2021082000013 - Pony Express station in Ehmen Park, Gothenburg
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Gothenburg, Nebraska is named after Gothenburg, Sweden, and is noted for its large number of residents of Swedish descent. Gothenburg, Nebraska, and Gothenburg (Swedish: Göteborg), Sweden, are believed to be the only two cities named Gothenburg in the world.[5]
Gothenburg was founded in 1882 by Olof Bergstrom. After coming to America from Sweden in 1881, Bergstrom worked for a time on the Union Pacific Railroad, then homesteaded in Dawson County near Gothenburg. He eventually became a land agent for the UP. Bergstrom selected the site that was to become Gothenburg and located a farmstead about a mile north. The Union Pacific Railroad laid out the original town of eight blocks parallel to the railroad tracks. Bergstrom made several return trips to Sweden to lead groups of settlers to Dawson County.
Points of interest
Ernest A. Calling House - National Register of Historic Places
Carnegie Public Library - National Register of Historic Places
The Pony Express Trail runs through Gothenburg. There are two original Pony Express Stations in Gothenburg. In 1931, a station located on the Upper 96 Ranch, four miles east of Fort McPherson in Lincoln County, was donated to the city. The station was moved to Ehmen Park in central Gothenburg. A second station is still in its original location, on the Lower 96 Ranch four miles south of Gothenburg; it is open to the public on a limited basis.
Swedish Crosses Cemetery, a cemetery where wrought iron crosses mark the graves of three children of Swedish immigrants is located two miles north and two miles west of Gothenburg. A Nebraska Historical Marker was dedicated in August 1991.
The Gothenburg Historical Museum, organized in 1980, contains many historical artifacts from the Dawson County area.
The Sod House Museum was established in Gothenburg in 1988. The museum stands next to a full-scale replica of an authentic sod house, together with a barn, windmills and life-sized barbed wire sculptures.
1st State Bank was established in 1906 and has been a stable part of the community for over 100 years; having local ownership the entire time. In 2016 the bank donated $500,000 to the Wellness Center Construction; which helped bring a YMCA to the smallest town in the country.
