Broken Bow took its name from a broken Indian bow found nearby after early homesteader Wilson Hewitt's first three proposed post office names were rejected as too similar to names already approved. This area became the center of what eventually came to be known as the Sod House Frontier, where homesteaders entering the largely treeless region built their first homes from prairie sod cut into strips. Early churches, schools, and some business places were also made of sod, and homesteaders used sod to build corrals, henhouses, corn cribs, wind breaks, and even pig pens. One Custer County resident constructed a full two storied sod house, though others were usually a single story or a story and a half. As settlement increased, Broken Bow grew and in 1882 became the county seat of Custer County, and that same year Jess Gandy donated the sites for the county courthouse and the city square.