The town of Lemoyne is located in Northern Keith County, Nebraska, United State. It was named in honor of Lemoyne Jacobs who allowed the construction of the railroad through his property back then. The town boomed but was later abandoned and disowned when all its residents left.

Birth Lemoyne town

Lemoyne Jacobs, who was a resident in the region, had for a very long time campaigned for the construction of a railroad in his hometown with no success. Finally, after years of determination, Union Pacific Railroad heard his obligations and agreed to build the railroad through the town. However, they made an agreement that the railroad was to pass through Jacob’s land. The patriotic resident did not reject the offer and the railroad construction started shortly afterward. From Jacob's determination, the town of Lemoyne was linked with other towns around. 

The organization decided to honor Lemoyne Jacob for the generous gesture of donating his land and named a section of the railroad Lemoyne. A town grew around the railroad and homesteads, schools, hotels and a school district (Lemoyne District School) were established. The population of the town increased to over 200 residents by 1924. A Presbyterian church was also built and the Lemoyne District School expanded.

What was the cause of Lemoyne's town downfall?

In 1935, plans from the state authorities to build a diversion dam near the Keystone area in Nebraska emerged. The damming of the area was to create a massive water reservoir (Lake McConaughy). When the news was taken to the residents of Lemoyne, as expected they sternly rejected the construction of the lake with no success. They were forced to relocate the town to give room for the construction of the proposed McConaughy dam.

With less time to build the dam, demolition of the structures at the townsite began almost immediately. The buildings in Lemoyne town were demolished and their ruins were taken to the hills in the North of the townsite by 1941. Ruins from the building were used to build new temporary homesteads by the relocated residents at the hills. The damming of the place resulted in the submerging of the Lemoyne townsite.

What remains of Lemoyne town

After the residents relocated to the hills, they named this new place Lemoyne although some of them decided to relocate to other places. The town’s growth was reduced as compared to how it was originally. In 2004 however, a severe drought hit the Lemoyne area resulting in the depletion of the waters of Lake McConaughy. The volume of the water reduced to about 340,000 feet. This water reduction exposed the foundation of the original townsite. Visitation to the townsite is allowed but one can only see the foundation of the old townsite when the water is low enough.