A northbound Rock Island train was derailed from this trestle on August 9, 1894, resulting in a crash, massive fire, and the deaths of eleven passengers and crew, despite the heroic action of Harry Foote, brakeman, who rescued many. G. W. Davis, convicted of the crime in 1895, was paroled ten years later by Governor John Mickey, who noted "grave doubts" as to his guilt. Aside from questions of guilt, Davis's motive and whether he acted alone also remain matters of conjecture.

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Thousands of oxen-drawn wagons passed here from 1860 to 1867, before completion of the Union Pacific Railroad across Nebraska. Carrying military and mining supplies, and emigrants moving west, they cut deep ruts across the tallgrass prairie and at Spring Creek fording sites. The cutoff was the shortest route from the Missouri River to Fort Kearny, where several overland trails merged, and one of Nebraska's most important historic roads. The still-visible ruts are listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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In 1874 construction began on Lincoln's first U.S. Post Office and Courthouse on a block originally intended as a market square. The building was completed by 1879 at a cost of about. $200,000. Alfred B. Mullet, supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury and his successor, William Appleton Potter, prepared the design. The building is of brick, faced with Nebraska limestone, and blends Gothic Revival and French Second Empire styles.

In 1906, when a new post office and courthouse was completed on the northeast corner of this block, the federal government sold the old building to the city for $50,000. It served as Lincoln's city hall until 1969, when a new county-city building was occupied. Deed provisions required Old City Hall to remain in municipal use or it would revert to federal ownership.

In 1969 Old City Hall was one of the first Lincoln buildings listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Lincoln/Lancaster County Historical Society advocated its preservation, and federal, city, and community support accomplished its renovation. It continues to house city and community agencies.

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In 1878 public-spirited citizens, led by former governor Robert W. Furnas, organized the Nebraska State Historical Society. The legislature designated the Society a state institution in 1883 and began providing financial support.

The Society's offices, library, and museum occupied various Lincoln locations until 1953, including the old university library (present Architecture Hall) and the state capitol. This building, designed by Lincoln Architect Ellery Davis and funded by a special tax levy, opened in 1953. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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Crounse was once a small village named for Lorenzo Crounse, Nebraska Supreme Court justice (1867-73). congressman (1873-77), and governor (1893-95). The village had a school (1870-1962), post office (1873-1901), church, general store, and creamery. Crounse School was the hub of the community. Classes met in homes until a schoolhouse was built on this site in 1873. Activities included picnics, bazaars, 4-H, and ball games. After the school closed in 1962, memories were all that remained of the community.

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The Civilian Conservation Corps was authorized by Congress in 1933 to provide jobs and vocational training for young men during the Depression. Company 2738 with 216 men was organized at Nebraska City, then moved to a campsite on the Gilbert farm about 1 1/2 miles southwest of Denton on July 28, 1934. The men lived in tents for two months while barracks were completed. Captain Virgil Ney was the first camp commander.

Company 2738 men worked primarily on soil conservation projects in the area, including tree planting, terracing, and construction of farm dams. They also helped Denton residents fight fires, clear roads, and respond to accidents. A temporary side camp was located near Crete to build a dike on the Big Blue River.

The camp had a library, provided educational programs, and published a newsletter called "TheScoop." Athletics included baseball, softball, basketball, boxing, and tennis. Men from Company 2738 played teams from Lincoln and the surrounding area. In spite of its many worthwhile contributions, the CCC was disbanded in 1942 after the outbreak

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Lincoln Army Air field was constructed in 1942 on the former Lincoln Municipal Airport. The 2,750-acre property was leased to the army by the City of Lincoln. The base provided technical training for aircraft mechanics, basic training for army aviation cadets, and served as an overseas deployment staging area for bombardment groups and fighter squadrons. It was one of eleven U.S. Army Air Forces training centers built in Nebraska during World War II.

At war's end the airfield served as a military separation center for aircrews returning from overseas. It closed in December 1945 and was returned to the City of Lincoln for a municipal airport.

