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Nebraska Timeline History

Homesteaders in central Nebraska in 1886

1541: Explorers claimed Nebraska for Spain

1682: French explorer Robert Cavelier claimed Nebraska for France

1803: U.S. acquired Nebraska from France in the Louisiana Purchase

1804: Lewis and Clark traveled up the Missouri River

1819: U.S. Army established Fort Atkinson, Nebraska's first military post

1823: First permanent white settlement built at Bellevue

1833: U.S. government purchased the Pawnee Indian lands, south of the Platte River

1840s: Settlers by the tens of thousands traveled across the state, following the Oregon Trail

1854: Nebraska Territory organized

1862: The Homestead Act encouraged new settlers from the east into Nebraska

1867: Nebraska became a state

1868: Lincoln replaced Omaha as the state capitol

1877: The famed Indian warrior Crazy Horse surrendered, along with 1,000 of his followers near Camp Robinson. He was later killed

1898: The Mississippi International Exposition opened in Omaha

1939: Petroleum discovered in southeastern Nebraska

1942: Kingsley Dam completed, creating Lake McConaughy

1948: U.S. Strategic Air Commnad opened near Omaha

1992: The state began prohibiting large corporations from buying farmland