Kimball, Nebraska: the High Point town and Four Winds golf

Kimball is a city of 2,290 people (2020 census) in the Nebraska Panhandle, on Interstate 80 near the Wyoming and Colorado borders. It is the seat of Kimball County and calls itself "The High Point of Nebraska", because the state's highest point is about 33 miles away. Its golf course, Four Winds Golf Club, is on the edge of town.

Quick facts

County

Kimball County (county seat)

Population

2,290 (2020 census)

Highway

Interstate 80; the historic Lincoln Highway runs through town

Founded

About 1870, as Antelopeville

Incorporated

1888

City website

kimballne.org

From Antelopeville to Kimball

The town began around 1870, when the Union Pacific Railroad reached this point, as a telegraph and coal station called Antelopeville. It was renamed in 1885 after Thomas Lord Kimball, a railroad official, and incorporated in 1888.

Panorama Point, Nebraska's highest point

Panorama Point, at 5,424 feet, is the highest natural point in Nebraska. It is in the southwest corner of Kimball County, near where Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming meet, about 33 miles from town, and is marked by a small monument. Kimball itself is not the highest town in the state; that is Harrison, at 4,876 feet.

Golf: Four Winds Golf Club

Four Winds Golf Club, at 4530 Gilliland Drive, opened in 1970. The Nebraska Golf Association lists its architect as Bruce Gilliland, whose family name is on the street. It is an 18-hole championship course on 320 acres that slope gently north from I-80 toward the Lincoln Highway. The club says the name comes from the breezes you meet from all four directions in a round. There is a driving range and a practice green, and carts and clubs can be rented. Nebraska's state tourism office describes it as the highest golf course in the state, at nearly 5,000 feet.

• Season: the course closes from January 1 to mid-March. The pro shop closes from November 16 to mid-March.
• Tee times and green fees: on fourwindsgolf.com.
• Altitude: the ball flies a little farther in thin air at this height, so you may want less club than you'd take at sea level.

Wilma Gilliland

The Gillilands moved to Kimball in 1951, during the town's oil boom. Bruce had taught his wife Wilma the game, and she became one of Nebraska's leading women amateurs. Her obituary counts five state titles and the Omaha World-Herald counts six women's sand-greens titles. In 1979 she was the first winner of the Nebraska women's senior championship. She was elected to the Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame and started the Kimball junior golf program. Long after she stopped competing in the early 1980s, she served as a rules official at high school and NCAA events and worked with the USGA. She died at 94.

Weather

Kimball's climate sits on the line between humid continental and semi-arid. Winters swing between bitter Arctic cold and mild days brought by chinook winds; spring brings thunderstorms and most of the year's rain; summers are warm to hot. Golfers should expect wind.

Looking for Kimball, Minnesota? See our guide to Kimball, Minnesota and golf near Kimball, MN.