In 1952 the Strategic Air Command activated the airfield as Lincoln Air Force Base under a joint-use lease agreement between the U.S. Air Force and the City of Lincoln. Bomber wings, air refueling squadrons, and an Atlas ICBM squadron were assigned to the base.

In 1966 the base closed and the property was transferred to the City of Lincoln for use as a municipal Airport, industrial park, and a public housing community.

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In 1869 the Nebraska legislature authorized the construction of a facility to care for mentally ill persons. The 160-acre site was located just north of the village of Yankee Hill, and southwest of Lincoln, the newly established state capital. Through this area ran the Nebraska City-Fort Kearny Cutoff, a wagon road used in the 1860s to transport freight from the Missouri River to military posts and settlements in the Platte Valley.

The Nebraska Hospital for the Insane, opened in December 1870, was destroyed by fire the following April. A new building was completed in 1872. The name of this facility was changed to the Lincoln State Hospital in 1921 and to the Lincoln Regional Center in 1969. From an initial total of less than 50, the number of patients has varied as methods of diagnosis and treatment of mental illness have changed. In 1955 the patient census was 1750. By the 1980s, with modern medicines and an emphasis on outpatient care, the hospital had fewer than 250 residents.

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General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Forces to Europe in World War I, was Professor of Military Science at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln between September 1891 and June 1895. Upon his arrival in Lincoln, which was to become his family's home, Pershing found the morale of the Reserve Officers Training Corps at low ebb. To infuse life into the corps, Pershing built an elite drill team which eventually became known as the Society of Pershing Rifles.

The organization served its purpose well, and from 1900-1911 it carried prestige not only in military circles but in the social life of the University as well. Many of its young officer-graduates were on active duty in the Spanish-American War and in World War I. After Pershing was transferred to another post, interest in the Rifles waned and in 1917 it was disbanded. Interest returned in the 1920s, and in 1925 a chapter was installed at Ohio State University. Today Pershing Rifle Societies are found in over 100 universities. Pershing was elected to the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1964, and his bust placed in the Nebraska State Capitol in 1965.

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Marguerite Metzger Hall

and

Neil W. Hall

Nine-Mile Prairie Memorial

as a living tribute to

our Pioneer Forebears

and as a legacy for future generations

____________________________

A memorial to the Past,

A joy to the Present,

A heritage for the future Dedicated September 16, 1984

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This boulder is one of the largest "erratics" ever recovered in the Belmont area, and was found in excavations one-quarter mile east of this point. It was carried to this area thousands of years ago by the ice of a continental glacier and then dropped as the ice melted. The boulder was moved by the ice from the basement (Precambrian) rocks exposed in the vicinity of Sioux Falls, South Dakota. It is composed of Sioux sandstone and quartzite. The harder areas of quartzite are well defined. There are numerous smaller boulders along the ridge just east of Belmont Park, together with prominent frost cracks in the glacial-melt clay and silt (till). It appears that the Belmont (beautiful hill) ridge resulted from a standing glacier which melted and left a terminal moraine, composed of clay, silt, and erratics. Glaciers entered eastern Nebraska many times during the great "Ice Age" coming from the north and east. On occasion the glacial ice sheet must have been at least several hundred feet thick in this location.

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William Henry Ferguson, Lincoln businessman and investor, built this house in 1909-11. It is one of the best examples of the Second Renaissance Revival style in Lincoln and perhaps in Nebraska. Architects were Searles, Hirsh and Gavin of Cleveland, Ohio; the builder was Olson Construction of Lincoln. Purchased by the State of Nebraska in 1963, the Ferguson house is administered by the Nebraska State Historical Society. This property is on the National Register of Historic Places.

