Kearney Cotton Mill

Samuel Clay Bassett writes that H. D. Watson brought three trainloads of New England manufacturers and investors to Kearney within ninety days, and the cotton men among them demanded a subsidy in cash and land worth about $250,000, raised by subscription in ninety more days, about $50 a resident. History Nebraska names the builders as the Cumnock brothers, who began work in 1890, and dates the first shipment of Nebraska-made cotton goods to leave the state to September 22, 1892. In 1901 the mill went to the Cincinnati bank that held its mortgage.

What the plaque says

Kearney Cotton Mill In the late 1880's, Kearney business leaders envi- sioned the city as a major manufacturing center. The Kearney Cotton Mill was among the many enterprises launched as part of this venture, which included paper, woolen, and oatmeal mills; plow and canning factories; brick works and machine shops. The economic depression of the early 1890's, however, ended most of these businesses. The Kearney Cotton Mill was financed in part by a Massachusetts firm. Upon its completion in 1892 the mill was the largest manufacturing plant in Nebraska. The two-story brick structure cost over $400,000 to construct. Raw cotton was shipped from the South by barge and railroad. At peak efficiency the mill employed about 450 workers and produced 26,000 yards of unbleached muslin daily, some of which was shipped to such faraway places as the Orient. In 1901 the plant was closed due to economic pressures, including high freight rates and labor costs. During its existence the mill never operated at a profit. The building stood vacant until the Midway Amusement Park was established in the spring of 1920. A swimming pool was constructed in the basement of the plant and the main building was used as a dance pavilion. On March 18, 1922, the mill and park facilities were destroyed by fire. Buffalo County Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Kearny State Historical Park — 8.2 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.
• Rowe Sanctuary — 14 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.

More markers nearby

• Kearney-Fort Kearny — 2.3 mi
• The Great Plains — 2.4 mi
• University of Nebraska at Kearney — 2.6 mi
• Historic Kearney — 3.0 mi