Bertrand 1885-1985

Karen Dahlgren grew up in Bertrand, where she was all-state in basketball and volleyball and won the Nebraska 100-meter low hurdles in 1981 and 1982. She joined Terry Pettit's Nebraska volleyball team in 1983 as a middle blocker and was all-conference all four years. In 1986 she is credited as the first U.S. college player to run the slide attack, and she helped Nebraska reach its first NCAA title game. She won the Honda-Broderick Award, went first in Major League Volleyball's first draft, coached at Kansas from 1994 to 1997, and saw Nebraska retire her No. 13 in 2003.

What the plaque says

Bertrand 1885-1985 Bertrand was platted by the Lincoln Land Company in June 1885, and the tracks of the Burlington Railroad soon reached here from Holdrege. The village was named in honor of Alonzo Bertrand Minor, a railroad official and later secretary of the Lincoln Land Company. Bertrand was incor- porated on December 11, 1885, and the articles of incorporation were officially adopted by the Board of Trustees on December 22. Swedes and Germans were the predominant ethnic groups who settled here beginning in the late 1870s. Many settlers claimed government land while others purchased farms from the railroads. Their deep religious faith led to the establishment of seven churches in and around Bertrand. A frame school was built in 1888; it was replaced by a brick structure in 1909. A new school building was occupied in 1958. Over twenty rural districts were consolidated to form present District 54. Although Bertrand lies in a rich agricultural region, drought caused major crop failures during the 1890s and again in the 1930s. The completion of the Tri-County Project in 1941 brought irriga- tion which has become a mainstay of the area's agricultural economy. Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Atlanta Prisoner-of-War Camp — 13 mi
• Holdrege Silt Loam: The Nebraska State Soil — 14 mi
• Phelps County — 15 mi
• George E. Johnson — 15 mi