Verdigre, Nebraska

Episode 177 / 25 June 2020 / 155 min / full

Sex, Deception, Death... And A Pig

"We are in Verdigre, Nebraska ... it's in northeastern Nebraska ... in Knox County" about 0:05:43

The case: Murder of Dean Frank (August 18, 1991). Read the case file.

The figures, as told in 2020

Population

526

Median age

59.6

Median household income

$32,031

Median home value

$68,800

Two-bedroom rent

about $700 a month

Cost of living

73 out of 100

Religious

76.3%

Property and violent crime

▼ about half, a little under half

History, in brief

• The county was organised by the territorial legislature in 1857 and named Lau Quy Court, the French name for the river there. about 0:07:40
• The name was changed to Knox by a statute passed in 1873 because nobody could pronounce Lau Quy Court. about 0:08:36
• The town was platted in 1887, before the railroad came through. about 0:08:44
• The town took its name from the nearby Verdigris Creek. about 0:08:50
• Among the first establishments were a church, two saloons, a post office and a hotel-restaurant. about 0:09:01
• Among the first settlers was Old Jules Sandoz, father of the author Mary Sandoz. about 0:09:48
• A school was put up in 1889. about 0:10:11
• A fire department was formed in 1912. about 0:10:15
• By 1912 the town had two hotels, two hardware stores, a furniture store, an undertaker, a millinery, a drug store, two doctors, a dentist, two implement dealers, two lumber yards, a harness shop, a blacksmith, a meat market, two pool halls, a racket store, an ice cream parlour, an opera house, two grain elevators, four saloons, two barbershops, an art studio, a newspaper, a lawyer, a tailor, two livery barns, a flour mill, an ice cream plant, real estate dealers, two lunchrooms, a cigar shop, cement works, one church, two telephone systems and two banks. about 0:10:24
• There was a big flood around 1900, and another severe flood in 2019. about 0:11:21

Open the episode file