Washington County, Nebraska: History
Washington County was created on November 23, 1854 and named for George Washington.
Washington County is in eastern Nebraska on the Missouri River. It was explored by Europeans as early as 1739 by Pierre Antoine and Paul Mallet, who were on a trapping expedition to Canada. In 1804, Lewis and Clark reported the establishment of the new United States government to a council of Indian chiefs near the present site of Fort Calhoun. As a result of this council, Fort Atkinson was established in 1819 and served as a key midwestern outpost until 1827.
The first permanent settlement in Washington County was in 1854. In that same year, the county was organized as one of the eight original counties proclaimed by acting Governor Thomas B. Cuming; it was reorganized in 1855. The county seat has been in three different towns: Fort Calhoun, DeSoto, and Blair, its present site since 1869.
The Fort Calhoun Nuclear Generating Station south of Blair, which was North America's smallest commercial nuclear reactor by rated capacity, was closed in October 2016 to begin decommissioning. An associated system of warning sirens was located in the southeastern part of the county for emergency notification in the event of a problem at the station.
An Atlas missile launch site (Site B), formerly associated with Offutt Air Force Base and deactivated in the 1960s, lies east of Arlington.