From 1854 to 1867 the seat of territorial and state government was in Omaha. In 1867 the State Legislature appointed a Capital Commission to select a location for the new state capitol. Commission members Governor David Butler, Auditor John Gillespie and Secretary of State Thomas P. Kennard on July 29, 1867 selected the present site.
In 1869 John K. Winchell of Chicago designed masonry homes in Lincoln for each of the Commissioners. These showplaces did much to instill confidence in Lincoln's future. Of these three structures, only the Kennard House stands today. It is apparently the oldest house within the original plat of Lincoln and is one of the finest remaining Nebraska examples of Italianate domestic architecture, the leading American style from about 1855 to 1875, Nebraska's pioneer period.
In 1965 the State Legislature designated the structure the "Nebraska Statehood Memorial" and assigned responsibility for the memorial to the Nebraska State Historical Society. Thus the house stands today, a symbol of the confidence early Nebraskans had in their state.
]]>The Post Headquarters was constructed in 1905. The Post Commander's office was located here, along with other administrative offices, post office, and the Fort's telephone exchange. An ornate auditorium on the second floor was often used for parties such as the masquerade ball held on January 2nd, 1906. During World War II this room was partitioned into additional administrative offices. The Nebraska State Historical Society opened the Fort Robinson Museum in June, 1956, as part of the effort to preserve Fort Robinson's heritage.
]]>Black soldiers of the Ninth and Tenth cavalry regiments (called "buffalo soldiers" by the Plains Indians) garrisoned Fort Robinson for eighteen years and played an important role in northwestern Nebraska's history. Organized in 1866, the regiments first served in the Southwest. In 1885 the Ninth Cavalry arrived at Fort Robinson, which was regimental headquarters from 1887 to 1898. The black troopers helped build the new post during the fort's 1887 expansion and were the first cavalrymen sent to the Pine Ridge Reservation during the Ghost Dance trouble of 1890. Lt. John Alexander, the second African American graduate of West Point, and Henry Plummer, the first black chaplain in the regular army, served here. So did ten buffalo soldier Medal of Honor men. In 1902 the men of the "Fighting Tenth" Cavalry, veterans of the Battle of San Juan Hill, made their headquarters here. Four years later the Tenth helped capture Ute Indians who had fled their Utah reservation, the last military action against Indians on the northern Plains. In 1907 the regiment left for duty in the Philippines.
]]>Boys Town was founded as a home and school for homeless, abandoned, neglected or otherwise underprivileged boys, regardless of color or creed, by Father Edward J. Flanagan (1886-1948) on December 10, 1917. The first Father Flanagan's Boy's Home at 25th and Dodge Streets in Omaha, Nebraska, sheltered five boys...three from the Juvenile Court and two homeless newsboys.
On October 17, 1921, Father Flanagan brought Overlook Farm outside Omaha, nucleus of today's Boys Town campus. From here thousands of Boys Town residents have gone on to become productive citizens in all walks of life.
The philosophy of Boys Town is summarized in Father Flanagan's words: "Our young people are our greatest wealth. Give them a chance and they will give a good account of themselves. No boy wants to be bad. There is only bad environment, bad training, bad example, bad thinking." In 1972 Boys Town expanded its services by creating the Boys Town Institute to help communicatively handicapped boys and girls, and the Boys Town Center to seek root causes of major youth problems that threaten young people everywhere.
]]>Ash Hollow is a focal point for understanding the geologic history of the Central Great Plains prior to the onset of the Great Ice Age. It is the type locality of the Ash Hollow Formation, named by Henry Engelmann after a visit in 1858-1859. These sediments were deposited in ancient valley-systems that drained east from the Rocky Mountains.
Much of the ancient valley-fill is exposed in cross section in the cliff faces along Ash Hollow. The basal pebble-gravel forms the roof of Ash Hollow Cave in the exhibit area. Some of the overlying hard ledges or mortar-beds probably represent hard-pan or caliche soils, and others contain fossil grass seeds and root-casts of yucca, all indicative of a semi-arid climate and plants somewhat like today. But the animals found in these rocks were very different, including camels, rhinoceroses, and long-jawed mastodons, most of which became extinct before the Ice Age. The Ice Age animals were likewise mostly distinct from those now living here.
The earliest collections of fossils were made for E. D. Cope near here in 1879. Explorers who made geological contributions include John C. Fremont in 1843 and G. K. Warren in 1855.
