Hello Everyone,
Since the early days of our country, the drive to “Go West Young Men and Women” to explore and settle undiscovered land has been the dream of many. In 1862, the passage of the Homestead Act had a tremendous impact on our nation and the world. Visitors to the Homestead National Monument of America, located four miles from Beatrice, Nebraska, can explore this heritage by touring its Heritage Center, the Palmer-Epard Cabin, the Freeman School, and the Education Center. Hikers find three miles of trails winding through a 100-acre tallgrass prairie. Afterwards, you can tour Beatrice’s Gage County Museum which brings this small town to life.
A LITTLE HISTORY
Thomas Jefferson was the first to explore the idea of settling the western lands of our country. From May 1804 to September 1806, he sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to map a route from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.
During the 1850's, Congress attempted to pass the Homestead Act four times. The South’s representatives denied its passage three times. The Speaker of the House between 1861 and 1863, Galusha A. Grow, buoyed by support from Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, tried again in 1860. Congress passed it. However, President Buchanan vetoed the legislation due to pressure from regional groups.
Southerners were fearful of agricultural competition from those settling the west and also of skewing the balance toward “free” states. It was only in 1862, after the South had seceded from the nation, that Abraham Lincoln was able to finally pass this law.
Lincoln also signed three other bills and one proclamation as part of his “Western New Deal.” On May 15, 1862, the Department of Agriculture Act established the Department of Agriculture. It was to be an agency that promoted farming and carried agricultural technology west. The Pacific Railway Act, dated July 1, 1862, created the transcontinental railroad linking the east and west coasts.
The Morrill Act of July 2, 1862 established land grant colleges. It did this by granting states title to various lands to sell so they could build agricultural and technical colleges. Iowa State University was the first of these followed by the University of Nebraska and Louisiana State University. Finally, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which abolished slavery and paved the way for African Americans to become citizens with the passage of the 14th amendment to the Constitution.
WHAT WAS THE HOMESTEAD ACT
The act granted 160 acres to a homesteader who was either the head of a household or at least 21 years of age. Settlers from all walks of life including single women, immigrants who promised to become citizens, and African- Americans were allowed to participate. Interested persons paid an initial filing fee at the nearest Land Office of $6 to $18 to claim the land temporarily in addition to a $2 commission to the land agent. Each homesteader was to live on the land, build a home, make improvements, and farm for five years before they became eligible to assume full title. After meeting all requirements, the homesteader found two people who were willing to vouch for him about the land improvements by signing a “proof” document. Upon payment of a $6 fee, the homesteader received the land patent.
Approximately three million claims were made for homesteading with up to 64% being successful. Thirty states participated.
Nebraska had the most acres with 45% of its lands distributed under the Act. The Homestead Act was responsible for the establishment of 105,000 farms which turned Nebraska from “the Great Desert” into an agricultural state. This caused a rapid increase in Nebraska’s population, enabling the state to become the first one admitted to the Union after the Civil War.
North Dakota came in second with homestead claims at 39%, Montana at 35%, Oklahoma at 34%, Colorado at 33%, and South Dakota at 32%. Even Florida at 10% and Arizona at 6% had lands settled by homesteading.
Between 1911 and 1920, the number increased to 439,710 claims, the most on record for any period. During the 1920's, the number dropped to 161,896. The passage of the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934 substantially decreased the amount of land available to homesteaders in the West resulting in a massive decline of successful homestead claims to 40,211.
The Homestead Act remained in effect until it was repealed in 1976. The state of Alaska was given a ten-year extension for homesteading until 1986. Approximately 270 million acres or roughly 10 percent of the land in the United States was turned over to its citizens.
The Act did have many benefits. It encouraged the growth of agricultural technology and the development of the West. Farms became linked to factories. Since farmers needed machinery and equipment, their purchase provided industry the capital to operate. Both became increasingly dependent on each other. Women were provided the opportunity to own land 58 years before they were allowed to vote.
Immigrants sought new lives in America seeking unlimited resources, independence, and a chance for a free education. During the first half of 1862, 25,000 European immigrants, mostly Germans, crossed the Atlantic. By 1900, over two million relocated to the Great Plains from numerous European countries. Some opposed these legal immigrants as uneconomic and un-American.
Not all, however, were for the Act. In some states, such as the Dakotas and Oklahoma, there was a direct relationship to Native Americans and their way of life. Loss of employees was a major concern for Northern industrialists and Southern agricultural leaders.
INFLUENCING AFRICAN-AMERICANS
After the Reconstruction, thousands of African-Americans made their way from Louisiana to Kansas and other Western states. This allowed them to escape the oppression of the South and own their own farmland.
A popular movement sprang from nowhere in 1874. In May 1875, a “colored people’s convention” was held in Nashville. Many town promoters including Benjamin “Pop” Singleton used the convention as a way to encourage people to migrate to Kansas. They formed a board of commissioners to facilitate the move stipulating that $1,000 was necessary per family to relocate. Few had these funds available but were determined to leave anyway. Promoters like Singleton acted as “conductors” to lead these families to Kansas. In 1879, an exodus of Black migration occurred which became known as the “Great Exodus” and those participating called “exodusters.”
Another factor was the 1878 elections in the state of Louisiana in which the Democrat Party made major gains taking several congressional seats and the governorship. Freed Blacks, largely Republican supporters, were threatened, assaulted, and murdered to keep them away from voting. When the Democrats claimed almost total victory, the Blacks knew it was time to leave and head for Kansas.
