Nebraska|Wood River]], a community to the east.<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton"/>  The post office name was changed from Wood River Center to Shelton on February 3, 1873.<ref name="Bassett 1916 147">{{cite book|last=Bassett|first=Samuel Clay|title=Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1|year=1916|publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|location=Chicago|oclc=3358457|pages=147}}</ref>  Shelton held the name of Wood River Center from 1860 to about 1873.<ref name="Bassett 1916 145"/>  No further correspondence about the naming of Shelton is recorded.<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton"/>  The name, Shelton, is derived from the name of an auditor for the Union Pacific Railroad, Nathan Shelton.<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton"/>

[[Image:Shelton Township Library, Shelton NE.JPG|thumb|left|Shelton Township Library, Shelton NE]]  The original townsite was surveyed from the homestead farm of Patrick Walsh, followed by a survey from the Union Pacific Railway Company.<ref name="Bassett 1916 147"/>  It was 1876 before the Union Pacific established a station.<ref name="Bassett 1916 147"/>  With incorporation in 1882, the community grew and was home to "The Shelton Clipper" formerly "The Shelton Clarion", several banks, and a community school.<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton"/>  As early as 1866, people of the Shelton area organized together to form the first schoolhouse in Buffalo County.<ref name="Bassett 1916 152">{{cite book|last=Bassett|first=Samuel Clay|title=Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1|year=1916|publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|location=Chicago|oclc=3358457|pages=152}}</ref>  By 1876, a new school district was organized; it was legally known as No. 19 in Buffalo County.<ref name="Bassett 1916 152"/>  In January 1908, the community library was officially organized as the Shelton Public Library with a village tax being levied for its support.<ref name="Bassett 1916 154">{{cite book|last=Bassett|first=Samuel Clay|title=Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1|year=1916|publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|location=Chicago|oclc=3358457|pages=154}}</ref>  A [[Carnegie Library]] building was funded on April 7, 1913.<ref name="Bassett 1916 154"/>

The population of Shelton has been relatively consistent since its early years, always maintaining a population around 1,000 individuals.<ref name="Virtual Nebraska - Shelton"/>  The population of Shelton in 1910 was 1,005.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bassett|first=Samuel Clay|title=Buffalo County, Nebraska, and its people: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume 1|year=1916|publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|location=Chicago|oclc=3358457|pages=148}}</ref>