Ansley

Ansley, NE

Image © Deb Kennedy
Ansley is in the heart of Nebraska ranch and farm country, approximately sixty miles west of Grand Island, NE and at the crossroads of Highways #2, #92 and #183.This region is the gateway to the Sandhills and is nestled between the fertile South and Middle Loup Valleys. Ansley features some of the best livestock grazing and farming areas anywhere. Gentle rolling hills and lush valleys provide all season grasses that provide for livestock while rich heavy loam soil teamed with an adequate supply of irrigation water translates into abundant harvests. 

Downtown Ansley lives on Main Street, between Railroad Street and Cameron Street. Several successful businesses call downtown Ansley home, including Ansley Lumber and Supply, Husker Homes, Absolute Plumbing, Vickie’s Hair Fashionette, Insurance of the Heartland, Hawk Office Building, Modern Edge Beauty Shop, Yanez Service Station, Ron’s Barber Shop, Jones Insurance Agency, Chuy’s Mexican Restaurant, Nebraska Central Telephone Company, Main Street Styles and Security State Bank. The community actively supports its local businesses. Ansley business owners work hard to provide area residents with a wide variety of products and services. In addition, Ansley hosts a Township Library, an electric generating plant, an impressive Veterans Memorial Wall, the 2nd largest cemetery in Custer County and a post office.

Community pride revolves around the Ansley Public Schools, home of the Spartans. Fully accredited by the State Department of Education, Ansley Public Schools’ modern facilities provide curriculum and activities that prepare students for the 21st century. Before and after school childcare is available at no cost to district patrons. Four churches serve Ansley: Baptist, United Methodist, Christian, and Fundamental Baptist. All four congregations are active in community life, have well-maintained facilities and are strongly supported by the area residents. The Ansley Municipal Auditorium is a focal point for both family and village celebrations. Meeting room space is available for both small and large groups. The auditorium offers restroom facilities and a spacious kitchen. The Village Clerk’s office offers reservations for the Municipal Auditorium at 308-935-1467.

Recreational activities in Ansley include two parks and the city-operated swimming pool. Swimming lessons are available for all age groups during the summer months and open pool hours are daily from the end of May until the middle of August. Square Pegs Park, in North Ansley, provides small children and families with opportunities for hours of play and shelter for an impromptu snack or picnic lunch. The larger Ansley Village Park is conveniently located on Highway 2 and is surrounded by the picturesque Lake Ansley. Under the supervision of the Nebraska Game Commission, the five acre Lake Ansley is stocked with large mouth bass, channel catfish and bluegill. A recent lake renovation has improved fishing, provided handicapped accessible fishing ramps and made boat access much easier. Besides Lake Ansley, the Village Park features lighted facilities, new team dugouts, and ample bleacher seating capacity for an active summer ball program, fall football games and spring track practice. Other park features include a fenced playground area for children, an outdoor covered picnic shelter, basketball and tennis courts, public camping facilities, and a new, well-equipped public kitchen building. Reservations for the camping sites and kitchen building are handled through the Village Clerk’s Office at 308-935-1467. From fishing, to camping, to ball games, to picnics, Ansley’s Village Park has a great deal to offer area residents and tourists.

Ansley’s various civic and church organizations unite annually to plan and organize the Muddy Creek Festival during June. Parades, food stands, a community barbeque and pig wrestling are a few of the highlights of the three day celebration. The biannual Ansley Alumni Reunion is held in even numbered years on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Other community activities include church dinners, spaghetti and pancake feeds and soup suppers.

Ansley History

Ansley, Nebraska is located in southeastern Custer County. It was first platted by the Lincoln Land Company, headed by R.O. Phillips, in 1886. Ansley was named for Eliza J. Ansley, who purchased the town site from ranchman Anthony Wilkinson. The Burlington and Missouri Railroad (later changed to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy) reached the new settlement soon after it was founded.

Ansley was the first Nebraska town west of Grand Island to own a power plant and water system. The Ansley Electric Light and Power Company, built by C.J. Stevens, was incorporated September 20, 1882. Ansley’s waterworks company was completed in 1893, and the Municipal Light and Power System in 1911. The plant is still in operation today and capable of providing electric service to the entire community in emergency conditions. The volunteer fire department has been active since 1895. Recently, the fire department has merged with the Rural Fire District and the Fire Hall has moved to its new building on the west side of the railroad tracks. A well-trained and active Volunteer Fire Department and EMT squad are essential assets for Ansley.

The oldest business in Ansley is Ansley Lumber (1888), which exists in its original location. A milling and mercantile business were established by the Hawk and Varney families who constructed a one-story brick commercial building in 1916. The Masonic Temple was constructed in 1916. The former Opera house, known as the Woodmen Hall, was built in 1900. Woodmen Hall was one of the first with electric lighting in the state of Nebraska and considered one of the finest of its kind between Omaha and Denver. This building, which used to function as the Community Hall, no longer exists. The new municipal building has assumed the role of the Ansley Community Hall. 

Push is historic in Ansley. In the infant years of Ansley’s railroad crossing, boosters of the town painted a sign "Push - That’s Ansley” on a shed on the railroad right-of-way. The sign drew wide recognition from rail passengers—and the spirit persists to this day.

Ansley has survived dust storms, floods, destructive tornados, blizzards and hailstorms and is still a friendly place to live and visit. Like those early Ansley boosters of the 20th century, Ansley boosters of the 21st century are embracing the spirit which has helped Ansley survive for 133 years – Push –That’s Ansley!
Sources of historic information:

Jane Graff, Project Coordinator: Nebraska: Our towns…Central and North Central, Second Century Publication, Taylor Publishing Co. Dallas, TX 1989.

Mead & Hunt, Inc. Nebraska Historic Buildings Survey, Custer County, Nebraska State Historical Society, July 2006.

Mary Christine Fuhrer, Anne Rezac, Bret Sleight and Gordon Scholz:  
          Business Incubator Design Guide for Ansley, Nebraska, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Lincoln, August 2009.

http://www.casde.unl.edu/history/counties/custer/ansley/

Ann Beckhoff, coordinator, Box 147, Ansley, NE 68814. Story by Dorothy Parks, 
             condensed and typed by Karen Childers, pictures and information by
             Ann Beckhoff and Alberta Anderson.

Lanette Doane, Village Clerk, Village of Ansley

Lance C. Bristol
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