Approximately 6,000 African-Americans, primarily from Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, moved to Kansas. One town they founded was Nicodemus, Kansas which in 1878 boasted of 600 residents. Nicodemus is still the oldest and only remaining African-American town west of the Mississippi River. Established after the Civil War, it’s now a national historic site.
Many arrived in St. Louis by steamboat. However, they were so poor that they lacked the funds to feed themselves or their families. Local sources such as the St. Louis clergy and businesses, as well as sympathizers from Ohio to Iowa, collected food and funds. However, homelessness was a major problem. Some Black leaders such as Frederick Douglas spoke out against the migration wanting to give democracy a chance. Because of earlier migrations and the “Great Exodus,” Kansas gained nearly 27,000 African-American residents by the end of 1879. The state had 25% of its lands settled by homesteaders.
THE FIRST HOMESTEADER
Daniel Freeman (1826-1908) came to Nebraska from Ohio. He filed the first homestead claim on January 1, 1863 in the Brownsville, Nebraska land office. That was the first day the law went into effect. Legend has it that he filed 10 minutes after midnight. He started with 160 acres, eventually amassed more than 1,000 acres, and became a leading citizen of Gage County. He and his tenant farmers planted corn, wheat, and oats and had orchards of apple and peach trees.
The family built a variety of structures on the land but none exist today. The last home was lived in by Freeman’s daughter, Agnes Freeman Quackenbush, until close to her death in 1931.
HOW THE MONUMENT DEVELOPED.
In 1884, Daniel Freeman first proposed memorializing himself as the earliest homesteader. Beatrice residents, shortly after Freeman’s death in 1908, talked of preserving his homestead as a national park. These proposals were rejected until the mid 1920's when Nebraska Senator George W. Norris had an idea. He suggested a historical museum housing agricultural implements be established on the Freeman property.
Beatrice citizens in 1934 organized the National Homestead Park Association. In 1935, Norris and congressman Henry C. Luckey of Lincoln sponsored legislation to create the park. It became law in March 1936 under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but funding was not obtained until March 1938.
In the 1950s, the National Park Service (NPS) acquired, with the help of the Beatrice Chamber of Commerce, the Palmer-Epard cabin and built a visitor center. In 1962, the NPS opened a new visitor center. They also established a small museum to display artifacts donated by the Gage County Historical Society. By the 1990's, the NPS extended the story beyond Nebraska to other portions of the country.
In May 2007, under superintendent Mark Engler, a Beatrice native, the Homestead Heritage Center was dedicated. The “Living Wall” at this building’s entrance has outlines of each state where homesteading occurred. The cutouts in each state represent the percentage of land successfully homesteaded. The building looks like a plow cutting sod. Its roof purposely points west.
In June 2019, it was announced that Nebraska U.S. Senators Ben Sasse and Deb Fischer have announced legislation to rename Homestead National Monument of America to Homestead National Historical Park. This has been approved by the Friends of Homestead National Monument; Mark Engler, the Superintendent of the Homestead National Monument of America; and the National Park Service.
EDUCATION CENTER
The Education Center near the Freeman School hosts many temporary exhibits. Living history takes place daily during the summer with such demonstrations as corn husking and soap making. In their multi purpose room, they hold over 200 events and performances annually. For youngsters at a distance, the monument talks digitally to students all over the country.
You can explore the agricultural museum at the Education Center loaded with tools, farm machinery, and buggies that the homesteaders would have used. Watch videos about sod cutters and harvesting corn and grain.
Two inventions in the 1830's revolutionized agriculture. In 1831, Cyrus McCormick invented the first horse-drawn reaper. It could do the work of four or five men with cradles and helped to launch the grain industry of the West.
In 1837, John Deere, a blacksmith, developed a steel plow that was able to break the tough prairie sod. The Center also displays his wheat binder with its original canvas and conveyors intact. He became known for giving out promotional items to advertise his wares.
You’ll also see a feed grinder. Grain poured into the cast iron hopper was ground into animal feed by a series of gears and teeth. Power was provided by attaching a horse to the end of its 14-foot swing bar.
Look for the late 1800's two-seater buggy that few homesteaders could afford. Usually a set of matched ponies pulled it.
Hikers can leave from here to enjoy a nearly three-mile trail system winding through the 100-acre tallgrass prairie and bur oak woodland surrounding Cub Creek. The monument’s 100 acres of tallgrass prairie have been restored to bring back the plants and animals once covering the central plains. It is the oldest prairie restoration in the national park system and second oldest in the nation. The state of Nebraska has designated this prairie as a Watchable Wildlife area.
FREEMAN SCHOOL
Providing a proper education by building a school was vital to homesteaders. The Freeman School, a historic one-room school, is located near the Education Center. Officially known as school District Number 21, it served that purpose from 1872 until 1967. One of Nebraska’s oldest continuously operating schools, it became part of the monument in 1972.
It also served as a meeting place for First Trinity Lutheran Church, a polling place for Blakely Township, and a community gathering place where debates, socials, and club events were held. Whether it received its name from Daniel Freeman or Thomas Freeman, who supplied the bricks for the building, is uncertain.
It has been restored by the National Park Service to look much as it did in the 1870's. You will see a teacher’s desk as well as those of students, which were shipped from Indiana. Since books in 1872 were a rarity, students usually supplied them. The Family Bible was often the text used. In 1881, the Freeman School did supply textbooks ten years before the Nebraska legislature required them to do so. Teachers received meager pay with many housed and fed by students’ families as a large portion of their salaries.
