You are overlooking original prairie never broken by a plow. Nebraska looked much like this 200 years ago before the white men came: Grasses on which buffalo, elk, deer and antelope fed; ground cover for homes for quail, grouse, and prairie chickens; pure spring-fed streams where thirsty animals and birds could drink and where fish spawned; areas where wild strawberries, grapes, plum and chokecherry bushes bore fruit; walnut, cottonwood, and willow trees provided shade; where colorful flowers bloomed--wild indigo, purple coneflower, goldenrod, daisy fleabane, ground plum, dogtooth, and crowsfoot violets. A trail once used by the Pawnee Indians is now U.S. Highway 77. The area was shared with the Oto tribe. To the east in 1856 John Prey, A. J. and Richard Wallingford, and others became some of Lancaster County's first settlers. A few miles to the north, the Fort Kearny Cut-off carried wagon trains westward during the 1850's and 1860's. Sod like you see was cut and used by settlers to build homes. This marker rests on railroad land purchased by William Mitchell in the early 1880's and has been preserved by his descendants including his grandson, Charlton Mitchell.
]]>During the Civil War many regular troops were withdrawn from Plains military posts to fight in the east. The Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho, seizing this opportunity, attempted to drive white settlers from their land.
Beginning on August 7, 1864, the Indians made concerted attacks on stage stations and ranches along the Oregon Trail, hitting nearly every settlement for 400 miles from Julesburg to Big Sandy. Travel ceased for two months.
The most severe attacks were along the upper Little Blue River where about 100 people were killed. Several died at Oak Grove but others escaped and Pawnee Ranch was successfully defended. At "the Narrows" the Eubanks families were attacked and seven killed. Mrs. Eubanks, two children and Miss Laura Roper were taken prisoner and held captive for months. Teamsters were killed, wagon trains burned and ranches were smashed or burned. Settlers fled east to Beatrice and Marysville or northwest to Fort Kearny on the Platte for protection.
Troops and local militia companies attacked and drove back the Indians in the battle of the Little Blue on August 17, 1864. Major raids ceased but skirmishes continued through the fall.
]]>The Boom Town played an important role in the West, and few Nebraska towns had such a boom history as Lowell. It was selected as a townsite by the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad in 1871, and its first businesses were soon established.
Lowell, first incorporated town in Kearney county, was chosen county seat at the reorganization election of June 17, 1872. The B & MRR arrived on July 8, and for a short time it was end-of-track, becoming a major shipping point for central Nebraska. Also in July, it was selected as the site for the U.S. Land Office for the Republican Valley, and its streets were crowded with homesteaders. It was a temporary shipping point for herds of cattle trailed north from Texas. The courthouse and land office stood near here.
Lowell's decline began as early as 1872, when the railroad built on to Kearney, making it the regional trading center, and a wagon bridge built across the Platte at Kearney in 1874 continued the drop in business. The removal of the land office in 1874 continued the drop in business. The removal of the land office in 1874 added to decline of Lowell. When the county seat was removed in 1878, a quiet village replaced the boom town. The school closed in 1963.
]]>The first settler in Exeter Township, Fillmore County was Warren Woodard, who built the first house in 1870. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad, building westward, determined Exeter's location in 1871. The town was laid out by the railroad on land donated by Dr. Horace G. Smith and James Dolan. Its name was suggested by former residents of Exeter, New Hampshire, and conformed to the Burlington's practice of naming towns along this line in alphabetical sequence. The railroad aided the growth of Exeter by promoting immigration from eastern states and Europe, and brought Czechs, Germans, English, Irish, and Scandinavians to the area. By the time the town was incorporated on April 1, 1879, sixteen businesses were in operation.
In 1896, Charles C. Smith, son of Dr. Smith, patented an indexing method to be used in bookkeeping. Smith built a factory in Exeter to produce these index tags, which were used worldwide. The factory operated for sixty-six years and employed seventy people at the height of its production.
]]>Diller lies in the Blue River Valley near the route of the old Oregon and California trails. Freighters from Atchison and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, passed near here while supplying military outposts to the West. Settlers in covered wagons, the Pony Express, and stage lines also followed the route.
In 1854 the Oto and Missouri tribes conveyed their lands to the U.S. Government in exchange for a reservation of some 160,000 acres along the Nebraska-Kansas border; Diller lies at its western end. The reservation was slowly surrounded by advancing white settlement and in 1869 three men pre-empted the land on which Diller is now situated. In 1876 the Indians agreed to sell part of their reserve, and in 1881 they moved to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma.
