“ The city is the seat of the state Institute for the Blind (1875) , and has three public parks and a public library. The city is a distributing centre for a beautiful farming region, the trade in grain being especially large. In 1900 Nebraska City ranked third among the manufacturing cities of the state, the manufactures including canned fruits and vegetables, packed pork, flour, oatmeal, hominy, grits, meal, starch, cider-vinegar, agricultural implements, windmills, paving bricks, concrete, sewer pipe, beer, over-alls and shirts. ”

“ In 1858 it became the headquarters of a great freighting firm that distributed supplies for the United States government among the army posts between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains; in seven months in 1859 this one firm employed 602 men, used 517 wagons, 5682 oxen, and 75 mules, and shipped 2,782,258 ℔. ”