Morrill Farmstead - NHR
category : National Register
The Charles H. Morrill Homestead, listed on theNational Register of Historic Places, is
located on a picturesque site near the Big Blue
River. The original house, a one-story frame
dwelling, was built in 1872 and exhibits subtle
Italianate detailing in its design. The
one-and-one-half-story log house, finished in
1901, was built by Ludwig Rudeen. The Morrills
were among the first homesteaders arriving in the
area in 1869.
In 1879, Morrill became Governor Albinus
Nance's private secretary, and in 1904 he was
elected Republican national committeeman. He was elected regent of the University of Nebraska in
1889, serving as president of the Board of Regents from 1892 to 1902. In the 1890s he and Dr. E.H.
Barbour, professor of geology, initiated yearly geological and paleontological expeditions into all parts of
the state. These expeditions gathered the initial collections of the University of Nebraska Museum. Later
in life Morrill liberally financed expeditions and maintenance of the university's collections.
When the university museum building was erected in 1927, it was named Morrill Hall. A county in
western Nebraska, organized in 1908, and a community northwest of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, also bear
Morrill's name.
Address: South of town across second bridge, first left, about 1mile on the north side
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