History
Minden, Nebraska is located in the center of Kearney County in the State of Nebraska within the heart of the Great Plains region of North America. Following the last Ice Age the Great Plains became treeless semi-arid grassland. The area in which Kearney County came to be established was, for about 400 years prior to the arrival of Europeans, home to the Pawnee Indians.
The first Europeans to actually set foot in Kearney County were fur trappers in the employ of the Astor Fur Company. In 1813 they traveled up the Platte to the Rocky Mountains and back again. The next occurrence of European travel through Kearney County was the men of the Yellowstone Expedition of 1819-1820 commanded by Major Stephen H. Long. The original purpose of this expedition was to sail up the Missouri River to establish military posts to protect the fur trade and to counteract the influence of the British to the north. When Congress reduced the expeditions funding, Long's instructions changed and he was directed to sail up the Platte toward the Rocky Mountains and return to the Mississippi via the Arkansas and Red Rivers.
Long used a steamboat which was built in the shape of a dragon. The idea was to impress the Indians along the way. The smoke from the boilers was directed through the mouth of the dragon on the front of the boat. Long's records indicate that an anchor was lost during the trip up the Platte. His journey was verified when the anchor was plowed up in a farm field in western Nebraska in the 1980's.
This first use of the Platte River by fur trappers and by Major Long demonstrated the role this region was to play in the opening, settlement, and subsequent exploitation of the region. Known today as the Great Platte River Road, with its adequate water and flat terrain the Platte Valley extended an inviting route to points west. The Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, Pony Express, Telegraph, Union Pacific railroad, Highway 30, Interstate 80, pipelines and fiber optic cables all utilized the Platte Valley.
The first wagon train to Oregon crossed Kearney County via the Platte Valley in 1832. Eventually known as the Oregon Trail, nearly all of the emigrants bound for Oregon and California traveled through the northern edge of Kearney County. It is difficult today to comprehend the traffic which moved over the Oregon Trail. During a six month period in 1849 more than thirty thousand people passed through Fort Kearny on their way to points west. By the first week of June, 1850 more than four thousand wagons were counted passing by the fort. Each wagon carried an average of four people.
Fort Kearny, located alongside the Oregon Trail in Kearney County, was established in 1848 to protect wagon trains passing through the area. The buildings were built out of wood, sod and adobe brick. Originally called Fort Childs the name was soon changed to Fort Kearny in honor of Colonel Steven Watts Kearny. Two companies of Infantry and one of Cavalry made up the original garrison at the fort.
On May 22, 1871 the War Department issued orders for the closure of Fort Kearny. The coming of the railroad and end to the Indian Wars made the services of the army no longer necessary.
The first settlements in Kearney County were made along the Platte Valley near Fort Kearny. Valley City was located about two miles north of Lowell on the Oregon Trail. Valley City had several stores and had daily mail service during the operation of the Overland Stage and Pony Express.
The most colorful early community in Kearney County was originally dubbed Kearny City, later named Adobe Town and then shortened to Dobytown. With no timber to be had all the buildings were built of adobe, hence the name. Dobytown was built just outside the Military Reservation two miles west of the fort. This community did business with travelers on the Oregon Trail and with the soldiers at the fort. At one time Dobytown had fourteen saloons and numerous houses of ill repute. The number of graves in the cemetery was said to have been far more numerous than the number of residents in the town. When the fort was closed and the Oregon Trail abandoned in favor of rail travel, the community of Dobytown dissolved. A historical marker signifies the location today.
Following the reception of a petition signed in 1872 by a number of Kearney County citizens, Governor W.H. James issued an order for an election to choose officers in anticipation of the permanent organization of the county. The first meeting of the duly elected commissioners was held in Lowell on July 13, 1872.
Following the election the county seat was moved to Lowell from Kearny City. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad arrived in Lowell in the summer of 1872. By this time most of the desirable river valley land had been taken therefore many new settlers sought land further south. The distance to Lowell from these new settlements soon became an impediment.
There soon arose a great demand to change the location of the county seat to a more central part of the county. A meeting was held at Fredericksburg on August 12, 1876 with the purpose of calling a special election so that the people could decide where the permanent county seat should be located. The location was held the following November and was easily won by those in favor of moving the county seat. Residents in Lowell and the valley were not amused.
A post office had been established in 1875 on a tract of land that was just west of what would become the town of Minden. The post office was operated by Frederick Bredemeier. He named his post office Minden after his home in Germany. A school and courthouse were soon built and the post office moved into town, but still the records remained in Lowell.
Eventually it became necessary for the residents of the central and southern parts of the county to travel to Lowell to physically remove the records and move the county seat. Upon arriving in Lowell they discovered a note tied to the door of the County Clerk's office. The note was from Mr. Kent saying his wife was ill with a contagious disease and that... "It would be dangerous for anyone to enter the office". Besides, the note continued, "there was no suitable place in the new town in which the records could be kept". The warning was ignored and the records were loaded into the waiting wagons and carted off to Minden which by that time consisted of a schoolhouse, a courthouse, a post office, and a general store. Once the railroad pushed on west and north across the Platte, the town of Lowell soon faded into oblivion.
