VGI Updates

The village of Worden was laid out in 1907 as part of the Huntley Project.

Worden was settled by Volga German immigrants from the colony of Kautz.

Volga Germans seeking work in the sugarbeet industry settled the Milk River Valley town of Zurich in 1923.

The town was originally named Grand Lake. When the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad came to Grand Lake in 1888, the railroad superintendent, G.W. Holdrege, wanted to change it to a simple one-word name closer to the beginning of the alphabet, which he thought would be better for business. He picked "Alliance" for the new name of the town. It was incorporated as a city in 1891.       

Many Volga German families moved to Alliance to work for the railroad.

Following the sugar beet industry, Volga Germans first settled in Bayard in January, 1913, having first stopped in Gering. This first group of five families were from Franzosen and had earlier settled in Sugar City, Colorado.       

The Great Western sugar beet factory was built in Bayard in 1917.

A group of Volga Germans arrived at the port in New York City aboard the S.S. Donau on 5 August 1876 and included the following who settled in Campbell:

From Kolb:

Clay Center was laid out in the summer of 1879 and became incorporated in 1887. Many Volga German families settled in and around Clay Center.

The descendants of Volga German colonists from Frank, Huck, and Norka arrived in Culbertson in 1879, having earlier settled in Sutton.

The settlement at Friend was started by Volga German emigrants from Red Oak, Iowa, in the 1870s.

Gering was incorporated in 1890. After irrigation arrived in the area in 1902, the sugarbeet industry flourished and a sugar factory was built there in 1915. Volga German families moved there from Fort Collins and other areas to work in the sugar beet industry.

Volga German immigrants who were working for the railroad moved from Lincoln and settled in Grand Island.