Platte County Courthouse

Platte County Courthouse is home to the county court and district court (Box 1188) each of which is in their respective Fifth judicial district of Nebraska. On its way through Platte county, US 81 meets SR 91 and US 30.

At the beginning of 1856, a group from Columbus, Ohio decided that they wanted to build a town along the railway of the of the proposed transcontinental railroad and formed the Columbus Town Company for this purpose. Sometime later that year the group arrived from Omaha and chose the meeting place of the the Loup and Platte rivers for their city. A log cabin was built as their home, however as more people arrived a sawmill, grist mill and brewery were built. The choice of location for Columbus was excellent as not only was it on the Union Pacific Railroad, but later became a hub for branch lines of other railroads. Besides the large number of parks in the city there is Pawnee Plunge Water park for outdoor fun. The city has erected a truly memorable sight at the Andrew Jackson Higgins memorial. At the site there is a full size replica of the famous Higgins Boat, which were used by the military to transport men and equipment safely to beaches during amphibious landings in World War II. Seen running from the boat are sculptures depicting a soldier from each of the three wars in which Higgins boats were used; World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars. There are brass stars embedded in the concrete around the boat which hold sand from D-Day beaches. The memorial also includes five flags and a memorial wall. The founder and president of the company which built the boats was a native of Columbus. Two of the flags are of Nebraska and Louisiana where this gentleman lived.