It was on this day in 1867 that the great state of Nebraska was admitted to the Union, becoming our 37th state! Nebraska is the 16th largest state by land area and the 7th least densely populated. Indigenous peoples lived in present-day Nebraska for thousands of years before European colonization. The area wasn’t settled until 1848 and the California Gold Rush. The U.S. Congress created the Kansas and Nebraska territories in 1854, and in the 1860s the region experienced a population boom with the passage of the Homestead Act, which brought thousands of settlers to claim free land granted by the federal government.
Arbor Day was founded in Nebraska City, where it is still headquartered. The first Arbor Day was celebrated in 1854 with more than a million trees planted in Nebraska. Things invented in Nebraska include Kool-Aid, CliffsNotes, and the Vise-Grip.
The world’s largest train yard in is North Platte, Nebraska. Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard is large enough to hold 2,155 football fields and an average of 139 trains and 14,000 railroad cars pass through every day.
The University of Nebraska State Museum is home to the biggest mammoth on display anywhere in the world. Named Archie, the 14-foot fossil was found by a rancher in 1922. And you can see Roy Roger’s faithful horse Trigger at RFD-TV in Omaha. Trigger died of natural causes in 1965 but was stuffed and mounted and displayed at the Roy Rogers and Dale Evans Museum in Branson. In 2010, Trigger was auctioned for $266,500. RFD-TV uses Trigger for promotional purposes, along with Rogers’ dog Bullet.
Famous Nebraskans include: Fred Astaire, Marlon Brando, Johnny Carson, Gerald Ford, Nick Nolte, and Hilary Swank. Learn more here.