A Brief History of Lincoln, NE

Lincoln started out as the village of Lancaster, founded in 1856, and became the county seat of the newly created Lancaster County in 1859. The capital of Nebraska Territory had been Omaha since the creation of the territory in 1954; however, most of the territory's population lived south of the Platte River. After much of the territory south of Platte considered annexation to Kansas, the legislature voted to move the capital south of the river and as far west as possible. The village of Lancaster was chosen, in part due to the salt flats and marshes that were nearby.