Combs School, Built 1857 - Closed 1964

The town the schoolhouse began in is gone entirely. Omadi stood on the Missouri at the mouth of Omaha Creek, where George T. Woods and Chauncey A. Horr put up a cabin in July 1855 while their sawmill was built; finished on April 1, 1856, it was the county's first mill. By 1857 Omadi had about 400 people. In the spring of 1858 the river began washing away its west bank, and by 1865, A. T. Andreas's 1882 history records, every house was gone and the river had complete possession of the townsite.

What the plaque says

Combs School Built 1857-Closed 1964 The frame schoolhouse in the background is part of Nebraska's pioneer heritage - the oldest school building in Dakota County and one of the oldest in Nebraska. Originally erected in the spring of 1857 at Omadi, four miles south of Dakota City, the school shared the townsite's peril when the Missouri River began to undermine the area. Since the school faced destruction it was moved to Thomas Smith's claim, about two miles south of Homer. Here a new school district was organized. When construction on the Burlington railroad from Sioux City to Lincoln began, the school was found to be on railroad property. The building was then shifted to its present site near the old Combs mill. School redistricting eliminated need for the old Combs School, and its doors closed for the last time May 22, 1964. The Board of Education of the newly-formed district donated the building to the Dakota County Historical Society, who has set it aside as a monument to the pioneer fathers' belief that, "MEN ARE ENNOBLED BY UNDERSTANDING." Dakota County Historical Society Historical Land Mark Council

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Blackbird Scenic Overlook — 14 mi
  A pull-off on US-75 at Macy on the Umóⁿhoⁿ reservation, looking over the Missouri valley toward the hill where Wazhiⁿga' sabe, Blackbird, was buried after the smallpox of 1800.
• Ponca State Park — 24 mi
  Oak ravines and bluffs at the downstream end of the Missouri's last unchannelized reach in Nebraska, with a three-state overlook and the river's resource and education center.

More markers nearby

• Winnebago Scouts — 3.5 mi
• Tonwantonga — 4.3 mi
• Territorial Church — 8.9 mi
• Susan LaFlesche Picotte Memorial Hospital — 9.9 mi