[2] The county was formed in 1888 and named after railroad pioneer Thomas Lord Kimball.

[3] In the Nebraska license plate system, Kimball County is represented by the prefix 71 (it was the county having the seventy-first-largest number of vehicles registered in the state when the license plate system was established in 1922).

The terrain of Kimball County consists of rolling hills sloping to the east.

The flatter portions are mainly used for agriculture, mostly dry farming with a modest amount of center pivot irrigation.

A small drainage, Lodgepole Creek, feeds into the Oliver Reservoir, in the western central part of the county.

In only three national elections has the county selected the Democratic Party candidate, most recently in 1936.