Platted in 1880, Diller was named for Samuel Diller, who assisted early settlers. David Kelley was the first postmaster. In 1881 the Republican Valley Railroad, later part of the Burlington system, completed tracks into the town. Incorporated on April 22, 1885, Diller reached a maximum population of about 500 between 1910 and 1920. Diller maintains the proud spirit of its pioneer forefathers after a century of the Good Life.
]]>This area of the Little Nemaha Valley was settled in the late 1850's. Many settlers were Northern European immigrants. By 1881, the Missouri Pacific R.R. had begun constructing its Kansas City-Omaha line through the area. The townsite was platted March 7, 1882, in a former cornfield donated by Clark Puffer, and named for Archibald A. Talmage, Superintendent of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Talmage's location on the railroad made it a good shipping point for agricultural and mercantile products.
]]>During the 1887 expansion of Fort Robinson 6 adobe barracks were built on the south side of the parade ground. Later 2 frame barracks were added. Each building had a dormitory area 170 by 30 feet, a kitchen wing 70 by 30 feet, and housed a single troop, usually 50 to 75 soldiers. Cavalry troops occupied this row until 1916. New brick construction in the twentieth century replaced 3 barracks. The 5 remaining barracks were demolished in 1923.
]]>Of the fifteen enlisted men's barracks of log, adobe, or fired brick, only this structure remains at Fort Robinson. It housed men of the 8th and 12th Cavalry and the Quartermaster Remount Service. A similar structure near the brick officers' homes at the west end of the parade ground was torn down after Fort Robinson was abandoned. In 1956 the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission adapted the building to lodging for visitors and provided for its preservation.
]]>These duplex officers' quarters, of adobe brick construction, were completed in 1887 when Fort Robinson became a cavalry regimental headquarters. This structure has been restored by the Nebraska State Historical Society, and furnishings represent those of a typical Fort Robinson officer's home.
A post Commander's wife, Mrs. James Biddle, wrote the quarters were provided with running water, the first she had seen during her army life; and the social life was comparable to any large city such as Boston or Washington.
]]>Due to the generosity of Mrs. Albert Gehner, Mr. Theodore Friedhof, and many other benefactors, this site has become a focal point of agricultural activity in Platte County.
The donation of this land, formerly known as the Browner Farm, and a large sum of money enabled the dreams of several area residents to become reality on June 3, 1941. On that date, a non-profit organization was formed for the purpose of "encouraging improvement in all things pertaining to agriculture, industry, merchandising, domestic science and good citizenship in Platte County."
Since that date, county fairs have been held annually under the supervision of a 15-member board of directors, elected from throughout the county. Numerous activities promoting livestock breeding and the work of 4-H and F.F.A. clubs are also held frequently. Thoroughbred horse racing meets are held each summer. Hundreds of college scholarships have been awarded to deserving students of the county since the inception of this society, and many donations have been made to worth-while civic projects.
]]>Ainsworth Army Air Field, completed on November 30, 1942, was a satellite of Rapid City Army Air Field and under command of the Second Air Force. The field was one of eleven Army Air Force training bases built in Nebraska during World War II.
The 2,496-acre field included three 7,300 x 150-foot concrete runways, a hanger, warehouse, repair and machine shops, link and bomb trainers, Norden bombsite vaults, and barracks for over 600 officers and enlisted men. The base's primary mission was to provide proficiency training for P-39 and P-47 pilots of the 364th and 53rd fighter squadrons, and for B-17 crews of the 540th and 543rd bombardment squadrons before deployment to the European Theater of Operations. Aircraft camouflage experiments were also conducted on the site.
The airfield closed in 1945 and the following year the city of Ainsworth received a U.S. Government revocable license for commercial aircraft operations on the field. In 1948 the War Assets Administration declared the property surplus, and the city of Ainsworth received title to the airfield for use as a municipal airport.
]]>Ak-Sar-Ben Field, whose hangars were located on the southeastern corner of these grounds, was used extensively during the early development of U.S. Postal Air Mail Service. Ray Benedict landed here with the first airmail from Chicago on May 15, 1920 and William DeWald piloted the return flight the same day. The Omaha-San Francisco leg of the transcontinental route was opened by Pilot Buck Heforn the following September. Daytime airmail service from New York to San Francisco began on September 8, 1920 and the first shipment from the east was flown into Omaha by James Murray.
Although the early airmail flights took place during daylight hours, the feasibility of night flying was soon explored. On February 22, 1921, Jack Knight took off from the North Platte, Nebraska, airfield on the first night airmail flight in the United States. He landed here at Ak-Sar-Ben Field before continuing on to Chicago.
