The village of Duncan was named in 1880 for a favorite conductor of the Union Pacific Railroad.  It originally consisted of a post office named Cherry Hill for the wild cherries found in the Sandhills surrounding the area.  Later it was called Jackson and appears under that name on Union Pacific maps and other documents of the time.  However, since that name was already taken by a town in Dakota County, the railroad was obliged to choose another.  The Village of Duncan was incorporated on March 7, 1913.

Duncan lies between the Loup River and Platte River in Platte County, Nebraska.  It is located on US Highway 30, eight miles west of Columbus, Nebraska.  Several miles south of the village is the Great Platte River Road (the Oregon Trail).  North of town is the site of a Pawnee village as well as the site of the Mormon Trail, the route that Brigham Young and the Mormon pioneers travelled to Utah in 1847.

Duncan was settled by Swiss and Polish immigrants, whose enterprising and proud spirit live on through their descendants who still live here today.