Weissert

The town is but a spot in the road in the Clear Creek Valley of Eastern Custer County. The school has been closed since early 1950’s but the building still stands on the west side of Main Street. In the early days Weissert had two schools: East Weissert and West Weissert. The Church of God still holds worship services every Sunday morning. Pirnie’s General Store and Post Office building still stands but has been closed for nearly 20 years.Weissert-pronounced “WY-sert” by the locals-was first known as Lone Tree, because of a huge cottonwood which grew a few miles west of town. The tree was a landmark guiding travelers across the otherwise treeless, grassy plains of the area. It was estimated to be 75 to 100 years old. Sometime in the 1930’s, the cottonwood was struck by lightning and eventually fell. When Weissert’s post office was established October 8, 1892, name choices were sent to the postmaster general in Washington DC. Names sent by the first local postmaster were Golden and Hinckleyville. Both names were rejected. The postmaster generals name was Weisman and he coined the name Weissert.

At one time Weissert owned and operated their own telephone service-Lone Tree Telephone Company. Thought Weissert hoped for the railroad, but it never came close. 1n 1947, a thousand people gathered from around the area to celebrate the arrival of electricity and to hear Nebraska Sen. Kenneth S Wherry say, “REA is the nicest thing that ever happened to rural America”.

The Lone Tree Cemetery is located a few miles south of the town.

Three tornadoes have swept through the area-in 1903, 1922, and 1942-causing a death in 1903 and damage to buildings and livestock in the latter two.

Every Fourth of July, the town celebrates with a reunion-and has for 70 years.