This Day in History: March 1, 1867

Nebraska, the Cornhusker State

The 1945 Legislature changed the official state name to the“Cornhusker State”. The name is derived from the nickname for the University of Nebraska athletic teams - the "Cornhuskers" - which was coined in 1900 by Charles S. "Cy" Sherman, a sportswriter for the Nebraska State Journal in Lincoln. "Cornhuskers" replaced earlier nicknames, such as "Golden Knights", "Antelopes", and "Bugeaters". The term "cornhusker" comes from the method of harvesting or "husking" corn by hand, which was common in Nebraska before the invention of husking machinery.

Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1, 1867, and the capital was moved from Omaha to the center at Lancaster, later renamed Lincoln after the recently assassinated President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln. Nebraska is composed of two major land regions: the Dissected Till Plains and the Great Plains. The Great Plains occupy the majority of western Nebraska. Nebraska is a triply landlocked state, as it does not border the ocean, nor do any of the states it borders, nor any that they border.

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States.

Nebraska State Flag
Nebraska was one of the last states to adopt a state flag.
Representative J. Lloyd McMaster introduced a bill in 1925
to designate a state banner and the bill was passed.
The law describes the banner as:

"... a reproduction of the Great Seal of the State charged on the center in gold
and silver on a field of national blue."

Nebraska State Seal
Western Meadowlark
Nebraska designated the Western Meadowlark as official state bird in 1929.
The Western Meadowlark is a familiar songbird of open country
across the western two-thirds of the continent.

Goldenrod

Goldenrod close-up photo by Moosicorn on Flickr;
noncommercial use permitted with attribution / no derivative works.

Goldenrod was designated the official state flower of Nebraska in 1895 to "foster a feeling of pride in our state, and stimulate an interest in the history and traditions of the commonwealth." It was later said by Ida Brockman (daughter of representative John M. Brockman) that the state flower "... has a long season, and nothing could better represents the hardy endurance of Nebraska's pioneers" (goldenrod flowers appear from July through October).

For the State Symbols of Nebraska click HERE!

Jim Fras, a Russian refuge, arrived in Lincoln, Nebraska in 1952. Eight years later, in 1960, he composed "Beautiful Nebraska". He is said to have composed the original piece in an hour. According to Mr. Fras, "I was lying in a pasture and words just came to me... Beautiful Nebraska, peaceful prairie land. Laced with many rivers and the hills of sand..." Though the song seemed to come from divine inspiration, it took seven years of campaigning to move the Nebraska Legislature to adopt "Beautiful Nebraska" as the official state song (June 21, 1967).

Later accounts claimed Fras had help with the words from Nebraska native and poet Guy G. Miller. In 2008, legislature properly credited Guy D. Miller with the words and Jim Fras with the music for "Beautiful Nebraska."