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Photograph of Big Blue River Bridge
Photograph by Ammodramus, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Big Blue River Bridge

Built in 1918. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.

From the record

“The Big Blue River Bridge is a National Register of Historic Places-listed bridge located in Fillmore County, Nebraska, near the village of Grafton. The bridge is one of two listed on the Register within Fillmore County, the other being the Deering Bridge.”

Wikipedia article Big Blue River Bridge (Grafton, Nebraska), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 20 National Register listings published here for Fillmore County · listed in 1992 · category: Structure · built in 1918.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 structure as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. Co. Rd. over W. Fork of the Big Blue R., 5 mi. N, 1 mi. W of Grafton, Grafton, 68365
  • When was it listed? June 1992
  • Category. structure
  • Also known as. Highway Bridges in Nebraska MPS
  • Township. Grafton township
  • When was it built? 1918
  • National Register reference number. 92000745 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

1 since 2010

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1 fire within 5 miles of Big Blue River Bridge in 2010, burning about 1 acre in total. None started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Equipment and vehicle use1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 October 2010Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresNebraska Forest Servicenot named

Every fire recorded in Fillmore County

Storms near this property

40 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Grafton, the town this property stands in, in 40 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 18 hail, 13 thunderstorm wind, 5 tornado, 2 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2014Tornado (EF2)Grafton$3,500,000This tornado traveled rural areas of northern Fillmore County, bumping the York County line along the way. It touched down a few miles north-northwest of Grafton and lifted a few miles north-northeast of Fairmont. One home suffered damage when part of the roof was torn away, while another older home was pushed approximately 30 feet off of its foundation. There was widespread power pole and tree damage, with some trees containing debris from grain bins, and a number of irrigation pivots were overturned. The peak wind with this tornado was estimated to be 120 MPH. South of the main tornado track, strong rear flank downdraft winds resulted in additional power pole and irrigation pivot damage, and an outbuilding suffered damage near Highway 81 north of Fairmont.
May 2014Tornado (EF3)Grafton$1,500,000This is the continuation of the EF3 tornado that started in Clay County northwest of Fairfield.||This tornado was reported initially as a multi-vortex tornado for several miles before taking on a more traditional look south of Saronville, where it was described as a wedge tornado. Based upon reports and video, it appears the entire mesocyclone of the storm was near ground level southwest of Sutton. It was one of the strongest tornado of the day in south central Nebraska, rated an EF3 with the peak wind estimated to be 150 MPH. Rear flank downdraft winds resulted in damage on the south side of the tornado track and in addition to the damage to Sutton itself, areas east of Clay Center, southwest of Sutton through northwest of Grafton were affected. Power poles and trees were damaged or snapped, irrigation pivots were overturned, and a few homes and outbuildings suffered damage.||Damage from this tornado was first noted north of Fairfield, where large tree limbs were knocked down and power poles broken. The tornado shifted mainly east across Highway 14 south of Clay Center, with additional tree damage as well as irrigation pivots overturned. It then started to move to the northeast, crossing Highway 41 east of Clay Center and Highway 6 a few miles west of Sutton, but powerful rear flank downdraft winds of 100 mph hammered Sutton and areas south-southwest of town, causing widespread property damage. Moving in between Saronville and Sutton, the tornado then started a more east-northeast path, crossing Road 6 north of Sutton before dissipating approximately 5 miles northeast of town.||As the tornado approached and crossed Highway 6 it intensified to it strongest point. Damage peaked a few miles north of Sutton, where the EF-3 rating was assigned, resulting from the destruction of a home. Elsewhere along the path, a few other homes sustained less significant damage than the one north of Sutton, and a number of other outbuildings and grain bins were also damaged or destroyed. Many trees were damaged, destroyed or contained debris (mainly from destroyed grain bins), irrigation pivots were overturned and power poles broken.
August 2025Thunderstorm WindGrafton$1,000,000The highest measured wind gusts near and along this path included the following: 91 MPH, measured by a mesonet station located three miles south-southeast of Fairmont; 86 MPH, measured by a mesonet station located two miles northeast of Exeter; 75 MPH, measured by a mesonet station located four miles southeast of Sutton; 74 MPH, measured by a mesonet station located two miles south of Exeter. There were several reports of tree damage along this path, including the Grafton and Fairmont areas. Power outages and line damage was also reported. In the Fairmont area, at least one grain bin was destroyed, and a semi was tipped over.
