Berea, Nebraska
Berea is a small, unincorporated community and census-designated place in Box Butte County, in northwestern Nebraska. It had 49 residents in 2020.
The town started when the Burlington Railroad reached the area in 1889, bringing a water tower and section house. Settlers from Ohio named it after Berea, Ohio. By 1890–91 Berea had about 50 people, plus a general store, a newspaper, and a post office. A school and a community hall were added a few years later. Over the years the population rose and fell, and Berea mainly served as a railroad shipping stop with few businesses.
A garage opened in 1921 to repair cars and farm machinery. The post office reopened in 1925 but closed again the next year. A refinery was operated in 1935 by the Utility Petroleum Company of Chadron. The population was listed as 75 in 1960. District 39 school closed in 2007 with nine students, and the population was about 50 in 2009.
Berea sits about 10 miles northwest of Alliance, along the west side of the BNSF Railway tracks and near the junction of Nebraska Highway 2 with U.S. Route 385. There is no separate commercial district. Kelley Bean Company runs a grain elevator beside the tracks, with a capacity of 633,000 bushels and room for nine railroad cars.
In 2010, West Plains Grain Inc. announced plans to build a large grain-loading facility near Berea, capable of handling 126 rail cars.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:23 (CET).