About Our County

Fun Facts

Hayes County was named for Rutherford B. Hayes, the 19th President of the United States. The county was created in 1877, the same year Hayes became president.
Hayes County covers about 713 square miles of southwest Nebraska.
Approximately 93% of the county’s land is agricultural, with pasture and grassland accounting for the largest share.
Hayes County has been officially designated a Livestock Friendly County by the Nebraska Department of Agriculture.
One of the area’s most unusual historical events was the 1872 buffalo hunt of Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, accompanied by General George Custer, General Philip Sheridan and a young Buffalo Bill Cody.
Sioux Chief Spotted Tail helped Buffalo Bill locate buffalo for the Grand Duke’s hunt and was reportedly compensated with 1,000 pounds of tobacco.
Hayes County’s traditional Nebraska license-plate prefix is 79, based on its vehicle-registration ranking when the numbering system was established.
The Hayes County Fair is heavily centered around local youth and 4-H, including livestock, shooting sports, exhibits, a community barbecue and livestock sale.

Before permanent settlement, the grasslands of present-day Hayes County were used by Indigenous peoples including the Pawnee and Sioux, and large buffalo herds were common throughout the area.
In January 1872, several years before Hayes County was formally created, Grand Duke Alexis of Russia participated in his famous buffalo hunt in what is now the eastern portion of the county.
The first homesteads in the county are recorded along Red Willow Creek in 1874.
Hayes County was officially created by the Nebraska Legislature on February 19, 1877, but it remained unorganized for several years.
The county was formally organized in late 1884.
Hayes Center was established in 1885 and was selected as the permanent county seat that April.
Cattle ranching played an important role in the county’s early development, particularly during the era when herds were driven north from Texas toward the Union Pacific railhead at Ogallala.
Homesteading brought rapid settlement during the 1880s, although the difficult climate and economic conditions of the following decade caused many early settlers to leave.