Boot Hill Cemetery - Sidney, Nebraska

There is a lot of history hidden beneath Boot Hill Cemetery in Sidney, Nebraska. Some of it is well-known and some of it has yet to be discovered. With a cemetery that has the history behind it that this one does, being used at one time for the soldiers lost in the battles at Fort Sidney, and at another time to bury the remains of those that died in what became a very wild old western town.

The inception of Boot Hill Cemetery, at the time called Sidney Cemetery, was in 1868. Soldiers were dying in the gun battles at Fort Sidney, and the cemetery was created to provide a final resting place for them. The town of Sidney was small at that time, holding only five hundred residents. Yet, once gold was discovered in the Black Hills, Sidney became a stopover for those traveling to be a part of the gold rush. Once the rail travel came through the area, business did as well, bringing even more people through the town.

Success, in this case, wasn’t necessarily good. While there was lots of business, and consequently more money pumping through the town, when visitors stayed in the town, they seemed to spend many of their dollars at the saloons and the brothels. With this came a steep increase in crime, and the town picked up the nicknames of “Sinful Sidney,” “Wickedest Town in the West,” “Toughest Town on the Tracks,” “The Hardest Hole,” and “The Magic City on the Plains.”

In just the time period of 1876 to 1881, there were 1000 criminal cases prosecuted and 56 murders or attempted murders. These crimes included the largest ever gold robbery in the United States and vigilantes hanging sixteen of the worst offenders from the tree at the courthouse. There was a corrupt sheriff overseeing the law and the Irish Mafia seemed to be controlling the business. Sidney soon became known as the lynching capital of Nebraska.

All the people that reached a tragic end to their life in Sidney were buried in the cemetery, right along with the dead soldiers. Generally, they were buried with their boots on, hence the name Boot Hill. The bodies were wrapped in burlap sacks and laid out on boards. Dirt was thrown over them to cover them up, and wooden markers were used to show a final resting place. The burials were discontinued in 1894, and soon the cemetery became very run down with no one taking care of it. The government ordered the removal of the dead soldiers buried there in 1922 and were shocked to find over two hundred other bodies there, causing them to stop digging, leaving an unknown number still buried.

In June of 2006 author and city councilman Loren Avey asked the city of Ogallala (the town that has gone on to replace Sidney) to begin a project of restoration of Boot Hill and to also create some type of monument. The committee was then formed the following month, and soon after, the city council officially recognized The Sidney Boot Hill Restoration Committee. It is the mission of this committee to dedicate themselves to the restoration, recognition, and preservation of Boot Hill, and to recognize the role the cemetery played in the lives of all citizens of Sidney and Ogallala, starting in 1868. This restoration process is currently underway.

How to Find It: West 10th & Park Hill Drive, Ogallala

Tel: 800.658.4390

Boot Hill Cemetery - Sidney, Nebraska