A Historical Look at O

A Historical Look at O’Neill, Nebraska

J.T. Prouty was the first settler of the City of O’Neill, and was, at the time of the filing on his homestead one of the first white settlers in the Upper Elkhorn Valley. He was the first merchant, the first notary public of the county and holds several other premier honors of the early day. His claim, was at the time of his locating on it, five miles west of William H. Inman’s, one of his old school chums, the next nearest neighbor. Mr. Prouty moved on his homestead quarter on July 14, 1873 and with his timber had a fine body of land in a beautiful valley.

J.T. Prouty was born in Morrow County Ohio on July 21, 1837, the son of Barnabas and Rebecca (Trumbo) Prouty. In 1854 the father moved with his family to Sauk County, Wisconsin, where J.T. began life for himself in 1859 farming a 90 acres tract of land, continuing to live with his parents until 1867. He learned the trade of cabinetmaker and wood turner, carrying this on in connection with farming. That trade helped him find employment on his trip west.

Mr. Prouty first settled in Holt County, then known as Elkhorn County in July 1873 reaching his claim on the 14^th day of that month. He traveled from Wisconsin camping by the wayside for 43 ½ days. The first dwelling was partly lumber and partly canvas from the wagon cover. The town of O’Neill, to be, was first known as Rockford and Mr. Prouty was the first Postmaster.

When the colony of which General John O’Neill was to head, came to the country, Mr. & Mrs. Prouty fed them at barely the cost of provisions, and helped them to get established in the new country. About four years after the railroad come through in 1881, Mr. Prouty moved to the north border of Holt county and secured a fine tract of land near where the Post Office of Paddack was established, of which he was the postmaster after moving to this point. He lived and prospered at Paddock for 25 years, retired at Atkinson and moved to Spencer 6 years later.

General john O’Neill, founder of the City of O’Neill, conceived the idea of establishing the Irish of the eastern mining cities on farms in the Middle West while a prisoner in Burlington, Vermont in 1870.

He knew the dire poverty in those large centers of population and he longed to relieve the suffering of his countrymen. In one of his letters of that time, he wrote “I have always believed that the next best thing to giving the Irish people their freedom at home is to encourage some of them to come to this country either from choice or from necessity to take up lands and build homes in America.

Being determined to carry out his plans as soon as possible, he spent most of the years of 1872 and 1873 traveling through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Nebraska. He was convinced that the last named state possessed the greatest advantage for the settlers.

Its healthful climate, pure water and fertile land appealed to him. There were millions of acre of free government land and cheap railroad and speculation land waiting for settlers. He felt that nowhere could better opportunities be found.

General O’Neill met Patrick Fahy, a land agent, who interested him in a town site in Holt County in November of 1873, when the two men were in Lincoln. O’Neill entered into an agreement with Fahy and his partner, Mr. Boyd, whereby he received $600. And some lots in the town site on condition that he would go east and work up immigration for the County.

During the first three months of 1874, O’Neill gave lectures in all of the leading cities of mining districts in Pennsylvania.

“Why,” he said, “Are you content to work on the public projects and at coal mining when you might in a few years own farms of your own and become wealthy and influential people?”

While John O’Neill was struggling to win Irish recruits, work on the proposed town site began. Thomas J Atwood, a civil engineer from Lincoln plotted the town in the center of Section 30, Township 29, Range 11 West. James Fahy’s brother Patrick Fahy had just returned from college and helped in the survey. The name of Holt City was given to the new town site but was afterward changed to O’Neill City by Colonel James Noteware, immigration agent from the State of Nebraska.

In early April the first group of colonists headed West toward Nebraska and their future homes. The advance party passed through Omaha on April 29, 1874. From Omaha they traveled on the Omaha & Northwestern Railroad to Blair some 29 miles away. There they boarded the Sioux City & Pacific Railroad to Fremont and then to Wisner on the Elkhorn Valley Railroad. After arriving in Wisner, they went by state to Neligh and finally on to O’Neill City by whatever means available.

The first colonists arrived at the new site on May 12, 1874.

The first major task for the colonists was to provide immediate shelter for themselves and their families. Together they constructed a crude sod house, 36 by 18 feet. As soon as the basic structure was in place, six of the original party left for Red Bird Creek and the nearest timber. They took with them a wagonload of willows, which were driven into the ground at intervals to provide markers so that the party could find their way back to the settlement. When the timber was procured, a roof was placed on the sod house and the residents moved in on May 19, 1874, one week after their arrival. The first dwelling in O’Neill for this settlement was the home for 13 men, 2 women and 5 children. It was dubbed the “Grand Central Hotel”.

