Arthur County, Nebraska

Arthur County, Nebraska
Arthur County Courthouse in Arthur
Location in the U.S. state of Nebraska
Nebraska's location in the U.S.
Founded	1913
Named for	Chester A. Arthur
Seat	Arthur
Largest village	Arthur
Area
• Total	718 sq mi (1,860 km2)
• Land	715 sq mi (1,852 km2)
• Water	3.0 sq mi (8 km2), 0.4%
Population
• (2010)	460
• Density	0.6/sq mi (0/km²)
Time zone	Mountain: UTC-7/-6

Arthur County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 census, the population was 460, making it Nebraska's least populous county and the fifth-least populous county in the United States (behind only Loving County, Texas, Kalawao County, Hawaii, King County, Texas, and Kenedy County, Texas). Its county seat and only incorporated community is Arthur.

In the Nebraska license plate system, Arthur County is represented by the prefix 91 (it had the ninety-first-largest number of vehicles registered in the county when the license plate system was established in 1922).

Arthur County contains the historic First Arthur County Courthouse and Jail, believed to be the smallest courthouse in the United States.

Arthur County was formed in 1913 and named after President Chester A. Arthur. Arthur County was formed from what had been McPherson County after there had been an effort to move the McPherson County seat from Tryon to the more centrally located Flats. Rather than lose the county seat, the residents of Tryon agreed to have the county divided approximately in half when it was discovered such a division had been part of earlier governmental planning. The county seat for Arthur County became the newly formed Arthur, which was formed and incorporated for that purpose. The village of Arthur is in a valley near the county's geographic center.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 718 square miles (1,860 km²), of which 715 square miles (1,850 km²) is land and 3.0 square miles (7.8 km²) (0.4%) is water.