An important legal case regarding the separation of church and state took place in Nebraska in 1902 involving this school. Starting in 1899, Daniel Freeman objected to a teacher, Edith Beecher, using the Bible for short Bible readings during the day while teaching at the school. Freeman had children at the school and requested that she stop. When she refused, he went to the school board who defended her actions. They said Freeman was objectionable in hounding teachers and interfering with school board affairs.
Freeman then took his case to the Gage County District Court, who again sided with Miss Beecher. He appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court. The case was known as Daniel Freeman versus John Scheve, Et. Al. Scheve was an officer of the school board. The case was decided in favor of Freeman on October 9, 1902. The ruling stated the Nebraska Constitution’s provisions regarding the separation of church and state applied to education. This was years before the United States Supreme Court addressed this issue.
The Freeman school is located a quarter mile from the Homestead National Monument of America Visitor Center on State Highway 4. During the summer, it is open during the afternoon. For other months, contact the Rangers that you want to visit the Freeman School, and they will open it for you. You may visit its grounds any time.
THE HOMESTEAD HERITAGE CENTER
This Center is one of the newest of the national park system. Start your visit by watching the 23-minute film “Land of Dreams-Homesteading America” which provides excellent insight into what homesteading was all about including its impact on the United States and the world. It contains interviews of homesteaders, Native Americans, and African-Americans.
The collection of more than 500,000 artifacts and archival materials is displayed and stored at this visitor center representing the period from 1862 to 1890. State-of-the-art exhibits fulfill the monument’s purpose of exposing visitors to the entire scope and diversity of homesteading throughout the nation from its 19th century origins to today.
Exhibits cover such topics as the Act’s influence on immigration, agriculture, industrialization, Native Americans, the tallgrass prairie ecosystem, and Federal land policies. They have an excellent display about the different types of barbed wire. Some displays are interactive.
You can also use one of their computers to research homestead records. Since 93 million Americans have ancestors who homesteaded, it’s a great way to do genealogy.
Look for the Center’s Monitor Vaneless windmill. Its head is original but the tower was constructed in 2007 for the display. Look for the signboards explaining the various parts of windmills, how they work, why they were so important to homesteaders, and about modern innovations like wind turbines. Windmills were vital for irrigating the farmlands.
This windmill was the first sold by the Baker Manufacturing Company of Evansville, Wisconsin. It came in 10-foot and 12-foot models. The first was produced in 1875 and by 1879 Baker was producing up to 70 windmills a month. The company remains in existence. However, the last wooden Monitor Vaneless windmills were produced in the early 1940s.
Learn how difficult life was for the homesteaders. Sod house cleaning was never ending. Women cooked and canned and patched and sewed clothing. Tornadoes, hailstorms, prairie fires, drought, and grasshopper invasions greatly interfered with the growing of crops. Neighbors became important since loneliness was an issue. People came together to build their towns as they founded churches and opened grocery stores, social halls, and barber shops. Eventually, they found the kind of communal life they had left behind in the East.
THE LAST HOMESTEADER
You will also learn about the last person to receive a homesteading permit. It was Ken Deardorff who lived near Palmer, Alaska on the banks of the Stony River. He filed in 1974, receiving title to the land in 1988. Deardorff was a Viet Nam veteran and native Californian. He and his family lived on the property and worked the land over the next ten years, constructing all the buildings on the property from white spruce trees. He fished for salmon and hunted moose and other game for food. Transportation was either by boat or dog team. He sold the land in 1993.
On display is his 1945 Allis-Chalmers Model C Tractor. He purchased the tractor in 1976 to pull hundreds of tree stumps from the ground in order to clear his 80-acre homestead for his farming plot. The tractor was retrieved by the Monument in 2017. It was lifted out of the Alaska woods by helicopter, traveled by ship to Washington, then transported by truck to Nebraska. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Tractor Club cleaned and restored it for an exhibition.
PALMER-EPARD CABIN
You can see the Palmer-Epard cabin from the Heritage Center patio. It was built in 1867 by George W. Palmer from mixed hardwoods. Most homesteaders lived in sod houses or hillside dugouts since wood was scarce or very expensive. The cabin was originally located about 14 miles northeast of the monument. Palmer lived in the 14x16-foot cabin with his wife and 10 children. Between 1875 and 1880, they added a 10x12-foot lean-to.
The family sold the cabin to their nephews in 1895. A few years later, the farm was sold to Lawrence and Ida Mumford Epard, who lived in the cabin for nearly 40 years. It was donated to the park service in 1950 and has been moved and restored several times. You can visit this cabin as its door is kept open.
DETAILS
The Homestead National Monument of America is open daily, year round, except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and January 1. The trail system and parking lot are open from dawn to dusk each day the park is open. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Heritage and Education Center are open from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. During the rest of the year, the hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Monument has no admission fee. A picnic area is near the Education Center and on the Heritage Center patio with restaurants and lodging in Beatrice. Phones, restrooms, and gift shops are found at both Centers.
Annual celebrations include a fiddle festival in May, demonstrations of farm equipment and Homestead Days in June with living history and art, and a Festival of Prairie Cultures in December. During the summer, ranger-conducted programs take place for children on Saturday and adults on Sunday. They offer a Junior Ranger program and a Not-So-Junior Ranger program.