The efforts of these pioneer aviators led to the inauguration, on July 1, 1924, of day-night airmail service from coast to coast. In September 1974 the Air Mail Pioneers of America met in Omaha to observe the 50th Anniversary of this significant event in aviation history.
]]>Alfred Maximilian Gruenther, four-star general in the U.S. Army, was born in Platte Center, Nebraska, on March 3, 1899, to Christian and Mary Shea Gruenther. He graduated fourth in his class from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1918. Between 1941 and 1953 Gruenther served as chief of staff of the Third Army, Fifth Army, Fifteenth Army Group, and Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers in Europe. A protege of General Dwight D. Eisenhower during World War II, Gruenther was a principal American planner of the allied invasions of North Africa in 1942 and Italy in 1943. He received many high military honors from the United States and other countries.
After World War II Gruenther became deputy commander of U.S. forces in Austria in 1945, and was appointed supreme allied commander in Europe/commander-in-chief of the U.S. European Command in 1953. In retirement he was president of the American Red Cross from 1957 to 1964 and served on four corporate boards and three presidential commissions. Gruenther died in Washington, D.C. on May 30, 1983, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
]]>Alkali Station played several important roles as a stopping place on the Overland Trail between 1859 and 1867. Established as a stagecoach relay station, it served as a Pony Express station in 1860-61, then as a base station along the transcontinental telegraph line. Alkali marked a point where the trail network fanned out toward various points to the west. As a large a road ranche through the 1860s, it provided travelers with supplies, rested stock, and repair facilities. Alkali Station became a fortified army post during the Civil War. It housed cavalry units charged with maintaining the western flow of people and goods. Fighting occurred at the station, and troops based there took part in combat against Northern Plains tribes. Alkali Station fell into disuse with completion of the transcontinental railway system. Sod structures and other facilities at the site were abandoned and allowed to decay. Never cultivated, it preserves evidence of its contribution to the development of the country’s transportation system. Efforts by land owners and their neighbors have recognized and preserved the site.
]]>On June 23, 1850, twenty-eight-year-old Amanda Lamme, a California-bound emigrant, died of cholera and was buried near here in what is now private pastureland. She was the wife of M.J. Lamme of Boone County, Missouri, and mother of three daughters. The monument that marks her grave was erected in 1912. It was incorrectly engraved with the name Amanda Lamin.
Between 1842 and 1859 an estimated 20,000 emigrants, about 5 percent of the total, died along the overland trails. Cholera in 1849, 1859, and 1852 caused many adult deaths. Few children died from this. Malaria, smallpox, measles, and dysentery took a toll of children and adults alike.
Although wagons moved slowly, people were sometimes crushed beneath the wheels. Drownings were common at river crossings. Accidental shootings were frequent because many travelers were unfamiliar with the use of firearms. Contrary to movie and television portrayals, few emigrants were killed by Indians. The risk of death probably was about the same for the emigrants as for the people who stayed at home.
]]>Andrew Jackson Higgins, designer and manufacturer of World War 11 landing craft known as "Higgins boats," was born August 28, 1886, at Columbus, Nebraska. His parents were John Gonegle Higgins, a prominent lawyer and judge, and Annie Long O'Connor Higgins. Both parents are buried in Columbus. Higgins attended schools in Omaha and served in the Nebraska National Guard. In 1906 he moved to the South, entering the lumber and shipping business.
Higgins's expertise would win him fame in World War II, when Higgins Industries of New Orleans produced more than 20,000 boats. Many were LCVPs (Landing Craft Vehicle, Personnel), a key to the success of Allied amphibious invasions, including D-Day on June 6, 1944. Higgins boats were also used in the Korean and Vietnam conflicts.
Higgins died on August 1, 1952, and is buried at Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. In 1964 Dwight D. Eisenhower said Higgins was "the man who won the war for us." In 2000 the National D-Day Museum opened in New Orleans, honoring Higgins and the city for their vital contributions to the war effort.
]]>In 1886 Ansley was platted in southeastern Custer County by the Lincoln Land Company, headed by R. O. Phillips. Ansley was named for Eliza J. Ansley, who invested in real estate there. The site was purchased from ranchman Anthony Walkinson. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad (later the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy) reached the new settlement soon after it was founded. In 1986 approximately thirty-five Burlington Northern trains per day passed through Ansley. Ansley was the first Nebraska town west of Grand Island to own a power plant and water system. The Ansley Electric Light and Power Company, built by C. J. Stevens, was incorporated September 20, 1892. Destroyed by fire in 1904, it was replaced by another power plant, which burned in 1910. The Municipal Light and Power System was completed in 1911. Ansley's waterworks company was organized and its facilities completed in 1893. Ansley reached its peak population of 817 in 1930. In its centennial year of 1986 the town's more than 600 inhabitants continued to use the slogan applied to Ansley in 1916 by merchant William S. Mattley--"Push, that's Ansley."