After establishing somewhat adequate housing, the settler’s next task was to plant crops. Even before they began planting, they faced serious problems. It was already late in May and the ground had to be broken and prepared for the planting of corn. To further compound this problem, the colonists lacked practical farm experience. Having lived in the eastern cities, the methods of prairie farming were new to them. It is little wonder that the first results of their efforts showed little bounty.

After the crops were planted, the settlers again turned their attention to housing. Not wanting to live in the Grand Central Hotel any longer than possible, new dwellings were constructed. These were dugouts carved into the ground, usually four feet long. The dugouts were then covered with limbs and plastered with mud, grass and sod. Later when time permitted, cabins replaced the dugouts. The logs for the cabins were cut on Eagle Creek and hauled a distance of 18 miles to O’Neill City.

In spite of the severe droughts and other hardships, by the end of the summer more than half of the original party remained.

As the first colony was preparing for the coming winter of 1874-75, John O’Neill went back East and began preparations for the second colony to Nebraska.

The actual construction of permanent buildings in O’Neill City was not to begin until October 1875. A carpenter, John Mayberry, under contract to Patrick Fahy, erected the first frame building. The new structure was a general merchandise store, which Patrick Hagerty rented from Fahy. Prior to occupying the building, Hagerty used part of the cabin of Mrs. John O’Neill for his store from May 1985 until the new structure was completed.

Having successfully established the second group of settlers in O’Neill City, the General immediately returned East to begin preparations to secure a third group who arrived in late April or early May of 1876.

The group consisted of 102 men, women and children. Unlike settlers in groups before them, these colonists saw some tangible results of O’Neill’s efforts. They viewed a town, plated out and building under construction. Although it did not have everything the settlers expected it did provide the essentials to start a new life in the West.

Although the first few years were bad years for the colonists, O’Neill City continued to grow and remain primarily an Irish town with special customs such as celebrating St. Patrick’s Day.

The first official St. Patrick’s Day celebration sponsored by the O’Neill Jaycees was on March 17, 1967. Events included a kangaroo court. Beard contest parade and banquet for Notre Dame coach, Frank Leahy.

The Jaycees went a step further in their promotion of the city’s Irish ancestry, in August of 1967, 76 members of the chapter became Fenians and invaded Winnipeg, Canada in a re-enactment of General John O’Neill’s invasion.

The following St. Patrick’s Day a historical marker for General John O’Neill was dedicated three miles southeast of O’Neill on Highway 20.

On St. Patrick’s Day of 1969, Governor Norbert Tiemann officially proclaimed O’Neill “The Irish Capital of Nebraska”.

Governor J. James Exon dedicated a historical marker at the 1972 St. Patrick’s Day Celebration, proclaiming the city “The Irish Capital of Nebraska” as a follow-up to his predecessor’s proclamation.

On March 17, 1977, the Nebraska Unicameral passed a resolution stating that O’Neill was the Official Irish Capital of Nebraska.

Each year since the official St. Patrick’s Day Celebration began members of the Jaycees and later the O’Neill Men’s Club painted the World’s Largest Shamrock in the middle of the intersection where Highways 275/20/281 cross in downtown O’Neill.

In the spring of 1998 the O’Neill Area Chamber of Commerce as a project, raised enough money necessary to make the “World’s Largest Shamrock” permanent. On April 1, 1998 the O’Neill Area Chamber of Commerce took over O’Neill’s KBRX Radio Station. Within a few hours the needed dollars were raised due to the generosity of the people of O’Neill and the area. During a major road construction project the summer of 1998, a permanent, green concrete shamrock was laid in place where Highway 275/20/281 intersects.

As the Irish Capital, O’Neill celebrates St. Patrick’s each March. Highlights each year include coronation of an Irish King and Queen, a Grande Parade, a Fun Run, the Irish Dancers perform along with many other activities. St. Patrick’s Day in O’Neill is Nebraska’s first outdoor celebration each year. This celebration has been known to draw as many as 20,000 people from all over the United States and hosted many special guests from Ireland.

O'Neill Area Chamber of Commerce
O'Neill, Nebraska, 68763
Tel: 402-336-2355
Fax: 402-336-4563
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