We spent the last week in Kearney, NE visiting family. Kearney
is easy to find; it is at the bottom of where the Platte dips south.
My parents
were both from Nebraska. We lived in south central Nebraska until we moved to
San Francisco when I was 10. My brother moved back after high school and my
parents moved back after my dad retired from the Coast Guard. I know many people consider Nebraska to be the
middle of nowhere, which would make Kearney the middle of the middle of nowhere,
but it is actually a great place to visit for anyone interested in American
history.
This week Mary and I went to the Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer in
Grand Island. I hadn’t been there since I was a kid. Some things I learned on
this trip
1.
The first African American to play football at
the University of Nebraska, George
Flippin was the son of a former slave who had become a physician. George
Flippin also became a physician and founded the first hospital in Stromsburg,
NE.
2.
The first “successful” sugar
beet processing plant in the U.S. was established in Grand Island in 1889.
Here
is a video that will give you an idea of how much there is to see at the
Stuhr Museum.
If you are in the area you can also go about ten miles south
of I 80 to Minden, NE and see Pioneer
Village. Here is a video
that gives a small sample of the things you can see at Pioneer Village.
If you are traveling through Nebraska either museum is worth
the detour.
If you are interested in the history of the Great Plains they are
worth a trip.
P.S. the "Kear" in Kearney is pronounced like "car."
P.S. the "Kear" in Kearney is pronounced like "car."