Nebraska

Nebraska is a Great Plains state of the United States. Nebraska gets its name from a Native American (Oto) word meaning "flat water", after the Platte River that flows through the state. Once considered part of the Great American Desert, it is now a leading farming state. Nebraskans have practiced scientific farming to turn the Nebraska prairie into a land of ranches and farms. Much of the history of the state is the story of the impact of the Nebraska farmer.

History

The Kansas-Nebraska Act became law on May 30, 1854; it established the U.S. territories of Nebraska and Kansas. The territorial capital of Nebraska was Omaha.

Related Topics:
Kansas-Nebraska Act - May 30 - 1854 - U.S. territories - Kansas - Omaha

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In the 1860s, the first great wave of homesteaders poured into Nebraska to claim free land granted by the federal government.

Related Topics:
1860s - Homesteader

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Many of the first farm settlers built their homes out of sod because they found so few trees on the grassy land.

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Nebraska became the 37th state in 1867, shortly after the Civil War. At that time, the capital was moved from Omaha to Lancaster, later renamed Lincoln after the recently assassinated President Abraham Lincoln.

Related Topics:
1867 - Civil War - Omaha - Lincoln - President - Abraham Lincoln

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Arbor Day began in Nebraska, and the National Arbor Day Foundation is still headquartered in Nebraska City.

Related Topics:
Arbor Day - National Arbor Day Foundation - Nebraska City

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Prohibition in the U.S. was adopted in 1918, with Nebraska as the thirty-sixth state necessary to make the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution http://www.rootsweb.com/~neresour/OLLibrary/Journals/HPR/Vol06/nhrv06pc.html.

Related Topics:
Prohibition - Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution

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"Rural flight"

Nebraska, in common with five other Midwest states (Kansas, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, and Iowa), has experienced a decades-long population decline in rural areas. Eighty-nine percent of the cities in those states have fewer than 3000 people; hundreds have fewer than 1000. Between 1996 and 2004, almost half a million people, nearly half with college degrees, left the six states. "Rural flight", as it is called, has led to offers of free land and tax breaks as enticements to newcomers. As an example in Nebraska, Monowi, which in the 1930s had a population of 150, now has a population of one (as of 2005).

Related Topics:
Kansas - Oklahoma - North - South Dakota - Iowa - Rural flight - Monowi - As of 2005

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