Merna, NE

Another unique part of Merna’s colorful heritage and her past is the fact that she is the only town in Custer County, Nebraska – possibly all of Nebraska – that has had her location moved three times, and all three sites were within sight of each other.

The Merna valley was six to eight miles wide and extended a distance of 25 miles in length. The first men came in 1878 and 1879 to select their homestead and file their claim. Their temporary headquarters were in a dugout, on the flats north of the present town, owned by Al Thomas. The names of those we have: Joe Sittler, Andrew Sommer, John Jacquot, Len Thomas, Charles Thomas, Scott Hanna, Sylvester MacWorthy and perhaps others.

S.N. Dunning came in the fall of 1879. He was commissioned as postmaster on March 2, 1880. The mail key arrived June 15th, and the first registered letter was recorded June 21, 1880. The town was officially in business by government standards.

Mr. Dunning proposed the first name for the post office to be ‘Woodstock’ after his home in Woodstock, Illinois. For unknown reasons this name was refused by the post office department. Mr. Dunning then sent the name of his youngest daughter, Merna, then seven years old, and the name was accepted and remained as such for these 100 plus years.

At least three railroad surveys were made before the train route was adopted. The first survey in 1884 ran about five miles west of the town in section 36 through what is now Dale Valley.

In March 1884, a stock company was formed and 120 acres of the school section lying two miles west were purchased and a town was laid out. This is northwest of the present Merna cemetery in section 36. On March 28, 1884, the post office was moved to the new town, and the first Merna was abandoned.

In November 1884, a second railroad survey was made, and it ran through the second Merna. But soon after, the railroad made a third survey, and the railroad was located at the original site, the place of the town’s birth.

In March 1886, the original name of Merna, it was decided would be kept, and now the first Merna was third and NEW Merna.

The town of Merna was incorporated on March 5, 1890. Not being sure when to celebrate a 100th birthday because of the three moves made in the town’s beginning, Merna held its centennial celebration in 1987.