]]>For a few years, the Antioch vicinity was one of the most important potash-producing regions in the nation. Antioch grew from a small village to a town of about 2,000. When the First World War broke out, the United States was cut off from European sources of Potash, which was a component of fertilizer used in the cotton belt. Two University of Nebraska graduates in chemistry developed a method for separating potash from the alkaline lakes of the Nebraska Sand Hills. Large-scale production began in 1916.
The potash-producing brine was pumped from the lakes to reduction plants near the railroads. By the spring of 1918, five plants were in operation in this vicinity. Nebraska potash was used in the manufacture of fertilizer, epsom salts, soda, and other products.
With the end of the war, importation of foreign potash resumed. Because French and German potash could be produced more cheaply than the Nebraska product, the Nebraska potash boom collapsed. The last Antioch plant closed in 1921. Today, the ruins of reduction plants and pumping stations bear mute testimony to the activity which once made Antioch a major potash production center.
]]>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.
]]>In 1873 the first settlers, George McKeller and Porter Brown, arrived near the Valley County site which would later become Arcadia. They were followed in 1874 by Samuel Hawthorne, his brother Boone and their families. Mrs. Hawthorne named the community Arcadia, after the Greek region of Arcadia, which symbolizes ideal simplicity and contentment. Samuel Hawthorne established a post office and was appointed the first postmaster on June 27, 1874. The first school was established in the house of Boone Hawthorne with Mingerson Coombs as teacher.
The Arcadia town site was platted by John Wall and Parley Round and put into the record October 3, 1885. The first buildings housed a general store, hardware store, and harness shop. The community's economy improved with the arrival of the Burlington Railroad in 1887. The Arcadia Roller Mills, established in the late 1880's, also boosted prosperity.
The residents of the Arcadia area have experienced setbacks and natural disasters: Indian scares and locust attacks in 1874; the blizzards of 1888 and 1948-1949; major fires in 1890, 1904, and 1937; and tornadoes in 1904, 1959, and 1974. Despite the setbacks, Arcadia simply and contentedly anticipates tomorrow.
]]>Three years after the town of Arcadia was platted in October 1885, the First Congregational Church was organized on November 25, 1888, the second church in town. Articles of incorporation were recorded on December 2, 1889, and the building, costing $2,885, was dedicated in July 1890. The Reverend Howard Hitchcock was the first permanent pastor. A parsonage was erected in 1899. On July 9, 1904, a tornado damaged the church, which was repaired without the original steeple. In the spring of 1920 a new parsonage was constructed east of the church.
The longest serving pastor was the Reverend William Alcorn, from 1919 to 1929. During his pastorate the church added 258 members and held 20 weddings. By the 1970s membership had begun to decline, and in August 1998 the five remaining members voted to close the church, after 110 years of service to the community, and donate the building to Arcadia. Now known as "The Gathering Place," it is used for weddings, funerals, and other events. It is the oldest building on Main Street.
]]>Ash Hollow was famous on the Oregon Trail. A branch of the trail ran northwestward from the Lower California Crossing of the South Platte River a few miles west of Brule, and descended here into the North Platte Valley. The hollow, named for a growth of ash trees, was entered by Windlass Hill to the south. Wagons had to be eased down its steep slope by ropes. Ash Hollow with its water, wood and grass was a welcome relief after the arduous trip from the South Platte and the travelers usually stopped for a period of rest and refitting. An abandoned trappers cabin served as an unofficial postoffice where letters were deposited to be carried to the "States" by Eastbound travelers. The graves of Rachel Pattison and other emigrants are in the nearby cemetery. In 1855 a significant fight, commonly called the Battle of Ash Hollow, occurred at Blue Water Creek northwest of here. General Harney's forces sent out to chastise the Indians after the Grattan Massacre of 1854 here attacked Little Thunder's band of Brule Sioux while the Indians were attempting to parley, killed a large number and captured the rest of the band.
]]>Although some wagon trains continued to follow the South Platte, most crossed at one of several fords in this area and took a northwesterly route toward the North Platte River. The trail then followed the North Platte Valley through the remainder of Nebraska. Today's traveler, by following U.S. Highway 26 northwest of Ogallala, will encounter several noted landmarks along this portion of the Platte River Road.