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Elisha M. Lewis, early Nebraska pastor and missionary, built this French Second Empire style house in about 1878. The Syford family owned the property from 1904 until the daughter, Constance willed the house in 1965 to the Nebraska State Historical Society Foundation which is responsible for its preservation. The Lewis-Syford House is the oldest remaining building on the University of Nebraska campus. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

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From the heroics of stunt fliers at pre-World War I state fairs through the experimentation of the 1920s, Lincoln held a unique position in aviation manufacturing and pilot training. After WWI, Ray Page and his wife Ethel purchased surplus Army planes and rebuilt them at their Lincoln Standard Aircraft Company, 2409 "O" Street. Some models manufactured were the Lincoln-Standard and Lincoln-Page (both 3-place), Lincoln-Page LS5 (5-place), and one model for assembling at home. Page's "Link-up-with-Lincoln" civic boosters, flying Standards, in 1925 carried greetings to Oklahoma, Texas, and California. Daredevil fliers of the Page Aerial Pageant advertised Lincoln across Mid-America. Johnny Moore's highly successful Arrow Sport was built at 27th and N and later at Havelock by Pace Woods. The Harding, Zook and Bahl Corporation produced the Lark Monoplane at 107 North 9th. During this period Lincoln for a time was third-ranked in America in plane manufacturing. Such an environment appealed to young Charles Lindbergh of Minnesota, destined to become aviation's preeminent figure. He learned flying fundamentals at Page's school, served a barnstorming apprenticeship, and was graduated from the Air Reserve Corps as a 2nd lieutenant. In 1927 following service as an airmail pilot, Lindbergh flew his "Spirit of St. Louis" from New York to Paris.

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Lincoln can boast of a colorful parade of fliers in aviation's formative decades: Joe and Bob Westover were mechanics for Ruth Law, pre-World War I aviatrix. The Nebraska National Guard produced Capt. Ralph McMillen, killed at a Kansas air show in 1916, and Lt. Edgar (Happy) Bagnell, WWI flier. In the 1920's Ray and Ethel Page operated the Lincoln Standard Aircraft Company, which included a factory and training school. Its barnstorming Aerial Pageant attracted talented pilots: Pete Hill, Earl Barnes, Eyer Sloniger, and Ira O. Biffle, Charles Lindbergh's flight instructor. Equally noted were parachutists and wing walkers Dick Hazelrig, Lt. Charles and Kathryn Hardin, Milo Siel, teenage Harlan Gurney, and Encil Chambers. Other Lincoln Standard personalities included John (Salty) Saltzman, head mechanic, and veteran of the NC flying boat Atlantic crossing; Ernest S. Sias, school administrator; Otto Timm, pilot and designer; and Nelson Gotshall, executive. Errol G. Bahl, Lark Monoplane designer, barnstormed the area. John (Augie) Pedlar, pilot in the Dole-sponsored California-Hawaii race of 1927, was lost in the Pacific. Page (1882-1933), a native of Friend, Nebraska, and his flying student Lindbergh stand out as major figures in Lincoln's early aviation years. Though Lincoln's promise as an aviation center faded and the industry centered elsewhere, memories of its intrepid aerial pioneers remain.

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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.

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On March 6, 1855, Lancaster County was created by act of the Territorial Legislature. Many early settlers came for land, while others were attracted by the commercial possibilities of the nearby Salt Basin. In 1859, a site east of the Salt Basin was selected as the future county seat. Originally known as Lancaster, the town was first settled in 1864 and renamed Lincoln in 1867 when it was designated the state capital.

Lincoln's city government occupied various locations until 1886, when a municipal headquarters building was erected at 10th and Q Streets. The old U.S. Post Office building, constructed in 1874-1879 at 10th and O Streets, served as City Hall from 1907-1969.

In 1888, the County Commissioners accepted a bid of $164,976 for the construction of Lancaster County's first courthouse. Completed in 1890 on a site directly north of this building, the courthouse was razed in 1969.

Through the combined efforts of the City Council and County Commissioners, voter approval was received in 1965 for the construction of a building to house both governments. Designed by two local architectural firms, the County-City Building was completed in 1969 at a cost of five million dollars.

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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.

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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.

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