Hall County, Nebraska, was established on November 4, 1858, by an act of the territorial legislature and formally organized in 1859. Located in south-central Nebraska along the Platte River, it is bounded by Merrick, Hamilton, Adams, Buffalo, and Howard Counties. The county seat is Grand Island, founded in 1857 by German settlers who established one of the earliest permanent agricultural colonies in the region. Hall County originally extended over a larger area, but later boundary adjustments gave rise to neighboring counties. County offices began recording land deeds, probate files, marriages, tax assessments, and census returns in the 1860s. Grand Island developed as a major railroad and commercial hub after the arrival of the Union Pacific Railroad in 1866, spurring growth in surrounding towns such as Wood River, Cairo, Alda, and Doniphan. Agriculture—especially corn and livestock feeding—has remained central to the county’s economy, complemented by rail, trade, and manufacturing industries. Hall County is significant for research into German immigrant settlement, Nebraska pioneer development, Civil War veteran migration to the Plains, and the expansion of the Union Pacific corridor.
This county project is part of the much larger American History & Genealogy Project or better known by the abbreviation of AHGP. The project has been in existence online since 2000 and over the years has been spread out across the web. These pages are an attempt to consolidate it under one website of the larger project.
Hall County History
- The Railroads of Hall County, Nebraska
Extracted from the 1920 History of Hall County by Buechler, Barr, and Stough - 1890 History of Hall County, Nebraska
Transcribed from Goodspeed’s 1890 Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton Counties. - 1920 History of Hall County, Nebraska
These chapters were transcribed from the one-thousand page 1920 History of Hall County, Nebraska, edited by Buechler, Barr, and Stough.
Hall County Genealogy
- 1860 Hall County Census
In 1860, Hall County, Nebraska contained only one settlement. This community was identified in the federal census as the “German Settlement.” The census is preserved on microfilm reel #065, Nebraska Federal Population Census Schedules – Entire Territory. All five page images are provided below the tables. - 1885-1916 Grand Island Business College Graduates
This is a list of some of the graduates of the Grand Island Business and Normal College. The list was published in the Grand Island Daily Independent on Saturday, August 12, 1916. - 1900 Census for the Nebraska Soldiers and Sailors Home
The Nebraska Soldiers and Sailors Home was located in Grand Island. - Hall County Biographies
These 184 biographies were transcribed from Goodspeed’s Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Adams, Clay, Hall and Hamilton Counties. They are only the biographies for individuals who resided in Hall County Nebraska in 1890. - The Bawel Family of Hall and Seward County, Nebraska
John Edward Bawel, born in Pennsylvania in 1869, was part of the early twentieth-century Mennonite migration to Nebraska and Iowa. After settling in Seward and later Hall County, he married Katie Gascho in 1902. They had eight children, facing hardships, including the early deaths of two daughters. After Katie’s passing in 1929, John continued farming in Hall County until moving to Iowa in 1940. He remained active in Mennonite communities, witnessing significant agricultural changes throughout his life, passing away in 1960 at 90.
Back to: Nebraska History & Genealogy Project
Back to: American History & Genealogy Project