Downs, an incorporated city of Osborne county, is situated in Ross township on the Solomon river and at the junction of two lines of the Missouri Pacific R. R., 10 miles east of Osborne, the county seat. The city owes its origin to the construction of the Central Branch R. R., which was completed to this point in 1879. Downs was platted by John A. Beal and A. Z. Blunt in Aug., 1879, and the following December the town was incorporated with the following officers: Mayor, J. B. Craney; clerk, J. G. Poole; councilmen, John Parish, O. Denton, L. F. Pennington, J. E. Kentzel and G. W. Howell. The railroad company made Downs a division point and erected a roundhouse and repair shop, which gave the place an impetus. On Feb. 9, 1880, Thomas G. Nicklin issued the first number of the Downs Times, and in Aug., 1880, bonds were voted for the erection of a modern school building. Churches and lodges of various fraternal orders were established, and the growth of Downs has been steady and substantial from the start.

In 1910 Downs reported a population of 1,427, a gain of 489 during the preceding ten years. The city is equipped with electric lights, a fire department, waterworks, well kept streets, etc. It has 2 banks, an international money order postoffice with three rural routes, express and telegraph service, a telephone exchange, a public library, an opera house, 2 weekly newspapers (the Times and the News), an ice and cold storage plant, flour mills, grain elevators, brick and tile works, the railroad machine shops, good mercantile establishments, and the professions are well represented.