Chadron was selected as the site of the fourth Nebraska State Normal School on January 8, 1910, and located on the grounds of the former Chadron Congregational Academy. Classes began in the summer of…

In 1921 the Nebraska State Legislature created a State Park Board within the Department of Public Works. In 1923, the law was amended by attaching the Board to the Department of Horticulture of the…

America's longest horse race began here June 13, 1893. The 1,000 mile race ended June 27 in Chicago at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The race apparently was the idea of Chadron jokester John G.…

The fertile North Loup Valley provided food and construction materials for the early settlers of this region. When they came here in 1872 they were greeted by Jack Swearengen, a trapper, guide, and…

Champion, on the Frenchman River, is the site of probably the oldest functioning water-powered mill in Nebraska. Preliminary construction on the mill was begun in the fall of 1886. The work was…

Cheyenne County was organized in 1870 from lands ceded by the Cheyenne, Arapaho, and Dakota Sioux Indians. In the panhandle of Nebraska, it is part of the Cheyenne tableland portion of the Great…

The land around the mouth of the Niobrara in northeastern Nebraska is the homeland of the Ponca Tribe. In 1868 the federal government signed the Treaty of Fort Laramie that transferred this land to…

Rising 470 feet above the North Platte River Valley, Chimney Rock stands to the south as the most celebrated of all natural formations along the overland routes to California, Oregon, and Utah.…

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…

Until about 1910 the mill pond and environs was a popular recreation area operated by Charles Nelson and known as Glenwood Park. Ice harvested from the pond was stored in a huge ice house nearby for…

The town of Clay Center was laid out in the summer of 1879. An election on November 4, 1879, confirmed Clay Center as the location for the Clay County seat, following months of heated competition with…

Large pioneer ranches were established in this region of Nebraska in the 1870's and early 1880's. Charles F. Coffee was one of these pioneers, with ranch headquarters on Hat Creek in Nebraska and…

The Columbus Powerhouse is one of Nebraska’s largest hydroelectric generating plants and the pulse of the Loup River Public Power District hydroelectric system. The system was financed in 1933 by a…

Built 1857-Closed 1964 The frame schoolhouse in the background is part of Nebraska's pioneer heritage - the oldest school building in Dakota County and one of the oldest in Nebraska. Originally…

When the outbreak of war between the states became imminent in the spring of 1861, the citizens of Plattsmouth were quick to respond to the impending crisis. Without waiting for President Lincoln's…

Near here are graves of pioneer whites caught up in the conflict between native Americans and white settlers. On July 24, 1867, Indians attacked the home of Peter Campbell near here. Campbell and his…

Religious institutions have played an important role in the history of Nebraska. During the frontier period, churches fulfilled both the spiritual and social needs of the early inhabitants. The…

This region was once home to Oto and Missouri Indians, who ceded their land to the government before Nebraska Territory was created in 1854. White settlers arrived in 1857 and founded a town and post…

Commonly known as the Cornhusker Ordnance Plant, the facility opened in 1942 and covered nearly 20 square miles. During World War II it produced artillery shells and various bombs weighing up to 2,000…

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…

Traveling northwest from Ash Hollow, the emigrants encountered three natural features of the North Platte Valley which became well-known milestones. First was Court House Rock, rising abruptly from…

Courthouse and Jail Rocks are two of the most famous landmarks of westward migration. Nearby passed the Oregon-California Trail, the Mormon Trail, the Pony Express Trail and the Sidney-Deadwood Trail.…

Named for the Oglala band of Dakota Sioux and located on the Union Pacific Railroad, Ogallala was a lusty cowtown of the Old West. From 1875 to 1885 it was a wild woolly cowboy capital where gold…

The village of Cowles, founded in 1878 and incorporated in 1912, in 1913 approved a bond issue of $14,000 to construct a three-story brick schoolhouse on this site. It was completed in 1915. Classes…

Crawford sprang up as a tent city on land owned by homesteader-newspaper correspondent William E. Annin in 1886 when the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad pushed through the Nebraska…

Crawford's first high school building was erected with locally fired brick in 1890 at an approximate cost of $25,000. This bell was installed in the belfry the following year. During the structure's…

This University is named for Edward and John A. Creighton -- Ohio farm boys who gained immortality in the West. They helped to link our coasts by telegraph during the Civil War. They pioneered as…

On April 27, 1875, General George A. Crook assumed command of the Department of the Platte, which then included Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and part of Montana and Idaho. When the headquarters was…

Beneath this platform, evidence of the great westward migration still remains. These shallow depressions were once deep ruts created by thousands of hooves, shoes and wheels. The Overland Trail is…

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…