Belmont, Nebraska

Belmont is a semi-ghost town in Dawes County, Nebraska, United States, approximately 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Crawford.

Originally known as Evergreen City, the settlement was existent by summer 1889, due to the construction of the Belmont Tunnel.

Improved vehicles meant that shopping and selling of farm products could be done in larger towns nearby, and the Burlington Railroad ceased passenger service in 1969.

The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad built a rail line through the precinct in 1888–1889, and decided the deep canyons of the area made a tunnel necessary.

However, by World War I, the rural economy had started to rebound, and Belmont reached its population peak in the late 1920s, with around eighty residents.

Improved vehicles meant that shopping and selling of farm products could be done in larger towns nearby; Belmont's last store burned in 1949 and was never rebuilt.

Additionally, Belmont was economically dependent on the railroad, which ceased passenger service in 1969 because of society's increasing favor of the automobile for transportation.

1927 Belmont schoolhouse, September 2012
Map of Nebraska highlighting Dawes County