Pender, NE

Pender is Thurston County's seat, founded in 1885 on a plateau west of Logan Creek. W.E. Peebles is remembered as the founder, while the village's name honors Sir John Pender, the Scottish politician and businessman associated with the transatlantic cable and railways. Pender became the first town in the newly organized county after the area was separated from Dakota County. Early businesses included banks, a hotel, a harness shop, brick makers, lumber and coal companies, and an opera house that still stands. The county's story also includes the Omaha Reservation, established before Nebraska statehood.