Ruth Bryan Owen was a pioneering congresswoman and diplomat who grew up in Lincoln, Nebraska. She was also a noted public speaker and author, and in 1922 became one of the first female filmmakers by writing, directing, and producing an indepen...

Our Historical Markers across Nebraska highlight fascinating moments and places in our state’s past. This week we’re focusing on the original site of a village in Nuckolls county that later moved to be nearer to railroads.

The original townsite of Oak grew up around a gristmill constructed here in 1882. By 1883 the village had a druggist,...

Freemasons have long shared their values and traditions with new members through artwork, including visual aids known as master’s charts or Masonic “carpets.”

Three such lithographs, owned by King David Lodge #407 in Altoona, Iowa, came to the Gerald R. Ford Conservation Center recently for treatment. Engraved by the artist John Sherer in 1855 and 1856, the plates depi...

Pilgrim Holiness Church in Arthur, Nebraska with the historical marker standing in front.

The invention of mechanical balers in the mid-1800s led to the use of bales of hay or straw as building blocks. Pioneer builders developed structural bale walls using cuttings of either native prairie flora—baled hay—or of agricultura...

Tecumseh’s Cornerstone Building was built in 1890 on the courthouse square at the corner of Third and Clay Streets. In 2008, the dilapidated building was scheduled for the wrecking ball. A small group of local investors successfully appealed to the city government to save the building so it could be restored. Two talented individuals, Jim Borenpohl and Fred Pooch, provided vo...