Nebraska County Countdown: #5 Dodge County

Nebraska is a lot like many midwestern states in that it has a lot of barns.

New barns, old barns, barns that are falling down. All shapes an sizes for the most part too. You can’t drive very far without looking across the horizon and see some farming structure sticking out. In fact, there are still standing barns inside the city limits of Lincoln and Omaha. They might be hidden, but they’re there.

The idea of the barn and what is looks like has evolved over the years. Very rarely do you see anyone building a barn like they did back in the day. Most people would think of this as a big red barn with red trim and made out of wood. It usually is built to hold multiple types of livestock in the main entry and house grain and hay in the upper area. Something like this:

Over the years the barn has taken a more utilitarian approach. People now put up quonsets or machine sheds. These are usually metal and can go up fairly quickly and are cost effective. They get the job done but they don’t exactly have the same character or stylistic elegance a big red barn has on the prairie.

In the county of Dodge there is a small town of Uehling which is no more than 230 people. There sits a very unique barn that was built back in 1918.

This 100 year old building was built by Frank Theodore Uehling. Frank was the son of Theodore Uehling who came from Germany and founded the town of Uehling back in the 1800’s. County Road 22 goes right through town and as you leave going north you will see this octagon structure as you leave town to your right.

Inside is about as interesting as the outside and there is a grain silo in the center.

It is still standing and you can see it to this day. The structure is no longer owned by the Uehling family but is still in local hands from my understanding. I’ve also been told they still do some calving in there every once in awhile.

I drove by this building years ago as I was trekking across the state for a campaign. I stopped and stared at it for awhile before I went on my merry way but I never for got it. Hopefully one of these days I will take a longer route to Omaha and go through Uehling and take some pictures of my own. Maybe the owners will even let me go inside and check out the impressive pice of architecture poking out of the plains.

Outside of the quaint town of Uehling you have the large metropolis of Fremont which is also the county seat. The county was named after Augustus C. Dodge who was a U.S. Senator from Iowa back in 1840’s.

As for Huskers, well the county of Dodge has sent a LOT to Lincoln. In total we have had over 30 players come from this county of roughly 36,000 residents. Both Zack and Eric Weigert came from Fremont to play on the offensive line. There must be something in the water over there because guard Wes Cody also came from the area. Might be why Cosco wants to move in and raise chickens.

Gerry Gdowski played quarterback back in the 80’s. He will always be a favorite of mine because he was the first Huskers I remember from my youth rooting for. Duncan and Mike Drum both came out of the county back in the 1960’s and fought hard for Coach Devaney during their time there.

So there you go folks, Dodge County. You only have four more to go before the 2018 Cornhusker football season starts. I hope you have all enjoyed the ride.