Dixon, Nebraska Two Miles from Concord

Around Town

1. Second Street downtown

   2nd Street at Main Street

   Start where the photograph below was taken: looking east on 2nd Street from about Main Street. In 1896 the county history found a busy young business place here, with a bank, stores, a hotel, and the Tribune newspaper. See today's street for what it is now, and let the older list stay in its own time.^{8, 4}

2. The railroad

   Through the village (view from public streets and crossings only)

   The Short Line reached through the county in the spring of 1890, and Dixon grew up as one of its towns. County listings still count Dixon as a place with railroad service. Watch from public ground; do not walk the tracks.^{4, 2}

3. Concord, two miles south

   Concord village, Concord Township

   Dixon and Concord were two miles apart in the 1890s and they still make a pair: the archived town history remembers Dixon's largely Irish early families and Concord's Swedish settlement, with a neighborly rivalry between them. Near Concord, the University of Nebraska's Haskell Agricultural Laboratory carries on applied farm research for northeast Nebraska.^{6, 9}

4. The harvest festival tradition

   In the village (check locally for current plans)

   Local history tells of a parish picnic after Mass on August 15, 1890, that grew into an annual harvest festival — remembered locally as among the oldest in Nebraska, with special trains from Sioux City in its busy years. That account was written some years ago, so ask locally what is planned now before making the trip for it.⁶

5. Dixon County Courthouse and Ponca

   Ponca, the county seat

   County business has always meant a trip to Ponca. The Dixon County Courthouse there — the county's first courthouse, later enlarged with a Works Projects Administration addition completed in 1940 — stands in the town that won the county-seat election of 1858, when the first, paper Dixon was among the hopefuls.^{3, 4}

6. Dixon County Historical Society Museum

   Allen, Nebraska

   In Allen, the Dixon County Historical Society Museum keeps exhibits on county life from 1856 to today, with material from the schools, churches, homes, and farms of county residents. It is the natural next stop for the Dixon school, church, and newspaper history that older books only sketch.¹⁰

If You Go

• Dixon is a village of 77 people. Enjoy it from public streets and sidewalks, keep to daylight, and give residents their privacy; there is no visitor center in the village in the sources checked.²
• For county offices and records, go to the county seat at Ponca. Dixon County publishes its departments, meetings, and notices on its official website — check there before you travel.¹
• The Dixon County Historical Society Museum is in Allen, not in Dixon village. Confirm open hours before you go; small museums often keep seasonal or by-appointment hours.¹⁰
• Ponca State Park, on the Missouri River bluffs north of Ponca, is the eastern gateway to the 59-mile Missouri National Recreational River. Check current park permits, programs, and lodging before you go.^{11, 1}
• If your visit is really about the name, bring a camera and patience. This site has no Dixon, Nebraska sighting photograph yet — a welcome sign, a water tower, a storefront, or a depot view from public ground would be gladly received.⁸