George William Norris, 1861-1944

The plaque's closing phrase was spoken in this town. On the evening of September 28, 1932, Franklin Roosevelt stood at the edge of the race track at the Red Willow County fairgrounds, lit by searchlights on the grandstand roof, before thousands of Nebraskans. Norris, still a Republican, spoke too, urging the crowd to put country above party, and Roosevelt called him "the very perfect, gentle knight of American progressive ideals." The words outlasted the rally: the four-cent Norris stamp of 1961 carries them in short form.

What the plaque says

George William Norris 1861-1944 George W. Norris, whose home is on Norris Avenue, McCook, Nebraska, served forty years in the Congress of the United States. Born in Ohio, he worked his way through college, followed the footsteps of the pioneers westward, settling in Nebraska. He began his public career as County Attorney of Furnas County, served as District Judge for seven years, was elected in 1902 to the first of five consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives. Elected to the United States Senate in 1912, be- ginning a service of thirty years, he championed the rights of the common man, and the conservation and development of our natural resources for the benefit of all. Among his great achievements are the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Rural Electrification Admin- istration, the Twentieth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, and the Anti-Injunction Act, as well as the establishment of the Unicameral Legislature in the State of Nebraska. He was elected to the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1961. George W. Norris, the "Gentle Knight of Progressive Ideals", one of the Nation's great statesmen, served well the State and the Nation. High Plains Historical Society Historical Land Mark Council

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Senator George Norris State Historic Site — steps away
  The McCook house George W. Norris kept as his home base for forty-two years, given to the state with its furniture by his wife Ellie, by the senator who wrote the lame-duck amendment.
• Massacre Canyon Monument — 18 mi
  A granite shaft east of Trenton above the canyon where Lakota warriors attacked a Pawnee buffalo-hunting camp on August 5, 1873, a year before the Pawnee left Nebraska.

More markers nearby

• Pawnee Woman's Grave — 11 mi
• Indianola POW Camp — 11 mi
• Culbertson, First Hitchcock County Seat — 11 mi
• Stone Church — 12 mi