This Week In Nebraska History

1871 — Lincolnites were seen playing croquet in their yards as Nebraska enjoyed summerlike weather. A few days later, several inches of snow covered the ground.

1881 — A new $7,500 Catholic Church was dedicated. It was acclaimed the finest church building in the Capital City.

1891 — Representatives of the Nebraska Sioux were conferring with Indian Bureau officials in Washington. Sioux demands included removal of military agents and improved educational facilities.

1901 — Lincoln failed in its effort to be designated the site of a proposed additional state normal school.

1911 — Lincoln Schools Superintendent W.L. Stephens reported on congested conditions in the schools and suggested that a new high school and a new Bancroft School be built.

1921 — About 100 members of University of Nebraska sororities and fraternities appeared before the Legislature to urge passage of a bill giving legal recognition to 47 such secret societies.

1931 — A deadlock on federal relief legislation was broken when the administration of President Herbert Hoover and congressional Democrats agreed on appropriation of an additional $20 million drought loan and for “agricultural rehabilitation.” Nebraska was among the recipients.

1941 — Gov. Dwight Griswold asked the Legislature to support a bill creating a state committee on national defense. Griswold said the bill was necessary “if Nebraska is to cooperate efficiently with the federal government in its national defense program.”

1951 — A 45-year-old Woodbine, Iowa, woman and former Nebraska resident, Mrs. Ray S. Dickinson, gave birth to her 17th child, a 15-pound, 1-ounce baby.

1961 — Reports flowed in from York, Geneva, Fairmont, Sutton, Bradshaw, Lushton and McCool Junction concerning the sighting of steeples, grain bins, elevators and what-have-you floating in the skies. The Weather Bureau explained that such sightings were a kind of mirage caused by light bending through media of different density.

1971 — A ribbon-cutting ceremony and open house marked the dedication of the new Lincoln YMCA at 11th and P streets.

1981 — Starr Elementary School in Grand Island, al-most destroyed in the city’s June tornadoes, was rededicated after being repaired.

1991 — Carcinogens were detected in 10 north Lincoln wells during sampling of an ongoing countywide well survey. Doug Smith of the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department’s food, water and child care program said, however, that there was “no real cause for alarm.”

2001 — Consumers got a double whammy when natural gas prices jumped from 43 cents per therm (100 cubic feet) the year before to $1.23 and also had a record-cold December. Gas producers reported record earnings — Conoco called 2000 the company’s best year.

This article originally ran on journalstar.com.