Plymouth began in 1871 as a farming community 3 miles south and 1 1/2 miles west of the present town of Plymouth. D.E. Jones, a Congregational minister and land agent for the Burlington and Missouri Railroad, arrived to locate a site for a colony that would follow the ideals of the Pilgrims who founded Plymouth, Massachusetts. Settlers came from eastern states and Germany. In 1872 the town of Plymouth was founded. By 1880 it boasted 100 people, a Congregational Church, a school, and numerous businesses.
In 1893 the Rock Island Railroad refused to build a depot at Plymouth because of a steep uphill grade from the town. The loss of a station meant the end of old Plymouth. Only the cemetery remains.
The depot was built on the divide between Cub Creek and Dry Creek, the present site of Plymouth. The new village, incorporated in 1894, was settled by arrivals from Germany joining Germans who came by way of Canada. Their descendants make up the majority of Plymouth's present population.
]]>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.
]]>In 1874-1875, this area was settled by a group of Mennonites led by Cornelius and Peter Jansen. Many of these settlers were descendants of Dutch emigrants who left Holland in the 16th Century and founded a colony in Russia. Coming to Jefferson County, the Mennonites purchased some 25,000 acres of land from the Burlington and Missouri Railroad.
The Mennonites had developed a unique pattern of community organization which they retained when they came to Nebraska. Their community as a whole was composed of several so-called "line villages," each of which contained a number of dwellings located close together along both sides of a section line or road. About 1900, one such village, "Russian Lane," reportedly contained some 42 houses, churches and schools along both sides of a 4 1/2 mile road.
Jansen was named for Peter Jansen on whose land the town was platted in 1886. His nearby ranch was noted for its large sheep-raising operation. Peter Jansen was elected to the Nebraska Legislature in 1898 and 1910, and remained active in political affairs until his death in 1923. Today the Jansen community continues to preserve the spirit of its dedicated pioneers.
]]>The availability of suitable building material was of great importance to Nebraska's pioneer settlers. Here in Jefferson County, native limestone was used for building and the stone was burned in kilns to produce lime for mortar and whitewash. The U.S. Army reportedly operated the first kiln in this area during the 1848 construction of Fort Kearny on the Platte. During the 1870's and 1880's, the limestone industry flourished in Jefferson County and numerous kilns and quarries were located near here.
The limekiln which survives on this site was built in 1874 by Woral C. Smith who had settled in the county the previous year. Much of the limestone from Smith's quarries was used locally, but after the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad built a siding to the kiln, limestone products were shipped throughout the region. In 1876, Smith constructed the nearby house with limestone from his quarters.
Today, commercial limestone production continues in several areas of Nebraska. Although the old limekilns have largely disappeared, the Smith kiln and limestone house remain as examples of this important pioneer industry.
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