Homestead National Monument of America is located at 8523 W. State Highway 4. Its phone number is (402) 223-3514.
GAGE COUNTY MUSEUM
This small museum, which started in 1973, has some surprising exhibits on its famous people, historic buildings, industries, railroads, and medical and agricultural history of Gage County. Visit the restored 1906 CB&Q caboose. Learn about the Gage County Classic Film Institute holding annual film events honoring the many involved with the entertainment industry from this county.
Beatrice once had three railroads serving it. The museum is located in the town’s 1906 Burlington Passenger Train Station. It was the first depot done in Neo-Classical Revival architectural style for the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad. It was used strictly as a passenger station until 1962 . The depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Beatrice, the county seat, was founded in 1857 by a group of pioneers from St. Louis. While traveling aboard a steamer up the Missouri River, they formed a committee to explore Nebraska for a town site. They constructed the first building, Pap Towle’s cabin, on the site where the Gage County Museum is now. The town was named after the eldest daughter of Judge J. F. Kinney, president of the Nebraska Association.
You can view exhibits on many of the town’s famous entertainers. One of the best known is Robert Taylor whose real name was Spangler Arlington Brugh (1911-1969). He was in more than 80 movies and was well known on television where he starred in the series The Detectives. He took over hosting of the series Death Valley Days when Ronald Reagan entered politics. He was born in Filley, Nebraska but moved to Beatrice for 16 years with his family in 1917. You can learn about his life and see some of his movie posters at this museum.
John P. Fulton, a Beatrice native, was an American movie special effects supervisor. He is probably best known for his parting of the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments. He was also well known for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock and a number of monster movies.
Gene L. Coon, an American screenwriter is best remembered for the original Star Trek series. He created the Klingons and the Prime Directive. He also wrote for Bonanza, Dragnet, Wagon Train, the Wild, Wild West, and other television shows. He was born in Beatrice but moved to Glendale, California where he graduated from high school.
Harold Lloyd was a famous silent screen actor and director. He acted in over 200 films and produced a dozen more, doing all of his own stunts until 1947. He was regarded as one of the great comedians in the 1920s of silent films. He moved to Beatrice when he was ten.
You can see displays about some of the town’s industries. Kees Manufacturing Company, founded in 1874, is the oldest metal manufacturing company in Nebraska. Starting as a gunsmith and owner of a hardware store, F. D. Kees turned to manufacturing corn husking hooks, roller and ice skates, lawn tools, and trellises.
Windmills were essential for homesteaders. Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company began manufacturing its own windmills and pumps in 1885. They later made Dempster gasoline engines. The firm now makes fertilizer spreaders and trailers for recycling bins.
Beatrice Canning Company organized in 1883. It later operated under the name Lang Canning and Preservation Company. The company canned corn, beans, apples, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins. It produced 40,000 canned products a day of produce raised in Gage County. It prospered until the drought and financial panic of the 1890's caused crops and businesses to fail. The company ceased operation in the 1920s due to cost and lack of produce being grown.
Beatrice Foods, which became a conglomerate, began as Beatrice Creamery. The agricultural history includes the Luebben Baler, the prototype of the present day round balers.
The museum also relates the town’s military history from the Spanish American War to the present. They show a timeline of service here and overseas of their National Guard company, Troop C, which has served in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The Beatrice Steel Tank Manufacturing Company made sheet steel equipment in conjunction with farm work, oil storage, and irrigation and drainage projects. The firm was active as part of the Hoover Group, Inc. in World War II. They made missile containers, depth charges, and powder tanks, receiving six Navy E awards for the production of war ordnance. These items are on exhibit.
One display is about Clara Bewick Colby who was a suffragette and founded the Women’s Tribune. It was the official voice for the National Women’s Suffragette Association. Another, on rural electrification of the area, exhibits a wind turbine.
They have one room dedicated to medical exhibits. You can see an iron lung, wheelchair, uniforms, a dental office, and a surgical bay. Beatrice was a forerunner of x-ray technology in the United States. Dating from 1900, one of the earliest x-ray machines in Nebraska is displayed. It was used by Dr. C. W. Thomas of Wymore, Nebraska as late as 1945 in obstetrics.
This summer the museum debuts its latest temporary exhibition, "Inspiration and Innovation in the Queen City." Explore the stories of some of Gage County's early innovators and their contributions to Beatrice, their failures and successes, and the unconventional ideas that helped to shape a community. The exhibition runs through September 30th.
DETAILS
Gage County Museum is located at 101 N. 2nd Street in Beatrice. Their telephone number is (402) 228-1679. From April 1 to September 30. the hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is free with tours by appointment. The rest of the year they are open Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Since the early days of our country, the drive to “Go West Young Men and Women” to explore and settle undiscovered land has been the dream of many. In 1862, the passage of the Homestead Act had a tremendous impact on our nation and the world. Visitors to the Homestead National Monument of America, located four miles from Beatrice, Nebraska, can explore this heritage by touring its Heritage Center, the Palmer-Epard Cabin, the Freeman School, and the Education Center. Hikers find three miles of trails winding through a 100-acre tallgrass prairie. Afterwards, you can tour Beatrice’s Gage County Museum which brings this small town to life.
A LITTLE HISTORY
Thomas Jefferson was the first to explore the idea of settling the western lands of our country. From May 1804 to September 1806, he sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to map a route from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean.