June 2019HailGrafton$250,000Quarter to golf ball size hail was accompanied by 50 to 60 MPH wind gusts.
June 2015FloodGrafton$250,000Multiple rounds of heavy rainfall totaled generally 4-7 across much of Fillmore County between the 3rd-6th, with the majority of this rain falling on the 4th-5th. The cumulative effects of multiple heavy rains resulted in significant flooding along the West Fork Big Blue River and its smaller stream tributaries in the northern part of the county, mainly on the 6th-7th. Reports indicated that this may have been some the worst flooding observed along the river in 50-80 years. A few days of warm and dry weather settled in from June 7-9, allowing flood waters to largely recede. However, another focused area of 1.50-3.00 of heavy rain targeted the York and northern Fillmore counties area on the night of the 10th into the morning of the 11th. This again pushed the West Fork Big Blue River out of its banks in the McCool Junction area from the 11th into the 12th, before this multiple-day flooding event finally came to a close.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindGrafton$180,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH knocked three irrigation pivots over near Road H between Roads 5 and 6.
July 2023HailGrafton$100,000no account filed
April 2005HailGrafton$100,000no account filed
May 2004HailGrafton$100,000no account filed
July 2024Tornado (EF1)Grafton$75,000A QLCS tornado affected portions of eastern Clay County and western Fillmore County. This tornado touched down at approximately Road 315 and Z Road south of Sutton, then moved north-northeast where it impacted a farmstead along Z Road, just north of Road 316. Within this stretch of the tornado, several EF1 damage points were noted, particularly with respect to several large wooden power poles snapped, uprooted trees, and destroyed small grain bins. The grain bins were carried approximately 300 to 400 yards downstream into a nearby corn field that also sustained pivot damage. Small farm implements were also carried downwind, and a small chicken coop and other outbuildings were destroyed. Fortunately, the house received only minor damage to the siding. The tornado lifted shortly thereafter just northeast of the farmstead. In addition, a broad swath of severe crop damage was noted in the vicinity of and to the south of the tornado track, likely due to a combination of large hail and straight-line wind gusts of 60-80 MPH. Here, five foot tall healthy corn plants were reduced to 1-2 foot stalks, and bean fields were nearly unrecognizable. The peak wind gust was estimated to be 110 MPH, and the tornado width was based on power line damage south of the impacted farmstead.
May 2019FloodGrafton$50,000Heavy rainfall resulted in flooding along area creeks and rivers across northern portions of Fillmore County, including School Creek and the West Fork of the Big Blue River. Some rural roads and bridges were covered with water.
May 2005Thunderstorm WindGrafton$50,000no account filed
June 1997Thunderstorm WindGrafton$40,000no account filed
October 2020Thunderstorm WindGrafton$30,000Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH damaged some empty grain bins.
July 2007Flash FloodGrafton$30,000no account filed
April 2014HailGrafton$25,000The report, along with a photo, was received via Twitter.
June 1997HailGrafton$25,000no account filed
May 2004Thunderstorm WindGrafton$5,000no account filed
May 1998HailGrafton$5,000no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindGrafton$2,000Winds accompanied by dime size hail.
June 1998Thunderstorm WindGrafton$1,000no account filed
July 2024Thunderstorm WindGrafton-Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH, accompanied by dime size hail.
March 2020HailGrafton-Hail was mostly pea sized, with a few stones as large as a quarter.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindGrafton-Estimated wind gusts of 50 to 60 MPH accompanied quarter to golf ball size hail.
May 2014Tornado (EF0)Grafton-This tornado location was determined from video and chaser reports. An experienced meteorologist and others have reported that this tornado rotated anti-cyclonically, or the opposite direction most tornadoes rotate. Radar imagery and video suggest the anti-cyclonic circulation could have occurred, although the rotational direction could not be confirmed via field survey. No damage was reported with this tornado.
April 2005Tornado (F0)Grafton-A tornado in far northwest Fillmore County knocked over an irrigation center pivot system on its short path.
April 2023HailGrafton-no account filed
July 2022HailGrafton-no account filed
June 2019HailGrafton-no account filed
October 2016HailGrafton-no account filed
April 2012HailGrafton-no account filed
April 2009HailGrafton-no account filed
September 2006Thunderstorm WindGrafton-no account filed
April 2005Funnel CloudGrafton-no account filed
May 2003HailGrafton-no account filed
August 1999Thunderstorm WindGrafton-no account filed
May 1996HailGrafton-no account filed
May 1996HailGrafton-no account filed
April 1994HailGrafton-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindGrafton-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Fillmore County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Grafton High School4.4 miles2025

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 92000745 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Fillmore CountyAll 20 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.