Highmore, named for being the highest point on the Northwestern between Chicago and the Missouri River, was called Siding No. 5 until Peter O. Swalen was appointed postmaster on 7 June 1882, soon after the first surveyors found him and 31 other squatters holding claims nearby. Hyde County, created in 1873 and named for legislator James Hyde of Vermillion, was originally eight townships long east and west but only four high, lying south of Hand County, with both in the same joint area as today. In 1879 the legislature took the east ⅝th of Hyde and added it to Hand but failed to give Hyde the west ⅜th of Hand, leaving it until February 1883 only half a county high, with its present north half in no county. Governor Ordway appointed John Falde and A. E. Van Camp to organize Hyde County, and they did so on October 1, 1883. He also appointed L. E. Whitcher and George W. Dunham for the same purpose, and on November 5, 1883 they set up a second county organization. Both groups met and functioned, but the dispute centered on which could issue a legal tax receipt. This continued until September 1, 1884, when, as a compromise, Falde resigned and that board ended by final adjournment and dissolution. The next day Van Camp and Whitcher met, reorganized, and began a fully legal county with new officers. Hyde County reached its highest population in 1925 with 4000 residents, and Highmore reached its peak in 1950 with 1158. Among its outstanding citizens were Congressman Royal C. Johnson (1882-1939) and Lt. Gov. Howard C. Shober (1859-1957), and in 1951 a fine auditorium seating 1200 was completed.