During the 1850's, Congress attempted to pass the Homestead Act four times. The South’s representatives denied its passage three times. The Speaker of the House between 1861 and 1863, Galusha A. Grow, buoyed by support from Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, tried again in 1860. Congress passed it. However, President Buchanan vetoed the legislation due to pressure from regional groups.
Southerners were fearful of agricultural competition from those settling the west and also of skewing the balance toward “free” states. It was only in 1862, after the South had seceded from the nation, that Abraham Lincoln was able to finally pass this law.
Lincoln also signed three other bills and one proclamation as part of his “Western New Deal.” On May 15, 1862, the Department of Agriculture Act established the Department of Agriculture. It was to be an agency that promoted farming and carried agricultural technology west. The Pacific Railway Act, dated July 1, 1862, created the transcontinental railroad linking the east and west coasts.
The Morrill Act of July 2, 1862 established land grant colleges. It did this by granting states title to various lands to sell so they could build agricultural and technical colleges. Iowa State University was the first of these followed by the University of Nebraska and Louisiana State University. Finally, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation which abolished slavery and paved the way for African Americans to become citizens with the passage of the 14th amendment to the Constitution.
WHAT WAS THE HOMESTEAD ACT
The act granted 160 acres to a homesteader who was either the head of a household or at least 21 years of age. Settlers from all walks of life including single women, immigrants who promised to become citizens, and African- Americans were allowed to participate. Interested persons paid an initial filing fee at the nearest Land Office of $6 to $18 to claim the land temporarily in addition to a $2 commission to the land agent. Each homesteader was to live on the land, build a home, make improvements, and farm for five years before they became eligible to assume full title. After meeting all requirements, the homesteader found two people who were willing to vouch for him about the land improvements by signing a “proof” document. Upon payment of a $6 fee, the homesteader received the land patent.
Approximately three million claims were made for homesteading with up to 64% being successful. Thirty states participated.
Nebraska had the most acres with 45% of its lands distributed under the Act. The Homestead Act was responsible for the establishment of 105,000 farms which turned Nebraska from “the Great Desert” into an agricultural state. This caused a rapid increase in Nebraska’s population, enabling the state to become the first one admitted to the Union after the Civil War.
North Dakota came in second with homestead claims at 39%, Montana at 35%, Oklahoma at 34%, Colorado at 33%, and South Dakota at 32%. Even Florida at 10% and Arizona at 6% had lands settled by homesteading.
Between 1911 and 1920, the number increased to 439,710 claims, the most on record for any period. During the 1920's, the number dropped to 161,896. The passage of the Taylor Grazing Act in 1934 substantially decreased the amount of land available to homesteaders in the West resulting in a massive decline of successful homestead claims to 40,211.
The Homestead Act remained in effect until it was repealed in 1976. The state of Alaska was given a ten-year extension for homesteading until 1986. Approximately 270 million acres or roughly 10 percent of the land in the United States was turned over to its citizens.
The Act did have many benefits. It encouraged the growth of agricultural technology and the development of the West. Farms became linked to factories. Since farmers needed machinery and equipment, their purchase provided industry the capital to operate. Both became increasingly dependent on each other. Women were provided the opportunity to own land 58 years before they were allowed to vote.
Immigrants sought new lives in America seeking unlimited resources, independence, and a chance for a free education. During the first half of 1862, 25,000 European immigrants, mostly Germans, crossed the Atlantic. By 1900, over two million relocated to the Great Plains from numerous European countries. Some opposed these legal immigrants as uneconomic and un-American.
Not all, however, were for the Act. In some states, such as the Dakotas and Oklahoma, there was a direct relationship to Native Americans and their way of life. Loss of employees was a major concern for Northern industrialists and Southern agricultural leaders.
INFLUENCING AFRICAN-AMERICANS
After the Reconstruction, thousands of African-Americans made their way from Louisiana to Kansas and other Western states. This allowed them to escape the oppression of the South and own their own farmland.
A popular movement sprang from nowhere in 1874. In May 1875, a “colored people’s convention” was held in Nashville. Many town promoters including Benjamin “Pop” Singleton used the convention as a way to encourage people to migrate to Kansas. They formed a board of commissioners to facilitate the move stipulating that $1,000 was necessary per family to relocate. Few had these funds available but were determined to leave anyway. Promoters like Singleton acted as “conductors” to lead these families to Kansas. In 1879, an exodus of Black migration occurred which became known as the “Great Exodus” and those participating called “exodusters.”
Another factor was the 1878 elections in the state of Louisiana in which the Democrat Party made major gains taking several congressional seats and the governorship. Freed Blacks, largely Republican supporters, were threatened, assaulted, and murdered to keep them away from voting. When the Democrats claimed almost total victory, the Blacks knew it was time to leave and head for Kansas.
Approximately 6,000 African-Americans, primarily from Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi, moved to Kansas. One town they founded was Nicodemus, Kansas which in 1878 boasted of 600 residents. Nicodemus is still the oldest and only remaining African-American town west of the Mississippi River. Established after the Civil War, it’s now a national historic site.
Many arrived in St. Louis by steamboat. However, they were so poor that they lacked the funds to feed themselves or their families. Local sources such as the St. Louis clergy and businesses, as well as sympathizers from Ohio to Iowa, collected food and funds. However, homelessness was a major problem. Some Black leaders such as Frederick Douglas spoke out against the migration wanting to give democracy a chance. Because of earlier migrations and the “Great Exodus,” Kansas gained nearly 27,000 African-American residents by the end of 1879. The state had 25% of its lands settled by homesteaders.
