In 1908 John Harrop, originally from Roca, Nebraska, filed
a homestead claim just west of the
Calamus River about thirteen miles north of Taylor in Loup County.
Harrop acquired 640 acres
under the Kinkaid Act of 1904, which had been passed to encourage
settlement in the Nebraska
Sand Hills. By 1912 Harrop operated a mercantile store and the
Harrop post office at his home.
In the mid-1920s Harrop and his son Roy, an Omaha attorney, were
leaders in organizing the
Calamus Irrigation District. This public operation planned to
build a dam on the Calamus River
to provide irrigation and promote the growing of crops such as
sugar beets. In 1927 Roy Harrop
platted and dedicated a townsite named Harrop about one mile south
of here, and a few buildings
were constructed.
Meanwhile opposition to the irrigation project led to a series
of court battles and in 1929 the
Nebraska Supreme Court dissolved the irrigation district. John
Harrop died in 1932, along with
his dream for the town and the irrigation project. Today nothing
remains of the remains of the
Harrop townsite.
Loup County Historical Society
Nebraska State Historical Society
U.S. 183, 18 miles north of Taylor
Loup County
Marker 375