Jansen

Not every family stayed. The Kleine Gemeinde Mennonites, whose people had come from the Ukrainian steppes in 1874 and 1875 and settled around Jansen and Fairbury, found land growing scarce as their families grew. The first families left for Meade County, Kansas, in 1906. On April 27, 1907, about a dozen settlers bought roughly six sections some twenty miles southeast of Meade, with land agent Martin T. Doerksen of Inman helping, and that year larger groups followed by train until most of the Jansen congregation had gone. The Kansas congregation dissolved in 1942 and 1943.

What the plaque says

Jansen In 1874-1875, this area was settled by a group of Mennonites led by Cornelius and Peter Jansen. Many of these settlers were descendants of Dutch emigrants who left Holland in the 16th Century and founded a colony in Russia. Coming to Jefferson County, the Mennonites purchased some 25,000 acres of land from the Burlington and Missouri Railroad The Mennonites had developed a unique pattern of community organization which they retained when they came to Nebraska. Their Community as a whole was composed of several so-called "line villages," each of which contained a number of dwellings located close together along both sides of a section line or road. About 1900, one such village, "Russian Lane," reportedly contained some 42 houses, churches and schools along both sides of a 4½ mile road. Jansen was named for Peter Jansen on whose land the town was platted in 1886. His nearby ranch was noted for its large sheep-raising operation. Peter Jansen was elected to the Nebraska Legis- lature in 1898 and 1910, and remained active in political affairs until his death in 1923. Today the Jansen community continues to preserve the spirit of its dedicated pioneers. Jefferson County Historical Society, Inc. Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rock Creek Station State Historical Park — 5.0 mi
  A stage and Pony Express station on the trail southeast of Fairbury where James Hickok killed David McCanles in July 1861, with the court papers that cleared him, and deep wagon ruts.
• Homestead National Historical Park — 15 mi
  Daniel Freeman's claim on Cub Creek near Beatrice, one of the first filed under the Homestead Act, with a one-room school, a homesteader's cabin, restored prairie and the land's earlier owners.

More markers nearby

• The Smith Limekiln and Limestone House — 7.5 mi
• 1880 Diller 1980 — 9.4 mi
• Plymouth — 9.9 mi
• Swan City — 17 mi