THE FIRST HOMESTEADER
Daniel Freeman (1826-1908) came to Nebraska from Ohio. He filed the first homestead claim on January 1, 1863 in the Brownsville, Nebraska land office. That was the first day the law went into effect. Legend has it that he filed 10 minutes after midnight. He started with 160 acres, eventually amassed more than 1,000 acres, and became a leading citizen of Gage County. He and his tenant farmers planted corn, wheat, and oats and had orchards of apple and peach trees.
The family built a variety of structures on the land but none exist today. The last home was lived in by Freeman’s daughter, Agnes Freeman Quackenbush, until close to her death in 1931.
HOW THE MONUMENT DEVELOPED.
In 1884, Daniel Freeman first proposed memorializing himself as the earliest homesteader. Beatrice residents, shortly after Freeman’s death in 1908, talked of preserving his homestead as a national park. These proposals were rejected until the mid 1920's when Nebraska Senator George W. Norris had an idea. He suggested a historical museum housing agricultural implements be established on the Freeman property.
Beatrice citizens in 1934 organized the National Homestead Park Association. In 1935, Norris and congressman Henry C. Luckey of Lincoln sponsored legislation to create the park. It became law in March 1936 under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but funding was not obtained until March 1938.
In the 1950s, the National Park Service (NPS) acquired, with the help of the Beatrice Chamber of Commerce, the Palmer-Epard cabin and built a visitor center. In 1962, the NPS opened a new visitor center. They also established a small museum to display artifacts donated by the Gage County Historical Society. By the 1990's, the NPS extended the story beyond Nebraska to other portions of the country.
In May 2007, under superintendent Mark Engler, a Beatrice native, the Homestead Heritage Center was dedicated. The “Living Wall” at this building’s entrance has outlines of each state where homesteading occurred. The cutouts in each state represent the percentage of land successfully homesteaded. The building looks like a plow cutting sod. Its roof purposely points west.
In June 2019, it was announced that Nebraska U.S. Senators Ben Sasse and Deb Fischer have announced legislation to rename Homestead National Monument of America to Homestead National Historical Park. This has been approved by the Friends of Homestead National Monument; Mark Engler, the Superintendent of the Homestead National Monument of America; and the National Park Service.
EDUCATION CENTER
The Education Center near the Freeman School hosts many temporary exhibits. Living history takes place daily during the summer with such demonstrations as corn husking and soap making. In their multi purpose room, they hold over 200 events and performances annually. For youngsters at a distance, the monument talks digitally to students all over the country.
You can explore the agricultural museum at the Education Center loaded with tools, farm machinery, and buggies that the homesteaders would have used. Watch videos about sod cutters and harvesting corn and grain.
Two inventions in the 1830's revolutionized agriculture. In 1831, Cyrus McCormick invented the first horse-drawn reaper. It could do the work of four or five men with cradles and helped to launch the grain industry of the West.
In 1837, John Deere, a blacksmith, developed a steel plow that was able to break the tough prairie sod. The Center also displays his wheat binder with its original canvas and conveyors intact. He became known for giving out promotional items to advertise his wares.
You’ll also see a feed grinder. Grain poured into the cast iron hopper was ground into animal feed by a series of gears and teeth. Power was provided by attaching a horse to the end of its 14-foot swing bar.
Look for the late 1800's two-seater buggy that few homesteaders could afford. Usually a set of matched ponies pulled it.
Hikers can leave from here to enjoy a nearly three-mile trail system winding through the 100-acre tallgrass prairie and bur oak woodland surrounding Cub Creek. The monument’s 100 acres of tallgrass prairie have been restored to bring back the plants and animals once covering the central plains. It is the oldest prairie restoration in the national park system and second oldest in the nation. The state of Nebraska has designated this prairie as a Watchable Wildlife area.
FREEMAN SCHOOL
Providing a proper education by building a school was vital to homesteaders. The Freeman School, a historic one-room school, is located near the Education Center. Officially known as school District Number 21, it served that purpose from 1872 until 1967. One of Nebraska’s oldest continuously operating schools, it became part of the monument in 1972.
It also served as a meeting place for First Trinity Lutheran Church, a polling place for Blakely Township, and a community gathering place where debates, socials, and club events were held. Whether it received its name from Daniel Freeman or Thomas Freeman, who supplied the bricks for the building, is uncertain.
It has been restored by the National Park Service to look much as it did in the 1870's. You will see a teacher’s desk as well as those of students, which were shipped from Indiana. Since books in 1872 were a rarity, students usually supplied them. The Family Bible was often the text used. In 1881, the Freeman School did supply textbooks ten years before the Nebraska legislature required them to do so. Teachers received meager pay with many housed and fed by students’ families as a large portion of their salaries.
An important legal case regarding the separation of church and state took place in Nebraska in 1902 involving this school. Starting in 1899, Daniel Freeman objected to a teacher, Edith Beecher, using the Bible for short Bible readings during the day while teaching at the school. Freeman had children at the school and requested that she stop. When she refused, he went to the school board who defended her actions. They said Freeman was objectionable in hounding teachers and interfering with school board affairs.
