[2] The county was formed in 1886; it took its name from a large box-shaped butte north of Alliance.

In the Nebraska license plate system, Box Butte County is represented by the prefix 65 (it had the sixty–fifth largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922).

Box Butte County was formed as part of a series of partitionings of the Nebraska Panhandle.

In 1883, the Nebraska legislature divided the Panhandle into two counties, Sioux and Cheyenne.

[3][4] In the Nebraska license plate system, Box Butte County is represented by the prefix 65 (it had the 65th-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922).

[5] As of the 2000 United States Census,[10] there were 12,158 people, 4,780 households, and 3,298 families in the county.