Railroad, Town Site, and the Name Eddyville

The construction of the Kearney and Black Hills Railroad line in 1890 caused the rural store and post office, then owned by George A. Brown and operating under the name Congdon, to move about a half mile east to the present location of Eddyville.

The Wood River Improvement Company purchased the town site in the spring of 1890 from James Edmisten, Charles Blanchard, J. S. Stuckey, and H. V. Temple. The site was surveyed in June 1890, and the town incorporated in 1893.

McFarland records competing stories about the name. Some said Eddyville was named after Eddyville, Iowa, which had been named for J. P. Eddy, an early post trader. Most agreed, however, that J. H. Hamilton, superintendent of the Kearney and Black Hills Railroad and the Wood River Improvement Company, named it for Miss Eddy, a Christian Science figure who was visiting the area at the time.

Streets were laid out plainly. The north-south streets were numbered First through Fifth Avenue. Main Street ran east-west just south of the now-vacant café. Other east-west streets were named Catalpa, Cypress, Sycamore, Maple, Cherry, Ash, Oak, Poplar, and Cedar, even though no trees could be found in town.

Our Town · Dolores McFarland · 2000