In 1850, a group of pioneers from Maryland founded a small community on the banks of the swift-moving Nemaha River. Known as Falls Mills, the settlement was near the junction with the Missouri River and considered an ideal spot for a grinding mill.…

Humboldt was platted in 1868 and the first business on the city square was established in 1869. Town founder O.J. Tinker deeded two acres for a public square in 1871 and Humboldt was incorporated in 1873. The bandstand in the center of the City…

The Kansas-Nebraska Act of May 30, 1854 created the territories of Nebraska and Kansas, which had to be surveyed before settlement could proceed. In November 1854, Captain Thomas J. Lee of the U.S. Army Topographic Engineers determined the Fortieth…

On this day the explorers passed along this stretch of the Missouri River and camped a few miles north of here on the Nebraska side. The tranquil weather recorded by Clark in his journal for July 13 was in sharp contrast with violent storms the…

The Missouri River, created by geological glacial action thousands of years ago, historically has served as a gateway to the west. First used by prehistoric Indians, it served successively fur traders, explorers, and homesteaders. Among the earliest…

The first publicized report of oil in Nebraska was an 1883 newspaper account of a "vein of petroleum" discovered in Richardson County. Over the next 57 years, the search for oil consumed thousands of dollars, and hundreds of wells were…