Only five Nebraska counties have to do with towns or counties from other regions. I think if I were to do a study on Nebraska towns, I think many Nebraska municipalities were named for places. But while I may look at the names of a few towns, I will probably never have time to identify all of these. Perkey’s Nebraska Place Names would be a great reference, but that is way more extensive than I want to go!
Banner This is not exactly after a place but more the place they wanted to be known for. They hoped to be the “banner” county of the state. The citizens were enthusiastic when this new county split off from Cheyenne. Deputy Secretary of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture was big into helping promote this idea back in 1888. The county does border Wyoming and also fairly close to Colorado. They do have a Banner County Historical Museum.
Frontier: The Frontier region of a sparse settlement. (I tried to find out more – the historical links were down on their county site!)
Lancaster: Named for two places: the town AND the county of Lancaster in Pennsylvania.
Madison: While this county may have named for former President Madison, some believe the Madison County, Wisconsin, where many of the German settlers had relocated from, is the real inspiration. Interestingly enough while the city of Madison still exists, that county does not. I would think that county in Wisconsin was probably named for the President, so he must be in there somewhere. I could not verify that though …
York: Possibly for York County in Pennsylvania or for York County in England (as named by Alfred D. Jones). But since York County, PA, was probably named for England, there is a connection to England anyway.
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