Robbery at Brownville
In 1869 the U.S. Express Company at Brownville was robbed when its local agent, Jacob K. Baer, reported that he was "sandbagged, shot and robbed" of the company money. ...
David Butler
What We Found
Rosewater’s Christmas
Edward Rosewater, longtime editor and publisher of the Omaha Bee, and a force to be reckoned with in Nebraska politics from the Bee's founding in 1871 until his death in ...
Lincoln Lot Sales
The relocation of the Nebraska capital from Omaha to Lincoln in 1867 necessitated the erection of buildings to house the legislature and state institutions. It was ...
Samuel DeWitt Beals
Samuel DeWitt Beals (1826-1900), Nebraska's first state superintendent of public instruction, began teaching in his native state of New York in the early 1850s. In April ...
Burning of State Asylum
The burning of the Nebraska Asylum for the Insane on April 17, 1871, destroyed the locus of a fledgling state institution and had ramifications well beyond the ...
Butler’s Compensation Claim
David Butler, Nebraska's first state governor, was one of the most controversial figures ever to hold the office. Faced with the problems of transition from a ...
“Equality Before the Law”: Thoughts on the Origin of Nebraska’s State Motto
“Equality Before the Law,” Nebraska’s state motto, is unique among the fifty states. Only Wyoming’s motto, “Equal Rights,” expresses a similar idea. Both mottos date ...
The Impeachment of Nebraska’s First Governor: David Butler
By Breanna Fanta, Editorial Assistant
Throughout Nebraska’s history, many figures were credited for shaping the state. Often they are recognized most for their ...
Nebraska’s Five Capitols
By David L. Bristow, Editor
Our state capitol is one of the nation’s most recognizable, but did you know it’s the third capitol built on that spot, and the fifth to ...
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