Random Markers

As eight B-17F "Flying Fortresses" returned to Harvard AAF after training exercises on August 28, 1943, three collided. One crash-landed and two were demolished. Fourteen airmen died, including co-pilot Carl Hansen, whose parachute failed.…

Just north of here the Camp Clarke bridge crossed the North Platte River. The bridge was built in the spring of 1876 by entrepreneur Henry T. Clarke to improve the trail from the Union Pacific Railroad at Sidney, Nebraska, to the gold mining towns…

Warnings to avoid "bloody Kansas" prompted the Steinauer brothers, Anton, Nicholas, and Joseph, to settle here in Pawnee County. They arrived in September 1856, only two years after the creation of Nebraska Territory. Famine and depression…

In 1893 the Crystal Ice Company dammed a portion of the Little Blue River 1 1/4 miles north of Ayr, creating "Crystal Lake" for harvesting and selling ice. A huge storage and loading facility was built on the nearby Republican Valley branch…

Elm Creek siding was established in August 1866 during construction of the Union Pacific Railroad. The nearby creek provided both water and timber for the railroad's locomotives. By 1872 a school-church building, a saloon-restaurant, a store,…

The building was erected on this site in the 1890s for August Hartman and used as a residence by various owners until 1964. Poet John G. Neihardt rented the building from 1911 through 1920 for a study. Here he wrote his lyrics, prose, and part of…

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Explore Nebraska History

Explore Nebraska History is a free app that shares the heritage of Nebraska at your fingertips. Learn more about the interesting stories and fascinating people highlighted by our Nebraska Historical Marker program. Travel across our beautiful state in person or via your device with curated historical tours. The stories provided in this app expand upon our historical markers with each point on an interactive GPS-enabled map that includes historical information about the location, images and media from archival collections and links to additional publications. 

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