Our Historical Markers across Nebraska highlight moments and places in our state’s past. Today we’re focusing on a marker that tells the story of one of the oldest school buildings in Nebraska, built in 1857.
Location
Rural U.S. 77, Homer, Dakota County, Nebraska
Marker Text
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 erected in the spring of 1857 at Omadi, four miles south of Dakota City, the school shared the townsite’s peril when the Missouri River began to undermine the area. Since the school faced destruction it was moved to Thomas Smith’s claim, about two miles south of Homer. Here a new school district was organized.
When construction on the Burlington Railroad from Sioux City to Lincoln began, the school was found to be on railroad property. The building was then shifted to its present site near the old Combs mill. School redistricting eliminated need for the old Combs School, and its doors closed for the last time May 22, 1964. The Board of Education of the newly-formed district donated the building to the Dakota County Historical Society, who has set it aside as a monument to the pioneer fathers’ belief that,
“MEN ARE ENNOBLED BY UNDERSTANDING.”
