Trails West Region, Nebraska
Tour some of the most spectacular terrain within the state as you relive the days of the pioneers along the Oregon and Mormon Trails. The North Platte River yields life-giving irrigation to keep fields green and fertile. The lush cropland contrasts sharply with the rugged buttes and table land that signal the beginning of mountainous terrain to the west.
Explore Trails West Region
Kimball County Courthouse
Kimball County was created out of Cheyenne County in 1888. The centrally located city of Kimball has been the only county seat. County officials initially rented space for courthouse use. In 1893
Kimball, NE Historic CourthousesBrookside Farm
The Brookside farm (also known as the Gridley-Howe-Faden-Atkins Farmstead), illustrates an historically typical farmstead evolution in Nebraska. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Kimball, NE Historic HomesPlains Historical Museum
To learn more about Kimball's history, visit the Plains Historical Museum. The museum is housed in the town's old Fraternal Hall. Built in 1904, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building is a museum itself. In 1904
Kimball, NE MuseumsGarden County Museum
An early 1900s school house and an old opera house/theater located downtown are filled with historic items, Indian artifacts, fossils, and a bird collection of 300 stuffed specimens. A second museum building at the south end of Main at E Avenue is a larger building for larger exhibits.
Oshkosh, NE MuseumsRobidoux Pass Trading Post
Following the Oregon Trail can be quite exciting, imagining the pioneers that must have traveled the path, what they were like, what they were thinking and what they went through to conquer such terrain as is found at Gering's Robidoux Pass, listed on the National Register of Historic Places
Gering, NE Pioneer LifeFort Sidney Complex
U.S. Troops first occupied a temporary camp known as Sidney Barracks in the summer of 1867 to protect Union Pacific Railroad construction crews. The post was officially established in November 1867. In 1869
Sidney, NE MuseumsW.H. Jackson Collection
William Henry Jackson, frontier photographer and artist, was an early photographer of the American West, as well as an accomplished artist. He traveled the Oregon-California Trail in 1866 and 1867
Gering, NE ArtsCarnegie Library
Andrew Carnegie awarded the city of Sidney $6,500 for the construction of this library which served Sidney from 1914 to 1965
Sidney, NE Carnegie LibrariesTitan Missile
In 1962, Kimball marked its place in history when construction began on a vast complex of Minuteman Missile silos. Kimball is the center of the largest complex of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles in the world, with about 200 Minuteman III ICBMs in silos in the tri-state area. In 1968
Kimball, NE MonumentsPhelps Hotel
The Phelps Hotel is typical of many hotels erected during the late nineteenth century in western Nebraska. The building is Deuel County's oldest hotel, constructed in 1885 by the Edwin A. Phelps family, who were among the first settlers in the Big Springs vicinity.
Chappell, NE Famous HomesMaginnis Irrigation Aqueduct
The Kimball County Irrigation District Board held its first organizational meeting in November 1909
Kimball, NE Structural LandmarksChappell Lake
Set your hook in a largemouth bass, catfish, perch, walleye, or bluegill in this 30 acre community lake. A year-round flock of Canada geese have also made the lake their home.
The easy access just north of the I-80
Chappell, NE Recreation