Trails and Rails Museum
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Description
This walking tour offers information about the various buildings and other landmarks within Kearney Nebraska's Trails and Rails Museum.
1. Eggers Cabin 1860s/ Post South Loup Fort/ Fort Banishment at the Trails and Rails Museum
The cabin on the Trails and Rails Museum property has many unanswered questions to it. It may have been the Post South Loup Fork, also known as Fort Banishment. It may have been built with materials pulled from another log cabin in the area. What is known is that the cabin was found in the middle of a farm house in Hall County by the owner of the farmhouse, who donated it to the Trails and Rails Museum. Visit the cabin to find out what it may have been used for if it was indeed Fort Banishment! - Information provided by the Buffalo County Historical Society.
2. Boyd Ranch House at the Trails and Rails Museum
The Boyd Ranch House was built by James Boyd in 1864 near the present-day town of Gibbon, Nebraska. Mr. Boyd started a freighting business with the purchase of 24 mule teams; one of their first hauls was the lumber to build the ranch house. Shortly after the house was completed, Boyd move to Omaha, Nebraska, where he later became mayor. When you visit the Boyd Ranch House, be sure to ask what happened to Mr. Boyd after he was mayor of Omaha! - Information provided by the Buffalo County Historical Society.
3. German Baptist Church at the Trails and Rails Museum
The German Baptist Church of the Brethren at the Trails and Rails Museum was built between 1899 and 1900. In the front of the church’s stage is the original baptism pool, however the addition on the west end included the baptistery behind the altar so that was used instead once the addition was completed. The church has been used by the Church of the Brethren and Church of Latter Day Saints. It was also used as a Kearney Baptist Temple for a short period of time. The church is still used for weddings today, although it is not used regularly for church services.
4. Livery Barn at the Trails and Rails Museum
The Livery Barn at the Trails and Rails Museum holds many wagons and horse saddles donated by Buffalo County community members. It was built to shelter the donated wagons from the weather. Inside the barn you will find a fire wagon and a fuel wagon as well as several others. When you visit, can you spot the item most often used by the people traveling the Mormon Trial?
5. District Number 1 School House at the Trails and Rails Museum
The District No. 1 School House was originally built in 1871 when the Oliver family decided to stop in Nebraska for the winter on their journey west. It became the first frame schoolhouse in Buffalo County. The entryway was a place for the children and teacher to hang up their coats and store their lunch. The community used the schoolhouse for a variety of gatherings in town, including plays and meetings as well as various school events. Outside the schoolhouse you will find two outhouses, one for boys, one for girls, as well as a pony barn for the students to keep their horses that they might have used to get to and from school each day. There is also a merry-go-round, although it may look a little different from what you are used to seeing at a school or park today! Visit the school house to find out something unique about the Oliver family. - Information provided by the Buffalo County Historical Society
6. Loup River Freighters Hotel at the Trails and Rails Museum
Jerome Lalone built the Loup River Freighters Hotel in 1884 as a home for his family along the Loup River. Freighters rented the extra rooms as they were traveling from outside of Kearney to the railroad station in Kearney. Felix and Flavia Eckhout purchased the home was in 1898, and several Eckhout generations lived there. When you visit the Loup River Freighter’s Hotel, be sure to find out what is special about the porch!- Information provided by the Buffalo County Historical Society.
7. 1903 Engine and 1940s Caboose at the Trails and Rails Museum
The train located along 11th Street includes the Union Pacific Steam Engine No. 481, a flat car and a caboose. Steam engines were fueled by coal and were used by the railroads until the diesel engines came out in the 1950s. Check out the Trails and Rails Museum to find out which Kearney park the engine was in before it was moved to the museum! - Information provided by the Buffalo County Historical Society.
8. Shelton Depot at the Trails and Rails Museum
The Shelton Depot was used by the Union Pacific Railroad as the station for the town of Shelton, located about twenty miles Northeast of the Depot’s current location at the Trails and Rail Museum in Kearney. The museum has three main rooms. The waiting room is where passengers waited for their train to arrive and people waited for their loved ones to arrive. Through the doorway to the west was the agent’s office and the west doorway in the office is the opening to the large baggage room where cargo and bags were held to be loaded on trains as well as held for people picking things up. Visitors to the Shelton Depot should be sure to check out the time table on the south wall and ask plenty of questions to the museum staff and volunteers.
9. J.C. Marlatt Blacksmith Shop at the Trails and Rails Museum
Although the J.C. Marlatt Blacksmith Shop was built in 2012, it was built using lumber from barns in the area that were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Inside is a fully functioning Blacksmith shop with a permanent forge and chimney on the west side as well as several tools used to help shape the hot metal. The shop is currently used by a group of Blacksmiths in Kearney; they get together once a month to work on their projects. When you visit the Blacksmith shop, be sure to ask your guide what the Blacksmith’s water will cure!
