Scottsbluff, Nebraska, United States

🇺🇸 Scottsbluff is a city in Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska, United States, in the Great Plains region. Scottsbluff is the largest city in the Nebraska Panhandle, and the 13th largest city in Nebraska.

Scottsbluff was founded in 1899 across the North Platte River from its namesake, a bluff that is now protected by the National Park Service as Scotts Bluff National Monument. The monument was named after Hiram Scott (1805–1828), a fur trader with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company who was found dead in the vicinity on the return trip from a fur expedition. The smaller town of Gering had been founded south of the river in 1887. The two cities have since grown together to form the 7th largest urban area (the Scottsbluff Micropolitan Statistical Area) in Nebraska.

History Scottsbluff was founded in 1899 by the Lincoln Land Company, a subsidiary of the Burlington Railroad. By 1900, the Burlington Railroad laid tracks into the town and placed a discarded boxcar next to the tracks as a temporary depot. Scottsbluff was the first town in the region to be located along a railroad line, resulting in some older businesses relocating from Gering to Scottsbluff.

Other names In the Lakota language, Scottsbluff is called pȟaŋkéska wakpá otȟúŋwahe ("Platte River City", lit. "abalone river city").

Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 6.27 square miles (16.24 km²), of which 6.22 square miles (16.11 km²) is land and 0.05 square miles (0.13 km²) is water.

Education Scottsbluff is home to the main campus of Western Nebraska Community College. In addition, several other Nebraska institutions maintain centres and offer select courses or programs in the city, including the University of Nebraska Medical Center College of Nursing, Chadron State College, and the University of Nebraska (Panhandle Research and Extension Center).

The now-defunct Hiram Scott College was located a few miles north of the city.

Points of interest • Grave of Rebecca Winters (Mormon Pioneer) • Lake Minatare State Recreation Area • Riverside Discovery Center • Western Nebraska Community College • Fort Mitchell • Cedar Canyon • Carter Canyon • Robidoux Pass

Landmark buildings • Old Post Office • Midwest Theater • Lincoln Hotel • Great Western Sugar Factory • Lake Minatare Lighthouse • Bluffs Middle School • Scottsbluff High School • Scottsbluff County Courthouse • Scottsbluff Carnegie Library.

Public transit Tri-City Roadrunner is the public transit bus system in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, United States. It operates two regular bus routes on weekdays from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. There is no service on weekends. Two deviated fixed-route services are provided, allowing for 3⁄4-mile (1.2 km) deviations from the normal route. Fixed-route services began on January 10, 2018, with four buses and 14 drivers. The Blue Route and the Orange Route operate north–south between Scottsbluff and Gering, but utilize different alignments to maximize coverage of the cities. In addition to the two deviated fixed routes, there is demand response service available to anywhere in any of the cities served or rural Scotts Bluff County.

Major highways • US 26 U.S. Route 26 - east–west route through Scottsbluff • N-71 Nebraska Route 71 - north–south route through Scottsbluff • N-92 Nebraska Route 92 - route going west from Scottsbluff to Wyoming border.

Transport: Air The Scottsbluff area is served by Western Nebraska Regional Airport. United Express serves the airport with twice-daily service to Denver International Airport.