John G. Neihardt Center

Much of the work came after Bancroft. Neihardt moved to Branson, Missouri, in 1920 and also served as a literary editor in St. Louis. In the summer of 1930, researching the Ghost Dance, he contacted the Oglala holy man Black Elk, and Black Elk Speaks was published in 1932. The Song of Jed Smith followed in 1941, and A Cycle of the West appeared as one collection in 1949. From 1948 he was poet-in-residence and lecturer at the University of Missouri, and in 1971 and 1972 he appeared on The Dick Cavett Show.

What the plaque says

John G. Neihardt Center John Gneisenau Neihardt (1881-1973), teacher, philosopher, and Nebraska Poet Laureate, moved to Bancroft in 1900. Here he first became acquainted with Indians, married, and began his major work, A Cycle of the West, a five-part epic poem "designed to celebrate the great mood of courage that developed west of the Missouri River in the 19th Century." The John G. Neihardt Study Restoration Project was founded in 1965 by Evelyn Vogt to preserve Neihardt's one-room study in Bancroft. In 1967 the Study Restoration Project was incorporated as the John G. Neihardt Foundation for the purpose of constructing a building to house a museum, library, and research facility to preserve Neihardt's works and effects. In 1968, by gubernatorial proclamation, the first Sunday in each August was designated Neihardt Day in Nebraska. In 1974 State Senator Blair Richendifer of Walthill introduced in the Nebraska Legislature L. B. 855, which appropriated the "sum of two hundred thousand dollars for the purpose of constructing the John G. Neihardt Center" to be administered by the Nebraska State Historical Society in close cooperation with the Neihardt Foundation. Dedicated August 1, 1976, the center was designed by the architectural firm of Clark & Enersen, Hamersky, Schlaebitz, Burroughs & Thomsen. The firm of Larsen & Jipp was the prime contractor. John G. Neihardt Foundation

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.

More markers nearby

• John G. Neihardt Study — steps away
• Bancroft — 0.9 mi
• Lyons — 7.1 mi
• Susan LaFlesche Picotte Memorial Hospital — 11 mi