Important Dates in Nebraska

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Important Dates in Nebraska

1682 Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, claimed the region drained by the Mississippi, including present-day Nebraska, for France.

1714 Étienne Veniard de Bourgmont traveled up the Missouri River to the mouth of the Platte River.
1720 The Pawnee Indians defeated Spanish forces under Pedro de Villasur along the Platte River.
1739 Pierre and Paul Mallet were probably the first whites to cross Nebraska.
1762 France gave the Louisiana Territory to Spain.

1800 Spain returned Louisiana to France.
1803 The United States bought the Louisiana Territory, including Nebraska, from France.
1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark traveled up the Missouri River and explored eastern Nebraska.
1806 Zebulon M. Pike visited south-central Nebraska.
1813 Robert Stuart and his party followed the North Platte and Platte rivers across Nebraska.
1819 The U.S. Army established Fort Atkinson.
~1823 The first permanent settlement in Nebraska was established at Bellevue.
1843 The "Great Migration" began through Nebraska along the Oregon Trail to the West.
1854 Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, creating the Nebraska Territory.
1863 One of the first free homesteads was claimed by Daniel Freeman near Beatrice.
1865 The Union Pacific Railroad began building its line west from Omaha.
1867 Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1.
1872 The first Arbor Day was celebrated at Nebraska City.
1874-1877 Vast swarms of grasshoppers invaded the Nebraska farmlands and damaged crops badly.
1877 Chief Crazy Horse surrendered to the U.S. Army at Fort Robinson.
1883 Buffalo Bill organized his Wild West Show at his ranch near North Platte.

1905 The North Platte River Project was begun to irrigate 165,000 acres in western Nebraska.
1932 The state capitol in Lincoln was completed.
1934 The unicameral legislature was adopted in 1934.

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SKC Films Library >> Nebraska

This page was last updated on July 07, 2018.