Homestead National Historical Park

Visited: July 2023

Nearby town: Beatrice, NE

"[The Homestead Act] provided a farm free to any man who wanted to put a plow into unbroken sod."

-poet Carl Sandburg

"The homestead policy was established only after long and earnest resistance; experience proves its wisdom. The lands in the hands of industrious settlers, whose labor creates wealth and contributes to the public resources, are worth more to the United States than if they had been reserved as a solitude for future purchasers."

-President Andrew Johnson, December 4 1865

The Homestead Act of 1862 was one of the most seminal pieces of legislation ever passed by the US Congress. The Act allowed a qualifying person to claim up to 160 acres of federally-owned land. For a nominal application fee ($10), the claimant would gain ownership of the land if they fulfilled the following requirements: (1) reside on the land for five years; (2) cultivation of the land; and (3) improvement of the property. The Act gave millions of poorer Americans the chance to become landowners. The Act eventually transferred 270,000,000 acres (nearly 10% of the total area of the United States) from public to private ownership. The Act also contributed to the country's population shift westward, as the overwhelming majority of homestead land was west of the Mississippi River.

The homestead principle - that ownership of land should be based on one performing an act of original appropriation - was an important plank in the platform of the Whigs, Free-Soil, Republican and other political parties who primarily had support in the Northern states. These parties, the Free-Soil party in particular, advocated for individual farmers to own and operate their own farms, as opposed to Southern Democrats who supported large, plantation-style farming dependent on slave labor. Attempts to pass homestead acts were frequently blocked by Democrats in Congress. President James Buchanan, a Pennsylvania Democrat who aligned with the southern faction of the party (i.e. a "doughface"), vetoed a homestead bill passed by Congress in 1860. With the outbreak of the Civil War, after the Southern states seceded and their delegates left Congress, the new President, Republican Abraham Lincoln, and the Republican Congress enacted the Homestead Act of 1862.

The law went into effect on January 1, 1863. The very first applicant was Daniel Freeman, an Ohio-born physician and Civil War veteran, who convinced the county clerk, a friend, to open the land office just after midnight so he could file his claim. He successfuly homesteaded acreage in southeastern Nebraska, near the town of Beatrice. Freeman eventually gained ownership of 1,000 acres and became a prominent citizen of Gage County, serving as a county clerk and county sheriff. Freeman passed away in 1908, at the age of 82. After his death, citizens of Beatrice and influential Nebraska Senator George W. Norris established Freeman's original acreage as a historical museum of agricultural implements and a memorial to the pioneer spirit of the homesteaders. The site became a part of the NPS in 1936.

Daniel Freeman, the earliest homesteader

Begin your visit at the beautiful Visitor Center, the Homestead Heritage Center, completed in 2007. The unique roof of the building resembles a "single bottom plow moving through the sod." It has lots of great exhibits to learn all about the homesteaders.

these displays represent the percentage of land in each state that was successfully claimed through the Homestead Act

While land was essentially free under the Homestead Act, the experience was not easy and many homesteaders were not successful in their claim. All the necessary equipment for farming was difficult to obtain, particularly in areas of the country that were newly settled and market economies did not yet fully reach. Additionally, banks charged high interest rates on farm equipment and railroads charged high rates to transport equipment, supplies, livestock, etc. Sometimes the land proved difficult to farm, weather in the great plains could be incredibly harsh with long winters or drought or swarms of locusts, destroying crops. Building materials were scarce and most homesteaders built their houses out of mud and sod with thatch roofs (thus, many homesteaders were nicknamed "sod busters").

Take the loop trail near the Visitor Center (the full trail is about 3 miles). The park has restored 100 acres of tallgrass prairie to approximate the ecosystem that once covered the great plains, and was nearly plowed to extinction by the homesteaders.

The Palmer-Epard Cabin.

George W. Palmer homesteaded acreage about 14 miles northeast of the modern-day park. Palmer built this one-room cabin in 1867 and lived here with his wife and 10 children! 😳 Around 1900, the cabin was sold to Lawrence and Ida Epard, who lived in it for nearly 40 years. The cabin was moved to the park in 1950. Go inside and get a small experience of homestead lifestyle.

grave site of the first homesteader, Daniel Freeman, and his wife Agnes Suiter Freeman.

Agnes lived on the homestead until her death in 1931.

Make sure to stop by the Freeman School. 

This modest red-brick building was the longest continuously used one-room schoolhouse in Nebraska (1872-1967). The school also served as a Lutheran Church, a polling place, and a community center for debates, clubs, box socials, potluck dinners, etc.

The first homesteader, Daniel Freeman, was the plaintiff in a landmark court case involving the separation of church and state. Freeman was unhappy that the new schoolteacher, Edith Beecher, conducted prayers, read from the Bible, and sang gospel hymns as part of her lessons and instruction. Freeman complained to the school board, but the board sided with Ms. Beecher. In 1899, Freeman sued the school board and the case went all the way up to the Nebraska Supreme Court. In Freeman v. John Scheve et. al. (1902), the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that Beecher's and the school board's actions violated the state constitution.  

Also make sure to stop by the Education Center (its a separate building from the Visitor Center) to learn more about the homesteaders, and see lots of vehicles and farm equipment on display.

As the decades passed and technology advanced and the times changed, the number of applicants to homestead dwindled and dwindled. Additionally, by the mid-20th century federal government policy shifted to retaining control of federal lands. The Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 ended homesteading, except for within the state of Alaska, where homesteading was allowed until 1986. 

The last successful claim under a homestead act was made by Ken Deardorff in 1979 for 80 acres of land along the Stony River in southwestern Alaska. 

We recommend visiting Homestead National Historical Park. It was very interesting to learn about this important chapter of American life.

For more info: https://www.nps.gov/home/index.htm