Freeman then took his case to the Gage County District Court, who again sided with Miss Beecher. He appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court. The case was known as Daniel Freeman versus John Scheve, Et. Al. Scheve was an officer of the school board. The case was decided in favor of Freeman on October 9, 1902. The ruling stated the Nebraska Constitution’s provisions regarding the separation of church and state applied to education. This was years before the United States Supreme Court addressed this issue.
The Freeman school is located a quarter mile from the Homestead National Monument of America Visitor Center on State Highway 4. During the summer, it is open during the afternoon. For other months, contact the Rangers that you want to visit the Freeman School, and they will open it for you. You may visit its grounds any time.
THE HOMESTEAD HERITAGE CENTER
This Center is one of the newest of the national park system. Start your visit by watching the 23-minute film “Land of Dreams-Homesteading America” which provides excellent insight into what homesteading was all about including its impact on the United States and the world. It contains interviews of homesteaders, Native Americans, and African-Americans.
The collection of more than 500,000 artifacts and archival materials is displayed and stored at this visitor center representing the period from 1862 to 1890. State-of-the-art exhibits fulfill the monument’s purpose of exposing visitors to the entire scope and diversity of homesteading throughout the nation from its 19th century origins to today.
Exhibits cover such topics as the Act’s influence on immigration, agriculture, industrialization, Native Americans, the tallgrass prairie ecosystem, and Federal land policies. They have an excellent display about the different types of barbed wire. Some displays are interactive.
You can also use one of their computers to research homestead records. Since 93 million Americans have ancestors who homesteaded, it’s a great way to do genealogy.
Look for the Center’s Monitor Vaneless windmill. Its head is original but the tower was constructed in 2007 for the display. Look for the signboards explaining the various parts of windmills, how they work, why they were so important to homesteaders, and about modern innovations like wind turbines. Windmills were vital for irrigating the farmlands.
This windmill was the first sold by the Baker Manufacturing Company of Evansville, Wisconsin. It came in 10-foot and 12-foot models. The first was produced in 1875 and by 1879 Baker was producing up to 70 windmills a month. The company remains in existence. However, the last wooden Monitor Vaneless windmills were produced in the early 1940s.
Learn how difficult life was for the homesteaders. Sod house cleaning was never ending. Women cooked and canned and patched and sewed clothing. Tornadoes, hailstorms, prairie fires, drought, and grasshopper invasions greatly interfered with the growing of crops. Neighbors became important since loneliness was an issue. People came together to build their towns as they founded churches and opened grocery stores, social halls, and barber shops. Eventually, they found the kind of communal life they had left behind in the East.
THE LAST HOMESTEADER
You will also learn about the last person to receive a homesteading permit. It was Ken Deardorff who lived near Palmer, Alaska on the banks of the Stony River. He filed in 1974, receiving title to the land in 1988. Deardorff was a Viet Nam veteran and native Californian. He and his family lived on the property and worked the land over the next ten years, constructing all the buildings on the property from white spruce trees. He fished for salmon and hunted moose and other game for food. Transportation was either by boat or dog team. He sold the land in 1993.
On display is his 1945 Allis-Chalmers Model C Tractor. He purchased the tractor in 1976 to pull hundreds of tree stumps from the ground in order to clear his 80-acre homestead for his farming plot. The tractor was retrieved by the Monument in 2017. It was lifted out of the Alaska woods by helicopter, traveled by ship to Washington, then transported by truck to Nebraska. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Tractor Club cleaned and restored it for an exhibition.
PALMER-EPARD CABIN
You can see the Palmer-Epard cabin from the Heritage Center patio. It was built in 1867 by George W. Palmer from mixed hardwoods. Most homesteaders lived in sod houses or hillside dugouts since wood was scarce or very expensive. The cabin was originally located about 14 miles northeast of the monument. Palmer lived in the 14x16-foot cabin with his wife and 10 children. Between 1875 and 1880, they added a 10x12-foot lean-to.
The family sold the cabin to their nephews in 1895. A few years later, the farm was sold to Lawrence and Ida Mumford Epard, who lived in the cabin for nearly 40 years. It was donated to the park service in 1950 and has been moved and restored several times. You can visit this cabin as its door is kept open.
DETAILS
The Homestead National Monument of America is open daily, year round, except Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and January 1. The trail system and parking lot are open from dawn to dusk each day the park is open. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, the Heritage and Education Center are open from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. During the rest of the year, the hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Monument has no admission fee. A picnic area is near the Education Center and on the Heritage Center patio with restaurants and lodging in Beatrice. Phones, restrooms, and gift shops are found at both Centers.
Annual celebrations include a fiddle festival in May, demonstrations of farm equipment and Homestead Days in June with living history and art, and a Festival of Prairie Cultures in December. During the summer, ranger-conducted programs take place for children on Saturday and adults on Sunday. They offer a Junior Ranger program and a Not-So-Junior Ranger program.
Homestead National Monument of America is located at 8523 W. State Highway 4. Its phone number is (402) 223-3514.
GAGE COUNTY MUSEUM
This small museum, which started in 1973, has some surprising exhibits on its famous people, historic buildings, industries, railroads, and medical and agricultural history of Gage County. Visit the restored 1906 CB&Q caboose. Learn about the Gage County Classic Film Institute holding annual film events honoring the many involved with the entertainment industry from this county.
