Bellevue

The Nebraska Palladium was born half in Iowa. Daniel E. Reed and Thomas Morton started it in 1854, and its first issue came out on July 15; its early numbers were printed across the river at St. Mary, Iowa. The paper argued for Bellevue as the territorial capital and blamed Joseph E. Johnson, editor of the rival Arrow, when Omaha won. It folded on April 11, 1855, short of advertisers. Morton carried its subscription list to Nebraska City, where the Nebraska City News kept the Palladium's numbering.

What the plaque says

Bellevue Bellevue, gateway to the upper Missouri and the fur trade empire, is the oldest continuous settlement in Nebraska. This town was born, became important, almost died, and now in the 20th century, has been revitalized. Fur traders dealing with the Omaha, Ponca, Oto, and Pawnee, first gave it life. Manuel Lisa probably named it for the beautiful view at the junction of the Platte and Missouri valleys. In 1823, an Indian Agency was established in Bellevue. Here and at the Peter Sarpy fur trading post travelers such as Prince Maximilian, Carl Bodmer, George Catlin, and John C. Fremont, were welcomed. By 1846 Bellevue was a steamboat landing and the site of an important Indian Mission. Here Francis Burt, the first territorial governor, arrived in 1854, and the first territorial newspaper, the Nebraska Palladium, was published. When the territorial capital was located at Omaha, and the Pacific Railroad was routed to the north, Bellevue faded. In the 1940's the town was rejuvenated when thousands of military personnel, who man the Strategic Air Command center of defense for the western world, made Bellevue their home. Sarpy County Historical Society Historical Land Mark Council

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• The Durham Museum (Omaha Union Station) — 7.9 mi
  Omaha's 1931 Union Station, Gilbert Stanley Underwood's Art Deco depot for the Union Pacific, closed to trains in 1971 and kept as a city museum with its waiting room intact.
• Joslyn Art Museum — 8.7 mi
  Omaha's free art museum, a 1931 Art Deco memorial with two modern pavilions, and the keeper of Karl Bodmer's watercolors from the upper Missouri in 1833 and 1834.
• Malcolm X Birthsite — 11 mi
  The North Omaha lot where Malcolm Little was born in May 1925 and his family was driven out by the Klan, saved by Rowena Moore and now planned as a cultural center.
• Winter Quarters and the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery — 14 mi
  The Latter-day Saint camp of 1846 to 1848 on Omaha land in what is now Florence, where hundreds died the first winter, and the cemetery and trail center beside it.

More markers nearby

• First Presbyterian Church — steps away
• Bellevue Log Cabin — steps away
• Fontenelle Bank - County Courthouse — 0.3 mi
• Bellevue Rifle Range — 1.0 mi