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Kearny’s name was first applied as a place name at the first Fort Kearny, using his original spelling without an “e” in the second syllable. The name continued to be spelled correctly until about 1856, when the second “e” began to appear in popular usage.
In 1848 Fort Kearney (sometimes spelled Kearny) was built to protect travelers heading to the West along the Oregon Trail. The outpost was abandoned in 1871, but nearby grew a city that continues to bear its name.
- Kearney was named after Colonel Stephen Watts Kearny.
- The original settlement in the area was called Dobytown, situated 2miles southeast of present-day Kearney, Dobytown was later moved and renamed after the nearby Fort Kearny.
- The city has a total area of 13.00 square miles, of which 12.77 square miles is land and 0.23 square miles is water.
- The city was founded in 1871 at the junction of the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad.
The name Kearney Junction was selected for several reasons. The “Junction” stemmed from the fact that the town was where the Burlington and Missouri made its junction with the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad. The word “Kearney” was taken from Fort Kearny.
Pressure from the Anglo-Norman invaders in 1171 pushed them eastward into Tipperary, where they acquired vast estates in Cashel. To the north in Ulster, the Kearneys were erenaghs (hereditary stewards) of the church lands of Derry. They gave their name to the village of Kearney on the Upper Ards penninsula.”
Named after famed frontier military officer Stephen W. Kearny, Fort Kearny would become the namesake of the present city and serve as a stopping-point for gold prospectors, Pony Express riders, and Union Pacific Railroad workers until 1871.
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In 1848, a fort named after the father of the U.S. Cavalry, Gen. Stephen Kearny, was built about seven miles south of the river from the future city. Feared raids by Plains Indian tribes never came, and Fort Kearny was abandoned in 1871.
