Nebraska Governor's Mansion

The authors of this work have undertaken the task of recording the history of Lincoln at this time, because they felt that it was a work that should be performed while it was still possible to get the facts from those who are personally cognizant of them. Even at this time, only twenty -two years away from the founding of the city, much difficulty has been experienced in getting the absolute facts of the early days ; and while great care has been taken to secure strict accuracy in all the features of this work, the authors cannot hope to have been entirely successful in their endeavor. But the volume is given to the public with the request that such credit be given to it as is due to work conscientiously and honestly performed. History is made rapidly in this representative city of a wonderfully developing State, and the authors of this work expect to continue in the future the work they have begun in the following pages. They therefore request all who read this volume to notify them of any inaccuracies that may be discovered in its pages, and to communicate to them any facts omitted herein and which would be of interest and value to the people of Lincoln and of the State as a part of the city's history. The authors desire to express their thanks to those persons who have generously assisted in the preparation of these pages, among whom may be mentioned Hon. C. H. Gere, Hon. John Gillespie, Col. Simon Benadom, Hon, Thomas Hyde, Hon. John S. Gregory, Major Bohanan, and others.

Passage source: History of the City of Lincoln, Nebraska; with Brief Historical Sketches of the State and of Lancaster County, published 1889.

The groM'th of Lincoln has been more remarkable than that of any other city in the AVest. It has no fuel, no mines, no water power, no remarkable natural advantages : and yet, on the spot where twentyone years ago the emigrant, in his lonely covered wagon, scared the timid antelope from its grassy couch, and scanned the horizon with anxious eye to see if he might discover the form of some Indian brave cutting its even line, fifty thousand busy people throng the streets of a great city; a city which reaches 200,000 square miles of territory, and 2,0(l(),0(K) people, by ten radiating lines of railroad which do a business of nearly a million tons per year, and give employment to 1,350 men; a city which is traversed by thirty-five miles of street railway, and has seven miles of paving, with as much more provided for; twenty miles of sewerage, twenty miles of water mains; a hundred jobbing houses and as many factories; four great State institu- tions, besides the Capitol ; three universities; a million dollars invested in church property; and hundreds of the finest residences in the State.

Passage source: History of the City of Lincoln, Nebraska; with Brief Historical Sketches of the State and of Lancaster County, published 1889.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Lincoln City - 290,606 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.