The year was 1854, just a half-century after Lewis and Clark’s valiant expedition into the Louisiana Territory, and thirteen years before the state of Nebraska would be born. Following the extinguishment ‘of the Indian title and the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the vast area known as “Nebraska Territory” had just been opened for settlement. On a hot, muggy day in late August, an enterprising young man from Holt County, Missouri, paddled his canoe across the Missouri River to take early advantage of the opportunities the “new land” offered. His name was Richard Brown.
As a river town, Brownville flourished in territorial days. When its hopes for a railroad eventually died, however, it struggled to maintain its population and businesses even though its arts organizations remained vigorous
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Note: the word Indian is used instead of Native American as it was the norm at the time.
The steamship The Henderson taking Union Troops from Brownville’s stone wharf.
