Emergency Crime Scene and Biohazard Cleanup in Crete, NE

Crete is a city in Saline County, Nebraska, on the east bank of the Big Blue River about 25 miles southwest of Lincoln, and it is the most populous city in Saline County.

Crete's first permanent settlers, Jesse and Elizabeth Bickle, built a log cabin in 1863 that became the settlement's first post office, named Crete after the Illinois hometown of Jesse Bickle's first wife.

The railroad reached Crete in 1870, and on March 7, 1871, two competing settlements merged to form the town of Crete.

Crete's name also fit the alphabetical sequence of stations on the Burlington railroad line west from Lincoln — Berks, Crete, Dorchester, Exeter, Fairmont, and so on — towns spaced about nine miles apart for steam-engine water stops.

Crete's first newspaper, the Saline County Post, published its first issue on May 5, 1871, and public school classes had been taught in the settlement as early as 1866.

Doane University, founded in Crete in 1872 as Doane College, is Nebraska's oldest private university; it is named for Thomas Doane, the Burlington railroad's chief civil engineer, whose support helped establish the college.

Doane's student newspaper, the Doane Owl, founded in 1879, is the oldest student-run newspaper in Nebraska.

Crete has three National Register of Historic Places historic districts: the College Hill neighborhood, the Doane University campus buildings, and the downtown district.

On February 18, 1969, a derailed railroad tank car at Crete released anhydrous ammonia fumes that killed five residents in their homes and seriously injured 11 others.

Crete's population has grown steadily alongside its food-processing industries, reaching 7,099 at the 2020 census, up from 6,960 in 2010 and 6,028 in 2000.