Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Callaway, NE

Callaway is an incorporated village in the southwest quadrant of Custer County in central Nebraska, set along the South Loup River.

Callaway's motto is the "Heart of the Seven Valleys," for the seven valleys around it — James, Turner, Brown, Rye, Sand, Loup, and Wood River — remembered in a local poem: "James Turner Brown raises rye in the sand between the Loup and Wood River."

Callaway was platted in 1885 and named for Samuel R. Callaway, vice president and general manager of the Union Pacific Railway when the Wood River grade was built from Kearney; the town sat at the end of the line.

Callaway's post office opened in 1886, and the town's promoters named it for S. R. Callaway in hopes of securing the railroad's favor.

In 1889–1890 the Callaway Milling & Manufacturing Company dammed the South Loup River and set the wheels of a modern roller mill turning, using the river's water power.

The drought of 1894–1895 nearly emptied Callaway: a town of about 600 people dwindled to little more than 200, according to the 1919 history of Custer County.

The railroad that created Callaway served it for a century — the last train ran through town in the 1980s.

The population of Callaway was 563 at the 2020 census, up from 539 in 2010, when the village had 247 households — unusual growth for a small rural Nebraska village.

Callaway's census counts stretch from 234 residents in 1890 to 637 in 2000, before recovering to 563 in 2020.

The Seven Valleys Historical Society maintains the Seven Valleys Museum: two buildings on Grand Avenue with household, farm, military, medical, and railroad displays, plus Custer County's first courthouse — a log cabin — preserved in Morgan Park and the historic Holy Trinity Episcopal Church on South Needham Street.