Nebraska City High School - Pioneer Yearbook (Nebraska City, NE)

Page 7 text:

Education was important to early Nebraskans. The first school in the whole wide expanse of the territory and state of Nebraska was opened and taught by Miss Margaret Martin. Her picture was loaned to us for the reproduction shown here. Miss Martin began her school after some preliminary preparations in a log house which stood at Tenth and First Avenue of the present city in 1855. It was a success from the start because a large number of new-comers brought their children with them and yearned for formal training of their minds. In 1844 a military post was constructed here known as Fort Kearney, the outpost from which it was intended to guard the passage of people passing through to the Far West, particularly Oregon. A blockhouse was at once erected near what is now Fifth and Central Avenue. A hospital was constructed, barracks for the troops and a long house for officers quarters. The fort was active for only a short time. The war wiih Mexico loomed and the troops were moved to a post in New Mexico. Some time later “new” Fort Kearney was established in central Nebraska. Today the hill where first settlers built is called Kearney Hill. A few of these early buildings show'll in picture still stand. Before 1844, the area known as Otoe county Nebraska, was in the exclusive possession of the Pawnees, Otoes, Omahas, and a few other tribes of Indians. However, traders, who followed the exploration of Lewis and Clark in 1804, were here now and then, going up and down the Missouri River which is at our front door, ascending from St. Louis, the great trading post of the West, and using the river as far as they could go. It is certain that no regular settlement before 1844 had been made in Nebraska l e-low Bellevue, some 30 miles north of us, then a station of American Fur Company, and under the management of the intrepid settler “Peter A. Sarpy,” whose name and fame were commemorated in September, 1852 under the auspices of the World Life Insurance Company. Early explorers made no mention of fertile land. About 1857 occured what were practically the first attempts at agriculture. Up to this time the thought of attempts to cultivate the soil had not been favorable or generally entertained. Moreover there were legends to the effect that this time, in the words of Hon. J. Sterling Morton, it was discovered that a man with some mind and muscle could deposit eight quarts of Indian corn in a well plowed acre of Otoe county land, and by reasonable careful cultivation, and the co-operation of sunbeams and raindrops, gather in the autumn anywhere from fifty to eighty bushels of the cereal, from the same acre and have all the land left.

Page 6 text:

This year the Court House lawn is lighted with the one-hundred candles shining to celebrate our 100 years of Progress. Our city started in 1854 with only one candle. Each year as our city grew a new candle was added. These are significant of the foresight of the early Pioneers and their hard work as well as co-operation to fulfill their dreams of a growing community. A community that we can all l e proud to lie a part of. This past century we have grown from a tiny scattered village protected only by the Block House shown above into a thriving modern town. Today we are result of the hope and vision of our forefathers. We have survived the early hardships: the drouth, the fire, depression; and faced the new century with a grim determination to carry forward in the same stern pattern set by those who blazed the trail one-hundred years ago. With this Centennial Celebration begins a new era, a new century. Each day in this new century brings an opportunity for progress and advancement. We are proud of our “firsts.” A number of churches were organized, the Methodist being first in the state. Our own High School has the distinction of being the first west of the Missouri. Our Courthouse is the oldest building in use in the state. The first newspaper moved from Bellevue to Nebraska City passed the Century mark last November.

Page 8 text:

HE GREAT PONTOON DRAWBRIDGE By act of the territorial legislature in Omaha on March 2, 1855, Nebraska City was- duly incorporated and declared to he the seat of justice of Otoe County. Final organization was completed in May of the same year when Dr. Henry Bradford was elected Mayor. The Treaty of 1857 w-ith the Pawnee Indians was another important event in forming a peace growing community. It was one of the most important of all agreements with the Red Man. and was signed on September 25 of 1857, at Table Creek which was another name for Nebraska City, both were signed and celebrated by the original settlers at a point two miles northwest of town. ■3) 1 Before 1867 the only transportation to Nebraska City was by boat, but in 1867, the Pontoon Bridge was built and used until the Burlington Bridge was built in 1888. It was this year of 1888 that the Burlington finished its sturdy structure across the river. The opening was another big day for Nebraska City for it ended train ferries and the Pontoon Bridge and the precarious business of transferring passengers from an Iowa railroad to Nebraska City. In 1980. the present municipally-owned highway bridge situated close to the Burlington’s structure was completed and, once more, opened with public celebration although it, too, is a toll structure. Eventually we will have another celebration, that of a free bridge after one-hundred years of toll. In 1873, through the action of the State Board of Agriculture and the direct efforts of J. Sterling Morton the “Author” of the Great Idea, one day in each year was set apart as a perpetual “Arbor Day,” to be devoted throughout the state to the planting of shade and fruit trees. Prior to this, attention had been centered on the idea iii Otoe county, but the state’s action gave great impetus to the movement. So Mr. Morton’s birthday, April 22, was named as “Arbor Day,” and has been observed diligently ever since. Notably, Arbor Day is a tree-planting occasion in every state and in many foreign countries. Mr. Joy Morton, the eldest son of the founder, was present in China when Dr. Sun. founder of the Republic, planted a tree in J. Sterling Morton’s honor on the Imperial Palace grounds.