One of these is Ash Hollow, a picturesque canyon, near present-day Lewellen. Because of the steepness of the descent, this part of the trail presented one of the most serious obstacles yet faced by the emigrants. Offering spectacular scenery as well as wood and water, Ash Hollow is mentioned in many overland diaries. Several graves, including that of young Rachel Pattison who died of cholera in 1849, testify to the rigors of the overland journey.
Northwest of Ash Hollow on Blue Water Creek was the site of a significant Indian battle in 1855. Often known as the Battle of Ash Hollow, this fight resulted in the defeat of Little Thunder's band of Brule Sioux by United States Troops under General William S. Harney.
]]>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.
]]>During World War II, a prisoner-of-war internment camp was located directly north of here. The camp had its beginning in a request by the Holdredge New Industries Committee for a federal conscientious-objector camp to help relieve the severe war-time farm labor shortage. Instead, a prisoner-or-war camp was built.
Planning for the camp began in June, 1943. By November, construction had been completed on approximately seventy buildings and seven miles of concrete road. Guard personnel were awaiting the arrival of prisoners. The camp contained three prison compounds, which held a total of 3,000 men. The Atlanta camp also administered smaller branch internment camps in Nebraska. The prisoners at Atlanta were German soldiers captured in the North Africa and Italian campaign. Some 600 military and 130 civilian personnel provided security and maintenance. One prisoner reportedly escaped but returned to the camp voluntarily.
The prisoners-of-war were a valuable source of farm labor in the area until the camp was phased out in 1945-46. Material removed from the site provided lumber for postwar constructed and concrete rip-rap for Tri-County irrigation ditches.
]]>During the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, in October 1957. A perceived “missile gap” led to the massive construction of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) sites in the United States in the early 1960s. The Atlas was America’s first ICBM. The 549th Strategic Missile Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha was tasked with deploying the Atlas D at three sites: "A" at Mead, "B" at Arlington, and "C" at Missouri Valley, Iowa.
The sites consisted of a launch operations building, three launch and service buildings, two warhead storage magazines, and associated generating and communications facilities. The 103-foot by 133-foot launch and service buildings of reinforced concrete contained the missile bays. To launch a missile, the roof of the bay was pulled back and the 83-foot-tall, liquid-fueled rocket was raised upright. The Atlas had a range of 10,360 miles. The launch complex located east of here was completed in July 1960 and deactivated in October 1964. Today, it is a military training site for the Nebraska National Guard.
]]>During the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, in October 1957. A perceived “missile gap” led to the massive construction of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) sites in the United States in the early 1960s. The Atlas was America’s first ICBM. The 549th Strategic Missile Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha was tasked with deploying the Atlas D at three sites: "A" at Mead, "B" at Arlington, and "C" at Missouri Valley, Iowa.
The sites consisted of a launch operations building, three launch and service buildings, two warhead storage magazines, and associated generating and communications facilities. The 103-foot by 133-foot launch and service buildings of reinforced concrete contained the missile bays. To launch a missile, the roof of the bay was pulled back and the 83-foot tall, liquid-fueled rocket was raised upright. The Atlas had a range of 10,360 miles. This launch complex was completed in July 1960 and deactivated in October 1964. Today, it is home to Mead Atlas and Titan Readiness Centers of the Nebraska National Guard.
]]>During the 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal created government programs to counter the effects of the Great Depression. Hundreds of post offices were built and the U.S. Treasury commissioned art for many of them. Twelve Nebraska post offices were selected to receive murals.
Ethel Magafan, the artist for the Auburn project, chose a theme depicting local agriculture. The canvas was installed in the post office lobby in 1938. The post office is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
]]>Austin was named in honor of Simeon Austin, a circuit rider. In 1877 the Austin post office was established on the farm of Oliver S. Brown and continued until 1919. The Union Pacific Railroad arrived in 1886; the Austin siding was built halfway between Loup City and Rockville in 1902 and removed in 1985. Although it was never incorporated, Austin had a store, 1906-31; church, 1907-46; blacksmith shop, 1916-19; stockyards and office; grain elevator; corn crib; coal bin; and several homes. Austin Irrigation functioned from 1913 to 1926. Picnics and ball games were held in a nearby grove.
District No. 2, the first rural school in Sherman County, was established on November 15, 1873. After 125 years of serving the Austin community it closed in June 1998 after educating the last eligible student in the district. Austin was the last rural school to close in Sherman County and had been located on three different sites in three different buildings. All that remains of Austin today is the cemetery established in 1886, and located one mile southeast of here.
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