]]>William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem, Illinois in 1860. He moved to Lincoln in 1887, entered into law practice and was elected to Congress in 1890. He won the first of three presidential nominations with his "Cross of Gold" speech at the Democratic National Convention in 1896. Fairview was built in 1901-1902 with the proceeds from his publications. Construction costs were more than $10,000.00. Bryan visualized Fairview as a new Monticello and accepted the 1908 presidential nomination on the front steps of the home. Woodrow Wilson visited here during the 1912 campaign and a steady parade of political personalities came to consult with "The Great Commoner". Here he collected the mementos of his unsuccessful political campaigns and world tour of 1905. Fairview was the scene of many lawn parties held by the Bryans for their friends. The surrounding fields were farmed under his watchful eye. Mrs. Bryan's health forced the family to leave Nebraska in 1917 after Bryan served as President Wilson's Secretary of State. In 1922 Fairview was deeded to the Lincoln Methodist Hospital, now Bryan Memorial Hospital. William Jennings Bryan died in 1925 after the famed Scopes trial and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
]]>William Frederick Cody (1846-1917), known to the world a "Buffalo Bill," was the most noted Nebraskan of his day. The Many national and European tours of his various "Wild West" exhibitions made him the living symbol of the American West. Cody came to Nebraska in 1869 as guide and scout for the 5th Cavalry at nearby Fort McPherson. He also served as guide for the wealthy and famous on buffalo hunts. Buffalo Bill first went on the stage in 1872, and he formed his first "Wild West" in 1883. He was also involved in ranching and farming, and he was a pioneer in the development of irrigation in both Nebraska and Wyoming Scout's Rest was built for Buffalo Bill in 1886 as a place to relax between show tours. Here he entertained in elaborate style his famous contemporaries as well as his old friends of frontier days. Scout's Rest was named to the National Register of Historic Places on January 30, 1978. The house is in Second Empire style with Italianate and Eastlake features; it cost $3,900. The rear addition was added in 1909.
]]>The stately, 52-room mansion was completed in 1903 by Joy Morton, oldest son of J. Sterling and Caroline Morton. The Mortons' first home in Nebraska, a log cabin at Bellevue, was built on their arrival in December 1854. Sometime between 1855 and 1858, Morton moved to Nebraska City and built a frame home, which was remodeled periodically. After his father died in 1902, Joy inherited the frame house and further remodeled and enlarged it as Arbor Lodge to its present size and Neo-colonial appearance.
For 20 years, Joy and his family used the lodge as a summer retreat. In 1923 he donated it to the State of Nebraska to be preserved as a monument to his parents. J. Sterling Morton and his wife Caroline were nature lovers, and it isn't surprising that soon after completing their first home on a treeless tract west of Nebraska City that they set to work adorning their surroundings with trees, shrubs, and an orchard. While Morton's contributions to politics, journalism, and industry were not inconsiderable, he is known to the world primarily as the founder of Arbor Day.
]]>Built in 1902, this is the last intact historical windmill factory in the United States. Cousins Louis and George Kregel began windmill production in 1879 across the street. After moving here, the company (now owned by George Kregel) produced Eli-brand windmills until 1941. Due to steel rationing at the onset of World War II, the factory became principally a retail and service center in the last decades of the company’s 112-year history. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
]]>George W. Norris, whose home is on Norris Avenue, McCook, Nebraska, served forty years in the Congress of the United States. Born in Ohio, he worked his way through college, followed the footsteps of the pioneers westward, and settled in Nebraska. He began his public career as County Attorney of Furnas County, served as District Judge for seven years, and was elected in 1902 to the first of five consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives. Elected to the United States Senate in 1912, beginning a service of thirty years, he championed the rights of the common man, and the conservation and development of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Among his great achievements are the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Rural Electrification Administration, the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and the Anti-Injunction Act, as well as the establishment of the Unicameral Legislature in the State of Nebraska. He was elected to the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1961. George W. Norris, the "Gentle Knight of Progressive Ideals," one of the Nation's great statesmen, served well the State and the Nation.
]]>This hospital was built in 1912 under the guidance of Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte, the first Native American woman physician, with the financial support of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions and other donors. It served both Native American and white people. In 1988 the Susan La Flesche Picotte Center was established here to commemorate Dr. Picotte as a model student, servant, healer, and leader. The hospital was named a National Historic Landmark in 1993.
]]>From 1820 to 1827, the nation's largest and most westerly military post occupied this site, the earlier scene of Lewis and Clark's Council Bluff. In late 1819, troops under Colonel Henry Atkinson established Cantonment Missouri along the river near here. In 1820, a permanent post was built here on the bluffs and named Fort Atkinson. The post's population of over 1,000 included military personnel of the elite Rifle Regiment and Sixth Infantry, some of their families, and other civilians. The Sixth U.S. Infantry occupied Fort Atkinson when it was abandoned in 1827. The fortification consisted of a rectangular arrangement of one-story barracks fashioned of horizontal logs. The structures faced inward upon an enclosed parade ground with loopholes on the exterior walls. Four entrances were located near the center of the four walls. Cannons were mounted in the bastions at the northwest and southeast corners. A massively-built powder magazine occupied the center of the enclosed area. Outside the fortification were located a large council house for negotiating with the Indians, a gristmill, a schoolhouse, sawmill and other buildings. A brick kiln produced thousands of bricks. Fort Atkinson represents an important early step in opening the West.
]]>Built ca. 1876, this is the house in which Willa Cather lived from 1884 to 1890. She describes it in "Old Mrs. Harris," in "The Best Years," and in this quotation from Song of the Lark:
"They turned into another street and saw before them lighted windows; a low story-and-a-half house, with wing built on at the right and a kitchen addition at the back, everything a little on the slant--roofs, windows, and doors."
Restored and donated by the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation.
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