Wayne, the county seat of Wayne County, was laid out by the St. Paul and Sioux City Railroad in June 1881. The city and county were named for “Mad” Anthony Wayne, a Revolutionary War general. The first settlers arrived in the eastern part of the county in 1868, including homesteaders such as Colonel B. F. Whitten, who made the first claim near Wakefield that year. Much of the unbroken prairie was bought by land speculators, some of it for as little as fifty cents per acre, and then sold again to settlers. When the county was organized in 1870, LaPorte, about six miles southeast of Wayne, became the county seat. The railroad was extended through the county in 1881-1882, but it missed LaPorte and passed through Wayne. Voters then moved the county seat to Wayne, and LaPorte became a ghost town. Wayne has had a college since 1887, when the Lutheran Academy was established and held classes until 1890. Nebraska Normal College was founded in 1891 with Professor James M. Pile of Fremont as president, and John G. Neihardt, later Poet Laureate of Nebraska, was among its early students. In 1909 the state purchased the school and continued it as a teachers college. Since 1963 it has been called Wayne State College.