Editing Brownville, Nebraska (section)

== History ==
Established in 1854 and incorporated in 1856, Brownville was the largest town in the [[Nebraska Territory]], with a population of 1,309 by 1880. Bordering [[Slavery in the United States|slave-holding]] [[Missouri]], the town became an important [[port]] on the [[Missouri River]]. [[Daniel Freeman]], the first [[Homesteading|homesteader]] to file a claim under the [[Homestead Act of 1862]], staked his claim at a [[New Year's Day|New Year's Eve]] party in Brownville.

The first post office was called Brownsville and existed from 1853 to 1870, when it was changed to Brownville<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.postalhistory.com/postoffices.asp?task=display&state=NE&county=Nemaha | title=Post Offices| publisher=Jim Forte Postal History | accessdate=May 15, 2025}}</ref>; however the name changed may have occurred later since a 1909 [[Post Office Department]] map shows the former name.<ref name="1909MOPO">{{cite web|url=https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~358933~90125714:Post-Route-Map-of-the-State-of-Miss?sort=Pub_List_No_InitialSort&qvq=w4s:/where%2FMissouri;sort:Pub_List_No_InitialSort;lc:RUMSEY~8~1&mi=2&trs=397|publisher=United States Post Office Department 1909|title=Post Route Map of the State of Missouri.|website=David Rumsey Map Collection|access-date=May 15, 2025}}</ref>

The rise of the [[railroad]] was ultimately Brownville's undoing. The railroads siphoned traffic away from the Missouri River's [[steamboat]]s. Brownville's attempt to secure a railroad of its own was severely botched and led to immense tax increases to pay the [[Bond (finance)|bonds]] for the failed venture. This drove most of the population away and led to the county seat being transferred to [[Auburn, Nebraska|Auburn]] in 1885.<ref>[http://www.yourcountryneighbor.com/YCN/BHS150.pdf Brownville's 150th Anniversary 1854 - 2004: The Village of Firsts Remains on the Frontier Edge] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051103195413/http://www.yourcountryneighbor.com/YCN/BHS150.pdf |date=November 3, 2005 }}. Captain Meriwether Lewis Museum. Retrieved 12/13/08.</ref> In 1856 [[Thomas Weston Tipton]] moved to the town to serve as a minister. He later became a [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]], and ran an unsuccessful campaign for [[Governor of Nebraska]]. Omaha land magnates [[Herman Kountze|Herman]] and [[Augustus Kountze]] held large holdings in the early town.

After the [[American Civil War]], [[David Henry Mercer|David Mercer]] established a law practice in the town. Mercer later served as a long-time [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] from Nebraska. The [[Nebraska State Fair]] was held in the town in 1870 and 71. That year [[Eugene Allen Gilmore|Eugene Gilmore]], the future acting [[Governor-General of the Philippines]], was born in the town.

The [[Brownville Bridge]] was built over the Missouri River in 1939. Today it is on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. Owing to its place in Nebraska history, Brownville is primarily a [[tourism|tourist]] attraction with several old [[house]]s opened for tours or converted into [[museum]]s. [[Art]] galleries and [[winery|wineries]] in and near Brownville have also helped to make the town an increasingly attractive getaway for residents of the region's larger cities.<ref name=OmahaMagazine-Brownville-2015>{{cite news|last1=McCauley|first1=Tom|title=The Creative Spirit of Brownville: Short on Population, Long on Culture|url=http://omahamagazine.com/2015/05/the-creative-spirit-of-brownville/|access-date=June 22, 2016|work=Omaha Magazine|date=May 19, 2015}}</ref> [[Omaha]]'s ''River City Star'' was built in the town in 1967, and was originally named the ''Belle of Brownville''. The [[Governor Furnas Arboretum]] was planted in the city in 1992. The arboretum is named in honor of Nebraska's second governor, [[Robert W. Furnas]], the signer of the first declaration of [[Arbor Day]]. The [[Cooper Nuclear Station]] is south of the city. In 1995 a [[May 1995 tornado outbreak sequence|mild tornado]] blew through the town.