The Preacher Took a Drink
Preachers didn't have an easy lot in Nebraska's early days. A goodly portion of our citizenswere what we now call "the unchurched"--at best they were apathetic to the ...
Nebraska City News
What We Found
Saloons, Billiard Halls
Although saloons and billiard halls were not considered respectable businesses by some in frontier society, town boosters often supported their contributions to the ...
Well Digging, by Henry Sands
Few jobs in early Nebraska required more courage than that of a well digger. Henry Sands of Nebraska City related some of his narrow escapes to the editor of ...
Morton and the Public Printer
J. Sterling Morton served as secretary of Nebraska Territory from April 30, 1858, until May 19, 1861. For five months of that time (December 5, 1858, to May 2, 1859), he ...
Morton, Thomas
Thomas Morton (1829-87) was one of the most noted printers and newspapermen of Nebraska Territory and of early Nebraska. As printer for the Nebraska Palladium at ...
Nebraska Connections to the Battle of Bull Run, 1861
The first major battle of the Civil War was fought in northern Virginia about twenty-five miles southwest of Washington, D.C. on July 21, 1861. Both the Union and ...
Nebraska Territory – A Trip into the Interior, 1858
The Nebraska City News of June 17, 1858, included a letter from an unidentified traveler who had recently made "A Trip into the Interior," and wished to share ...
Drinking and Shooting on the 1875 Farmers’ Excursion
It’s become a cliché that business trips to distant cities can become opportunities for behavior of the “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” variety. This was also ...
Fishing Tale, 1867
A brief note on the pleasures of fishing appeared in the Nebraska City News, May 25, 1867. The piece is unsigned, but the author may have been J. Sterling Morton, then ...
Football Bowl Games
The annual debate over the best way to crown college football's national champion is nothing new. Bowl games and playoffs were the subjects of a poll of the nation's ...
Blue Rivers
Except for the occasional Indian or white hunting parties, the scenic Blue River valley was seldom visited prior to 1860. The establishment of the Nebraska City-Fort ...
Nebraska’s Semicentennial Arbor Day (2013)
Arbor Day parade float at Nebraska City in 1917. The bust at the front of the float depicts J. Sterling Morton, founder of Arbor Day. NSHS RG2991-2-3.
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