1871 Gibbon 1971

Patricia Gaster of History Nebraska relays a rumor that ran through the cars on the trip west: the railroad was carrying them by night so they would not see the desolate country in daylight. The colony's advertising stressed Union veterans, but membership was open to others. In 1891, twenty years after the arrival, the colonists met and agreed to gather every year, and Solomon D. Butcher photographed their Old Settlers Picnic at Gibbon in 1907. W. W. Gibson, the last known colonist alive in 1935, died on January 1, 1936.

What the plaque says

1871 Gibbon 1971 Gibbon, on the old Mormon Trail, was the site of a unique experiment in homestead colonization. Originally conceived as a financial venture by Colonel John Thorp of Ohio, the Soldier's Free Home- stead Colony was responsible for bringing the first homesteaders to the region. Traveling by Union Pacific, which had reached this point in July 1866, the first group of colonists, representing 80 fam- ilies, arrived in Gibbon on April 7, 1871. Thorp had advertised for colonists, charging a membership fee of $2.00, with which they received reduced railroad rates to Gibbon, where it was expected that the Civil War Veterans would purchase railroad land and take homesteads, thus increasing the value of other nearby railroad lands. When the first colonists arrived at Gibbon siding, named for Civil War General John Gibbon, the only building was a small section house, and, until sod or frame houses could be built, they lived in railroad box cars. Later arrivals increased the original colonists to 129 families from 15 states, all but a few being Union veterans. The settlers' first view of the area was not encouraging as a prairie fire had recently swept over the region, leaving charred desolation in its wake. Two days after their arrival, a two-day blizzard struck the area. Gibbon is a tribute to the perseverance of these hardy pioneers. Gibbon Lions Club Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rowe Sanctuary — 3.4 mi
  Audubon's sanctuary on the Platte near Gibbon, where the river's sandbars are kept bare so that sandhill cranes, more than a million in the valley each spring, can roost safely at night.
• Fort Kearny State Historical Park — 9.6 mi
  The 1848 army post on the Platte, built on a strip of Pawnee land bought for $2,000 in goods, where emigrant wagons passed by the thousand and only the cottonwoods outlasted the fort.

More markers nearby

• Gibbon — 2.8 mi
• Nebraska Centre-Boyd Ranche — 2.9 mi
• 1872 Lowell 1972 — 4.1 mi
• The Burlington & Missouri River Railroad — 7.2 mi