Pender is a village in Thurston County, Nebraska, United States. On March 22, 2016, the United States Supreme Court resolved a disagreement as to whether Pender is located on the Omaha Indian Reservation, holding unanimously that "the disputed land is within the reservation’s boundaries." The predominantly European-American population was 1,002 at the 2010 census.The village is the county seat of Thurston County. European-American settlers founded the village in April 1885, naming it in honor of the Scottish politician and businessman Sir John Pender, a pioneer of the Transatlantic Cable. He founded what is now Cable & Wireless Worldwide, and was a director of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railway.