All Markers: 584
Markers
Sort by:
Village of Polk
Polk, founded in 1906 and named after U.S. President James K. Polk, was the last town established in Polk County. When the Union Pacific Railroad began building a branch line in the area, J. Wesley…
Stromsburg - The Swede Capital of Nebraska
The site for Stromsburg was selected in 1870 by Lewis Headstrom, member of a townsite company from Galva, Illinois. In 1872 the town was platted and named "Stromsburg," the last syllable of…
Osceola and The Early Pioneers: 1867-1967
The early settlement of Polk County in 1867 brings us in close touch with the trail of the pioneer. Then from year to year, others came and settlement advanced. These early settlers came by covered…
Frank Zybach - Inventor of Center-Pivot Irrigation Machine
Born in 1894, Frank Zybach grew up in Loup Township, Platte County, Nebraska. He began inventing at age 13. In 1948, he developed a prototype of a self-propelled sprinkler irrigation machine. In 1952,…
Camp Platte
In October 1934 Camp Platte was established near here by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). The CCC was one of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal programs designed to promote economic…
Columbus Powerhouse
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…
The Zimmerers - Irrigation Innovators
During the 1950s and 1960s Paul Zimmerer, working in his auto and farm equipment repair shop in Lindsay, Nebraska, invented a series of irrigation products that changed the landscape of Nebraska…
Granville Cemetery
The Granville Cemetery Association was organized in February 1881. Incorporators included Civil War veteran Adin H. Potter, formerly of Granville, New York, who deeded the land. He was one of the few…
The Lincoln Highway-Gardiner Station Section
The Lincoln Highway Association was founded in 1913 to promote a coast-to-coast, toll-free automobile route. The Lincoln Highway, which followed existing roadways through thirteen states, was…
Alfred Maximilian Gruenther: 1899-1983
Alfred Maximilian Gruenther, four-star general in the U.S. Army, was born in Platte Center, Nebraska, on March 3, 1899, to Christian and Mary Shea Gruenther. He graduated fourth in his class from the…
Andrew Jackson Higgins
Andrew Jackson Higgins, designer and manufacturer of World War 11 landing craft known as "Higgins boats," was born August 28, 1886, at Columbus, Nebraska. His parents were John Gonegle Higgins, a…
West Hill Community
This cemetery north of Genoa in Woodville Township is the center of Platte County's West Hill area. Land for the cemetery was first purchased in 1876 from Will Irwin. The first grave was opened in…
The Villasur Expedition, 1720
In June 1720 a Spanish military force led by Sir Pedro de Villasur left Santa Fe, New Mexico, to gather information on French activities near the Missouri River. The contingent included 45 veteran…
Agricultural Park
Due to the generosity of Mrs. Albert Gehner, Mr. Theodore Friedhof, and many other benefactors, this site has become a focal point of agricultural activity in Platte County.
The donation of this…
Duncan, 1871-1971
The history of Duncan, Nebraska has been closely associated with overland routes through the Platte and Loup River valleys. The Mormon Trail passed nearby during the mid-19th Century and the first…
The North Brothers
The West produced many fighting men and ranking high among them are Frank and Luther North of Columbus, leaders of the legendary Pawnee Scouts. The Pawnee, located at their nearby reservation, were…
The Meridian Highway
The Meridian Road was organized in 1911 by a group of "good roads" boosters. Proposed as a direct north-south automobile route through the central United States, its name was derived from the Sixth…
Old Willow Creek Bridge
This bridge originally spanned Willow Creek southwest of Pierce. It was fabricated in 1913 by the Canton (Ohio) Bridge Company, which held Pierce County's bridge contract between 1905 and 1918. It was…
Gilman Park
The first flour mill in Pierce County was constructed here about 1880 by Stephen F. Gilman. Power for its operation came from a dam on the north fork of the Elkhorn River. Flour from the mill was…
First Site of Bethel Lutheran Church and Cemetery
Thirty Swedish settlers in Harlan and Phelps counties organized Bethel Lutheran Church on November 12, 1877, at the home and post office of Gustaf Hanson, which was located seven miles south and two…
Funk, Nebraska
Civil War veteran P. C. Funk came to Divide Township in Phelps County in 1877 and purchased 160 acres of land two miles north of the present town. By 1883 the Nebraska-Colorado Railroad, now the…
Bertrand 1885-1985
Bertrand was platted by the Lincoln Land Company in June 1885, and the tracks of the Burlington Railroad soon reached here from Holdrege. The village was named in honor of Alonzo Bertrand Minor, a…
Atlanta Prisoner-of-War Camp
During World War II, a prisoner-of-war internment camp was located directly north of here. The camp had its beginning in a request by the Holdredge New Industries Committee for a federal…
Holdrege Silt Loam - The Nebraska State Soil
Soils in the Holdrege series are recognized by features of their "profile" created by horizontal layers that are the result of the prairie environment. Holdrege soils exist on 1.8 million acres of…
Site of Old Sacramento
This monument, dedicated to the early pioneers, marks the location of Sacramento, one of the first towns in Phelps County.
Sacramento was established between 1876 and 1878 with an estimated area…
Phelps County
The great immigrant roads to the West which followed the Platte River brought the first settlers to this area. Beginning in the late 1850's, these frontiersmen operated stage stations, road ranches,…
Historic Platte Valley
Through this valley passed the Oregon Trail, highway for early explorers, fur traders, California-bound gold seekers, freighters, and brave pioneers seeking new homes in the West. Traffic was…
The Texas Trail
After the Civil War, herds of Texas cattle were driven north to marketing points in eastern Nebraska, but settlement by homesteaders forced the trail further west each year. Beginning in 1875, Union…
Wild Horse Spring
Named for the beautiful, spirited wild horses so numerous in this area when white men first visited these lush plains, this Spring symbolizes the hope and faith its discovery brought to the early…
Pawnee City
Pawnee City, the county seat of Pawnee County, was platted and the first lots were sold in the spring of 1857. The county, named for the Pawnee Indians who lived in Nebraska for generations, was…