Nebraska has, predictably, changed a whole lot since the turn of the 20th century. It's almost like we're living in a totally different world. Sometimes it's enlightening to take a look back at where we came from. These 12 photos from the early 1900s give us a way to peer a century into the past.
This is what the Nebraska state capitol building looked like a little more than a century ago. The city's skyline sure does look different without the iconic Golden Sower rising high into the sky.
Horses and buggies line the muddy main street in Spalding. Their owners are likely doing business in one of these early establishments.
A man drives a brand-new Buick out of the showroom at the F.J. O'Hara Buick Dealership in Spalding. Across the street is another F.J. O'Hara business, the town hardware store.
A woman treats everyone to an organ tune at the Falls City Farmsteads Cooperative in 1936.
Planting crops sure looked different back then. Here, a farmer puffs away on his pipe as his horses pull the plow through his cornfield in Lancaster County.
A group of men listens intently and a child looks bored to tears at this meeting of the Falls City Farmsteads cooperative.
Not many people realize that some Nebraskans lived in sod houses well into the 20th century. In this photo from 1905, Ben Miller and his family pose outside of their sod house.
No town would be complete without its own saloon. In this pre-Prohibition photo, four men and a bartender have a chat at the Fred Krug Brewing Co. in Omaha.
Three men are hard at work in a smithy shop. Just look at those stylish turn-of-the-century mustaches!
It looks like half the population of Ericson turned out for this photo that was turned into a postcard. The larger photo shows Main Street from one angle while the inset shows it from a different viewpoint.
A car is being raffled off in this 1914 photo taken in Spalding. The small figure in the background was the blindfolded woman tasked with picking a winner at random. Jas Pepper of Omaha was the lucky winner, apparently with the lucky number 13.
If there's one thing that hasn't changed in the past century, it's Nebraska's love of county fairs. Here, a couple pays the entrance fee to attend the Greeley County Fair.
What a fascinating look back into the Nebraska of a century ago! Did any of these images surprise you? Start a conversation in the comments!
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