This part of Nebraska was inhabited by
native Americans until, June 7, 1856 when a group of men
started a
settlement called L'eau Qui Court Company. This company fail
and was reorganized as the Niobrara Township Company. The
Territorial Legislature of Nebraska (1856 - 1857) created
L'eau Qui Court County with the count seat being in Niobrara. The State Legislature passed and act
in 1873, renaming the county to Knox. The county seat was
moved nearer to the center of the county in 1902. The new
town was called "Center."
The county is about 1140 square miles with 2.8 percent
of that being water.
As the table shows the county had large gains in population
from 1870 to 1910. There were two decades with small gains.
The population has been in a downward spiral since 1930.
See the
Knox County NEGenWeb Project for family histories.
|
Knox County's Population Per Decade
Year |
Population |
Gain/Loss |
1860 |
152 |
|
1870 |
261 |
109 |
1880 |
3666 |
3404 |
1890 |
8582 |
4916 |
1900 |
14343 |
5761 |
1910 |
18358 |
4015 |
1920 |
18894 |
536 |
1930 |
19110 |
216 |
1940 |
16478 |
2632 |
1950 |
14820 |
1658 |
1960 |
13300 |
1520 |
1970 |
11723 |
1577 |
1980 |
11457 |
266 |
1990 |
9534 |
1923 |
2000 |
9374 |
160 |
2010 |
8701 |
673 |
|