From 1886 through 1894 the U.S. Army's Department of the Platte leased this site to provide marksmanship training for Fort Omaha soldiers. Each year in late summer, the range also hosted troops from other Great Plains posts for the department…

The Rishel family came from Pennsylvania to Sarpy County in May 1865. The locality where they settled became known as Peach Grove after a nearby post office by that name. The cemetery was established August 30, 1875, when Mary Jane Rishel Long…

In 1879, the State Legislature created the Board of Fish Commissioners, the forerunner of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. That board contracted with a privately owned firm known as the Santee Hatchery. The owners, Mr. Romine and Mr. Decker,…

This log cabin was built about 1835 in the Missouri River floodplains. Soon after 1835 cholera occurred at lower elevations, and the cabin was moved to the upper plateau. In about 1850 it was moved to this location, where it was used as a residence…

Approximately thirty feet south of here in 1865 the Union Pacific Railroad laid its original track extending from the Missouri River in Omaha, south up Mud Creek to Papillion Creek, and northwesterly along West Papillion Creek. Although Chief…

Here is the great Platte Valley, Highway to the West. On these nearby bluffs prehistoric Indians built their homes. The Pawnee and Oto established large earthlodge villages near here. As you travel west in the valley you will follow the route of the…

Before the organization of Nebraska Territory in 1854, missions were established among the Indian tribes of this area. In 1850, Rev. Edward McKinney founded the first Presbyterian Church of Nebraska with five members. He had arrived in Bellevue…

This building of handmade bricks was constructed in 1856 to serve as the Fontenelle Bank. During the financial Panic of 1857 the Fontenelle Bank failed as did most of the other poorly backed wildcat banks in the Nebraska Territory. In 1861 by…

Bellevue, gateway to the upper Missouri and the fur trade empire, is the oldest continuous settlement in Nebraska. This town was born, became important, almost died, and now in the 20th century, has been revitalized. Fur traders dealing with the…

In November 1833 Moses and Eliza Merrill, missionaries sponsored by the Baptist Missionary Union, arrived at the government Indian agency at Bellevue and opened a mission school for the Oto and Missouri Indians living in eastern Nebraska. The…