Beatrice once had three railroads serving it. The museum is located in the town’s 1906 Burlington Passenger Train Station. It was the first depot done in Neo-Classical Revival architectural style for the Chicago Burlington and Quincy Railroad. It was used strictly as a passenger station until 1962 . The depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
Beatrice, the county seat, was founded in 1857 by a group of pioneers from St. Louis. While traveling aboard a steamer up the Missouri River, they formed a committee to explore Nebraska for a town site. They constructed the first building, Pap Towle’s cabin, on the site where the Gage County Museum is now. The town was named after the eldest daughter of Judge J. F. Kinney, president of the Nebraska Association.
You can view exhibits on many of the town’s famous entertainers. One of the best known is Robert Taylor whose real name was Spangler Arlington Brugh (1911-1969). He was in more than 80 movies and was well known on television where he starred in the series The Detectives. He took over hosting of the series Death Valley Days when Ronald Reagan entered politics. He was born in Filley, Nebraska but moved to Beatrice for 16 years with his family in 1917. You can learn about his life and see some of his movie posters at this museum.
John P. Fulton, a Beatrice native, was an American movie special effects supervisor. He is probably best known for his parting of the Red Sea in The Ten Commandments. He was also well known for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock and a number of monster movies.
Gene L. Coon, an American screenwriter is best remembered for the original Star Trek series. He created the Klingons and the Prime Directive. He also wrote for Bonanza, Dragnet, Wagon Train, the Wild, Wild West, and other television shows. He was born in Beatrice but moved to Glendale, California where he graduated from high school.
Harold Lloyd was a famous silent screen actor and director. He acted in over 200 films and produced a dozen more, doing all of his own stunts until 1947. He was regarded as one of the great comedians in the 1920s of silent films. He moved to Beatrice when he was ten.
You can see displays about some of the town’s industries. Kees Manufacturing Company, founded in 1874, is the oldest metal manufacturing company in Nebraska. Starting as a gunsmith and owner of a hardware store, F. D. Kees turned to manufacturing corn husking hooks, roller and ice skates, lawn tools, and trellises.
Windmills were essential for homesteaders. Dempster Mill Manufacturing Company began manufacturing its own windmills and pumps in 1885. They later made Dempster gasoline engines. The firm now makes fertilizer spreaders and trailers for recycling bins.
Beatrice Canning Company organized in 1883. It later operated under the name Lang Canning and Preservation Company. The company canned corn, beans, apples, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and pumpkins. It produced 40,000 canned products a day of produce raised in Gage County. It prospered until the drought and financial panic of the 1890's caused crops and businesses to fail. The company ceased operation in the 1920s due to cost and lack of produce being grown.
Beatrice Foods, which became a conglomerate, began as Beatrice Creamery. The agricultural history includes the Luebben Baler, the prototype of the present day round balers.
The museum also relates the town’s military history from the Spanish American War to the present. They show a timeline of service here and overseas of their National Guard company, Troop C, which has served in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
The Beatrice Steel Tank Manufacturing Company made sheet steel equipment in conjunction with farm work, oil storage, and irrigation and drainage projects. The firm was active as part of the Hoover Group, Inc. in World War II. They made missile containers, depth charges, and powder tanks, receiving six Navy E awards for the production of war ordnance. These items are on exhibit.
One display is about Clara Bewick Colby who was a suffragette and founded the Women’s Tribune. It was the official voice for the National Women’s Suffragette Association. Another, on rural electrification of the area, exhibits a wind turbine.
They have one room dedicated to medical exhibits. You can see an iron lung, wheelchair, uniforms, a dental office, and a surgical bay. Beatrice was a forerunner of x-ray technology in the United States. Dating from 1900, one of the earliest x-ray machines in Nebraska is displayed. It was used by Dr. C. W. Thomas of Wymore, Nebraska as late as 1945 in obstetrics.
This summer the museum debuts its latest temporary exhibition, "Inspiration and Innovation in the Queen City." Explore the stories of some of Gage County's early innovators and their contributions to Beatrice, their failures and successes, and the unconventional ideas that helped to shape a community. The exhibition runs through September 30th.
DETAILS
Gage County Museum is located at 101 N. 2nd Street in Beatrice. Their telephone number is (402) 228-1679. From April 1 to September 30. the hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Admission is free with tours by appointment. The rest of the year they are open Thursday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Education Center
McCormick Reaper at Education Center
Old Fashioned Washing Machine and a Feed Grinder
1800's Two Seater Buggy
Assortment of Steel Plows at Education Center
Freeman School
Freeman School Interior
The Homestead Heritage Center
Homestead Heritage Center Signage Depicting Homesteaded Area Of Each State
The Light Colored States Participated in Homesteading
Overall View of The Homestead Heritage Center
Display on Lifestyle of Homesteaders
Hand Tools of Homesteaders
Meeting the Daily Challenges
How Westward Expansion Was Legislated
Monitor Vaneless Windmill by Baker Manufacturing Company
Parts of a Windmill
Land Patent Granted to Ken Deardorff, the Last Homesteader
Deardorff's 1945 Allis-Chalmers Model C Tractor
Palmer-Epard Cabin
Gage County Museum
Movie Poster of One of Robert Taylor's Famous Films
Another Movie Poster of a Robert Taylor Film
Wind Turbine Manufactured by the Windcharger Corporation of Sioux City, Iowa
Display on Beatrice Canning Company
Steel Equipment The Beatrice Steel Tank Manufacturing Company Produced in World War II
Dental Office at Gage Museum
X-Ray Machine Dating from 1900