By 1882 Minden was home to nearly two hundred people, three general stores, two hardware stores, two drug stores, two furniture stores, two implement shops, one grocery store, two hotels, two livery stables, two churches, one meat market, one bank, five physicians, and six lawyers in Minden. The telegraph line reached Minden in November, 1883. A saloon keeper was the first to send a message, requesting that his business be restocked with twenty-five cases of beer.
The most significant news of 1883 though was the coming of the railroad to Minden. The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad (B & MR) had a line built and running from Hastings to Red Cloud and then to Denver. It soon became obvious that service could be improved by building a new route between Hastings and Oxford. Despite objections from some quarters that farm settlement was impossible west of Kenesaw, planning continued and the line was built.
Designated as a branch of the Nebraska & Colorado Railroad construction began at Kenesaw in August of 1883. This line reached Minden on November 15, 1883. Construction was then delayed for a time as there was no sign of human habitation visible west of Minden, nothing but miles of open prairie. Once Holdrege was plotted construction continued. Soon the line was finished to Oxford, and it became the new main line for trains running between Omaha and Denver.
The coming of the railroad signified the end of Kearney County as a frontier settlement and the beginning of a development era. The sod still had to be broken and planted if there was to be a harvest, and the sod and dugout shelters needed to be replaced with more suitable dwellings. The railroad hastened the day when the pioneers were provided with a market for their crops and by bringing the things they needed within their reach.
Several other communities developed in Kearney County. Norman, Keene, Heartwell, Wilcox, Axtell, Newark and Lowell were all very busy places in the early days. As time went on mechanization took the place of many farmhands and the population of the county declined. The introduction of the automobile shortened distances and diminished the need for these communities. Today Wilcox and Axtell continue to exist as they have for many years. The other towns however are either gone or are quickly fading.
Roads
Road construction did not begin in earnest until 1890. Although the early roads were of dubious value, they did keep the residents out of the farmland. However, frequently the strips of sod on each side of the road proved to make better traveling in wet weather than the actual graded road.
The need for better roads did not become acute until the automobile came onto the scene between 1912 and 1920. During this time many of the early wooden bridges and culverts were replaced with more substantial structures. All of the roads still had a dirt surface and many of them were turned into quagmires during wet weather. Nails left by the shoes of horses added another impediment to early automobile travel.
Road work in the early days was conducted by farmers living along the right of way. The first primary road through the county was known as the Omaha-Lincoln-Denver (OLD) route. Later, its designation was changed to the Denver-Lincoln-Detroit (DLD) route. Eventually this route was designated Federal Highway No. 6. Gravel was spread on this road in 1924, and oil mat was laid in 1937. The first gravel was laid on county roads in 1926. In 1911 a road was constructed south of Minden to Great Bend, Kansas. Poles were placed along this route, painted yellow. This road eventually became Highway 10.
Wells and Irrigation
Kearney County contained no springs or reliable running streams. Therefore a suitable water supply was a major problem for the early settlers. The only source of water was underground, and wells had to be dug by hand. Tubular wells became available in the early 1880's. These were sunk to a depth of two hundred feet in the southern part of the county. Eventually tubular wells, windmills, and cisterns replaced the shallower hand-dug wells and the windless.
A proposal for a canal which would bring Platte River water into Kearney County was worked out in 1889. Though this project was abandoned, the residents never gave up their hopes for a reliable means of irrigating crops. Eventually a series of canals was built, known as the Central Nebraska Public Power and Irrigation system (Tri-County). This system would never have been built without the occurrence of the drought and depression of the 1930's. The drought made it clear that some type of irrigation was essential to the well being of the county. The depression brought about massive public works projects including the Tri-County project.
Engineering work in preparation for actual construction was undertaken in Kearney County on October 26, 1935, and three years later on September 28th the first water entered the county through the canal system. World War II delayed the completion of the project but work was finished in the late forties.
At about this same time pump irrigation was explored. An experimental deep well was installed by C.G. Binderup in 1936. Other wells quickly followed and today many thousands of acres are irrigated by wells in Kearney County. As of December, 1995 over 2100 wells were registered in Kearney County.
You can learn more about the early history of Minden and Kearney County by visiting the Kearney County Museum at Sixth St. & Minden Avenue, Minden, NE. The museum is open Sundays during the summer and by appointment at other times of the year. Admission is free. For an appointment to visit the museum, phone 308-832-1765 or 308-832-1789. The Harold Warp Pioneer Village at the intersection of Highways 6 and 10, also has many items related to the first settlements in Kearney County. Pioneer Village is open year round, seven days a week.
Information for this short history of Minden was obtained from the following publications:
Roy T. Bang, "Heroes without Medals, A Pioneer History of Kearney County Nebraska", (Minden, Nebraska: Warp Publishing Company, 1952)
Walter Prescott Webb, "The Great Plains", (New York, Grosset & Dunlap,1931)
Richard C. Kistler, "The High Plains Route, A history of the McCook Divion of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad", (David City, Nebraska, South Platte Press, 1986)
The first 3 images are pictures taken from the Minden Opera House.
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