Site of the first permanent Cuming County settlement by the Benjamin B. Moore family in 1857, the town of DeWitt was laid out by an Omaha townsite company in 1857. The post office was established February 3, 1858, and discontinued May 26, 1871. In a hotly contested election in 1858, DeWitt lost the county seat to West Point by a vote of 12-7. All that remains of DeWitt is this native-sod cemetery.
]]>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 the epic A Cycle of the West. The Neihardt Study was restored in 1967 and entered in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
]]>John Gneisenau Neihardt (1881-1973), teacher, philosopher, and Nebraska Poet Laureate, moved to Bancroft in 1900. Here he first became acquainted with Indians, married, and began his major work, A Cycle of the West, a five-part epic poem "designed to celebrate the great mood of courage that developed west of the Missouri River in the 19th Century." The John G. Neihardt Study Restoration Project was founded in 1965 by Evelyn Vogt to preserve Neihardt's one-room study in Bancroft. In 1967 the Study Restoration Project was incorporated as the John G. Neihardt Foundation for the purpose of constructing a building to house a museum, library, and research facility to preserve Neihardt's works and effects. In 1968, by gubernatorial proclamation, the first Sunday in each August was designated Neihardt Day in Nebraska. In 1974 State Senator Blair Richendifer of Walthill introduced in the Nebraska Legislature L.B. 855, which appropriated the "sum of two hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of constructing the John G. Neihardt Foundation. Dedicated August 1, 1976, the center was designed by the architectural firm of Clark & Enersen, Hamersky, Schlaebitz, Burroughs & Thomsen. The firm of Larson & Jipp was the prime contractor.
]]>Bancroft was the home of John G. Neihardt between 1900 and 1920. Here he wrote all of his short stories and lyric poetry including A Bundle of Myrrh, The Splendid Wayfaring, and the Guest and began his epic poem A Cycle of the West which brought him high critical acclaim. Born in Illinois January 8, 1881, Neihardt lived in Kansas and Missouri before settling in Wayne, Nebraska in 1892. He began writing poetry at the age of twelve, worked his way through Nebraska Normal College at Wayne and taught school. In Bancroft he worked for an Indian trader and edited the Bancroft Blade. In 1921 he was appointed Poet Laureate of Nebraska by Legislative Act. Many Omaha Indians in the Bancroft vicinity helped the poet gain his profound understanding and compassion for their race. Among them were Dr. Susan La Flesche Picotte and her sister Susette (Bright Eyes), daughters of Joseph La Flesche (Iron Eyes) last recognized chief of the Omaha. Susette, an eloquent and attractive speaker, was famous for her tireless and effective work in behalf of her people. She is buried beside her father and mother in the Bancroft cemetery.
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