Saltillo, Nebraska

The settlement of Saltillo was formerly located along the Salt Creek where the corners of Grant, Centerville, Yankee Hill, and Saltillo townships meet.{{Cite web|url=https://llcgs.info/cpage.php?pt=54|title=Lincoln Lancaster County Genealogical Society - GHOST TOWNS OF LANCASTER|website=llcgs.info|access-date=2019-04-10}} Originally a community was planned at the site to be named Olathe. In 1862, John Cadman built a road ranch called Saltillo Station in the area to provide lodgings for travelers along the Oregon Trail between Nebraska City and Fort Kearny.{{Cite web|url=https://journalstar.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/jim-mckee-john-cadman-s-house-and-the-oregon-trail/article_f5e04988-6f52-11df-b2b7-001cc4c002e0.html|title=Jim McKee: John Cadman's house and the Oregon Trail Cutoff|website=JournalStar.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-10}} A post office was established at Saltillo in 1862, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1906.{{cite web | url=http://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=NE&county=Lancaster&searchtext=&pagenum=3 | title=Lancaster County | publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | access-date=19 August 2014}} The community was likely named after the city of Saltillo, Mexico.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dlas_EPVGFEC | title=Nebraska Place-Names | publisher=University of Nebraska Press | author=Fitzpatrick, Lillian L. | year=1960 |isbn=0-8032-5060-6 }} A [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=englishunsllc 1925 edition] is available for download at [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/ University of Nebraska—Lincoln Digital Commons.]{{Cite journal|last=Fitzpatrick|first=Lilian|date=1925-01-01|title=Nebraska Place-Names|url=http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishunsllc/1|journal=University of Nebraska Studies in Language, Literature, and Criticism}} The name is derived from the Spanish word salto, meaning leap, the diminutive suffix renders the meaning of the name "little leap."

Saltillo remained a small community for its entire existence, never exceeding a population of 50 people. The village economy relied heavily on wagon train traffic from the Oregon Trail, which became obsolete in 1865 with the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Two railroads passed through Saltillo, the Atchison and Nebraska Railroad in 1872 and the a branch line of the Union Pacific called the Omaha and Republican Valley Railroad in 1883.{{Cite web|url=http://johnmarvigbridges.org/Saltillo.html|title=Saltillo, Nebraska|website=johnmarvigbridges.org|access-date=2019-04-10}} The Atchison and Nebraska Railroad was later sold to Chicago, Burlington & Quincy in 1908.{{Cite web|url=http://www.newspapers.com/clip/19011716/an_to_be_sold_to_burlington/|title=A&N to be sold to Burlington|website=Newspapers.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-10}}

Plat maps produced in 1903 show the village with three streets and the path of Salt Creek flowing through roughly half of the lots.{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4193lm.gla00143/?sp=26|title=Rokeby; Jamaica; Saltillo|website=Library of Congress|access-date=2019-04-10}} Frequent flooding, a lack of travelers and thus income, as well as the continuous growth of nearby Lincoln all sent the population of Saltillo into decline. By the 1950s, the last visible remnant of Saltillo was the grain elevator which was torn down in 1953.

• List of ghost towns in Nebraska

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{{Lancaster County, Nebraska}}

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Category:Unincorporated communities in Lancaster County, Nebraska

Category:Unincorporated communities in Nebraska

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