Town file
Ord, Nebraska
Ord, Nebraska (Valley County, Nebraska) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 519, "Show Me Your Belly" (15 August 2024). Kathy Beard was born Catherine Beard in Ord, Nebraska, in 1958, the youngest of five children of a couple who had moved to the town in 1947.
- Town
- Ord
- County
- Valley County
- State
- Nebraska
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 519
- Approximate location
- 41.603, -98.919
Episode 519 / 15 August 2024 / 173 min / full
Show Me Your Belly
"O-R-D, Nebraska; it's in central Nebraska; this is in Valley County, area code 308" about 0:05:09
The case: Murder of Kathy Beard (May 31, 1989). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2024
- Population
- 2,049
- Median age
- 43
- Median household income
- $51,694 a year
- Median home value
- $117,900
- Two-bedroom rent
- about $800
- Cost of living
- $77,000
- Property crime
- ▼ about half
- Violent crime
- ▼ about one third
History, in brief
- Ord was selected as county seat for Valley County in 1873 and was laid out the next year by the Haskell brothers. about 0:05:52
- The land for the town site was bought from the Burlington and Missouri Railroad Company. about 0:06:02
- The town was laid out by a surveyor in May 1875. about 0:06:12
- The first building erected was the courthouse, then a schoolhouse; the first residence came after both. about 0:06:27
- The Evelyn Sharp Airport was built in the 1950s and named after a woman who graduated from Ord High School in 1937. about 0:06:56
- Evelyn Sharp was the youngest person in the United States to earn a transport licence to fly a plane and flew the first mail plane into Ord. about 0:07:05
- During the Second World War she enlisted and ferried repaired planes from the west coast to the east coast. about 0:07:18
- She was killed taking off from a Pennsylvania airport in 1944. about 0:07:23
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Loves the atmosphere and that everyone knows everyone else; would like more restaurants and entertainment such as a movie theatre, but otherwise Ord is a great place to live."about 0:08:13
3 stars
"Clean, healthy environment with smiling friendly faces every way you turn, but there is constant drama between the economic classes, the lower class is treated unfairly, the school system does the same, and the hospital and social system are a different story; still one of the safest places the reviewer has lived."about 0:08:55
3 stars
"A companionable, safe, family-friendly place to grow up and raise a family; would add more nightlife, more events and more activities for teenagers, who have nowhere to hang out."about 0:10:10
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Clarks, Nebraska62 miles
- Verdigre, Nebraska82 miles
- Guide Rock, Nebraska110 miles
- Sutherland, Nebraska118 miles
- Yankton, South Dakota118 miles
- Emerson, Nebraska122 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.