Blair, Nebraska

Population - 7,441 City 17,700 County

Government - Mayor-City Council form, 12 full-time police officers and a volunteer fire department of more than 60.

Location - West bank of the Missouri River, 20 miles North of Omaha, 20 miles Northeast of Fremont, and 14 miles West of Missouri Valley, Iowa. Transcontinental Highways 75 and 30 intersect in Blair.

Health Care - 22 bed hospital, 2 non-profit nursing care homes, 14 medical doctors, 3 chiropractors, 5 dentists, an orthodontist, oral surgeon, 2 optometrists.

Churches - 12 denominations represented.

History - platted after completion in 1868 of the section of the Sioux City and Pacific Railroad from the Missouri River to Fremont. Named after John I. Blair, New Jersey native and president of the railroad.

Education - 3 lower and 1 upper elementary schools, a middle school, and high school. Athletics are in Class B. Also home to Dana College, established in 1884.

Recreation - More than 100 acres of parks within the community are a part of the State Arboretum. Community facilities are available for swimming, tennis, volleyball, softball, baseball, soccer, and golf. Missouri River offers boating, fishing, and hunting. The DeSoto Wildlife Refuge and the excavated Bertrand, a steamboat that sunk in 1865, are just across the River. Tower of the Four Winds erected in 1987 in Black Elk-Neihardt Park on a hilltop Northwest of town. It is inscribed with an interpretation of Black Elk's (an Ogalala Sioux holy man) prophet vision by Blair artist Rev. F.W. Thomsen.

Home