In 1887 the Fremont, Elkhorn, and Missouri Valley Railroad extended its tracks from York to Hastings, and Henderson was built along the railroad on land sold by Cornelius Regier to the Pioneer Town Site Company in October 1887 for $15,000. Named for David Henderson, an early settler in Henderson Township, the village quickly became a strong community center with businesses, homes, and a school established during its first year. Its first church was built in 1906 and was followed within a few years by two others. Railroad service furnished the lifeblood of the town and aided its growth, but the depression hit the area hard and the railroad removed its tracks in 1941. Community loyalty and resourcefulness helped overcome that adversity, and deep well irrigation and manufacturing plants supplying the irrigation business brought a new era of prosperity. During the 1950s and 1960s the town doubled in population and built a new hospital, a new school, and many new homes, making Henderson a landmark among small, rural Nebraska communities.