Beaver Crossing began in 1871, when the post office moved to the existing town to join a flour mill. The first post office was established in 1868, and the town was incorporated in 1892.
In her book “On a Bend of the River,” Jane Graff writes that Beaver Crossing was the first name given to any place in Seward County. The name likely came from Beaver Creek, which joins the West Blue River about 2.5 miles east of the county line.
The town site was on the freight line from Nebraska City. John Leonard, one of the freight drivers, camped at the site and heard stories about a government draft in 1862. He chose to settle on the site “rather than return home and be forced to fight,” Graff wrote.
The next settler, John E. Fouse, arrived in 1863. In 1866, Roland Reed arrived and lived in Leonard’s ranch house. He was appointed postmaster and set up the post office in his house with the name of Beaver Crossing.
A flour mill was built in 1871 by Ross Nichols and did a thriving business for about 40 years, Graff said. It went out of business around World War I.
Graff said the first Fourth of July celebration in the county was held in Beaver Crossing in 1872. Speakers “long and eloquent,” Graff reported, came from York, Milford and Beaver Crossing.
The first of the artesian wells was discovered in 1895, according to Graff and the Nebraska State Historical Society. The wells filled the largest swimming pool in the state and the Smiley Botanical Gardens. The pool was used until the early 1940s, according to Graff.
In the 1930s, the Botanical Gardens raised goldfish and water lilies in 50 ponds. Erle Smiley was the business founder, buying his land in 1927. He grew 40 varieties of water lilies. His gardens also included 200 variety of iris and 200 varities of dahlias.
In 2005 and 2006, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln conducted an archaelogical field school on the original town site. Approximately 72 square meters were excavated, and students found more than 16,000 artifacts.
The students found that the original town site was not abandoned. Instead it was relocated. Structures were dismantled and moved to the new site.
“It appears that anything that could be reused at the new town site was taken,” history.nebraska.gov said.
