In 1884 Congress first proposed the Burt County Missouri River Bridge. In 1946 the Corps of Engineers approved the construction of a traffic bridge at Decatur to be placed over the uncompleted navigation channel. The 2 million dollar privately financed bridge was completed in 1951 as designed by Kirkham, Michael & Associates of Omaha, Nebraska. To save money, it was built over dry land by William J. Howard of Chicago and is 1,956 feet long, 23 feet wide, and has five spans. It sat unused for five years and received significant national attention as Decatur's "Dry Land Bridge" or the "Bridge to Nowhere," implying government incompetence. In 1955, Congress approved $11 million dollars to complete the work by rechanneling the Missouri River to flow under the bridge. The project's completion represented a feat in engineering at the time. The bridge has remained open since 1956 except for 2011, when it was closed for repairs after being damaged by floodwaters. In 2013, Nebraska and Iowa acquired the bridge and it became toll free.
]]>Tekamah, county seat of Burt County, was laid out on October 7, 1854, by a group of settlers led by Benjamin R. Folsom. They chose this location for its abundant water, timber, stone, and the rich soil of the Missouri River Valley. The site was named "Tehama" after a California locality where one of the party had found gold. Later, the spelling became Tekama and finally, Tekamah.
Permanent settlers arrived here in the spring of 1855, a year marked by drouth and an unusually severe winter. Growth was slowed by a nationwide financial panic in 1857. The Bank of Tekamah was among several "wildcat" banks in Nebraska Territory which failed during the panic after issuing large quantities of unsecured paper currency. The basis for Tekamah's future prosperity came with agricultural development.
Prior to white settlement, this area was the domain of the Omaha and Ponca Indians. Lewis and Clark passed here in 1804. Burt County was among the original eight counties created by the territorial legislature in 1854. It is named in honor of Francis Burt who died two days after taking office as Nebraska's first territorial governor.
]]>Val Peterson was born July 18, 1903, in the Oakland Swedish Lutheran Church parsonage, where his grandfather R.N. Swanberg was the pastor. Returning to live in Oakland at age fourteen, Peterson kept busy with school activities and various jobs, including work as a “printer’s devil” for the Oakland Independent newspaper. He attended Wayne State Teachers College before earning a master’s degree in political science from the University of Nebraska. He was a school teacher and superintendent, and published the Elgin Review newspaper. During World War II he served as an Army Air Corps lieutenant colonel, leading flight operations in the China/Burma region. Peterson was elected Nebraska’s 27th governor in 1946, serving three two-year terms. He initiated Operation Snowbound during the Blizzard of 1949. Peterson served in the Eisenhower administration as Federal Civil Defense Administrator, 1953-57, and as U.S. Ambassador to Denmark, 1957-61. He established Oakland’s sister city relationship with Hammenhog, Sweden. As U.S. Ambassador to Finland, 1969-72, he participated in the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) talks. He died October 17, 1983.
]]>In the summer of 1866 John Oak (namesake of Oakland) assisted Swedish immigrant families to take up homesteads here in the Logan Creek Valley. Among the first settlers were Victor Colson and his family. He is said to have broken the first sod in Oakland Precinct in 1867. The miniature stone house and well indicate the site of Colson's original sod house and are made from the original foundation stones of the 14 by 24-foot frame house, built about 1875.
]]>Logan Creek was named for Logan Fontenelle, a chief of the Omaha tribe killed by Oglala Sioux in 1855. The first recorded settlers in this area were the Aaron Arlington family, 1857, who settled at the site of present Oakland, and John Oak, 1863, for whom the town was named. The Logan Creek archeological site, located on a nearby stream terrace, was investigated by the Nebraska State Historical Society, 1957-1963 with the aid of a National Science Foundation grant. Nine stratified cultural zones, extending a depth of nearly 12 feet, have been defined. The uppermost zone is attributed to a Plains Woodland people--the first pottery makers in Nebraska, believed to have migrated from Eastern Woodlands. At least five of the lower zones may represent a distinct culture, known as the Logan Creek Complex. Carbon 14 dates indicate these closely related groups periodically camped here between 6,000 and 8,000 years ago. The water, good hunting and fresh water shell fish may have been some of the reasons for the long inhabitation by these hunting, fishing and gathering people. Artifacts from this site show close cultural ties with contemporary Archaic cultures in eastern and northeast America. The findings here are the earliest excavated materials yet discovered in eastern Nebraska. In 1970 the Logan Creek Site was entered on the National Register of Historic Places.
]]>The first settlers of Lyons came in the summer of 1866. The fertile soil of the Logan Valley, combined with the commercial promise provided by access to the railroad after 1881, assured the life of the town. Incorporated in 1884, the village was named for Waldo Lyon, a prominent citizen upon whose land the plots were laid out. Residents have continued to abide by a provision in Lyon's deed, stipulating that liquor not be sold within the town at risk of forfeit of the property.
The Lyons Roller Mill was erected in 1869. The three-story structure was powered by water from a dam built across Logan Creek just west of the town, and was in operation until 1931.
Many of the buildings of the town are constructed of brick manufactured in a brick yard which began operation in 1878. The swimming pool sits in the depression from which the clay was taken.
One of the finest trotting tracks in the country opened in 1891, just one-fourth mile west of Lyons, named The Kite Track. Famous horses broke world records and won large purses on this kite-shaped race track before hard times ended racing after 1893.
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