American Agriculture History Minute: The Beginning of Husker Harvest Days and Grand Island

I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.

Husker harvest days are held every September in Grand Island, Nebraska. Grand Island is located along the Platte River and figures into American agriculture history.

It’s estimated a quarter of a million settlers followed the Platte River between 1840 and 1870, making their way west. French traders named a large island in that river in central Nebraska La Grand Isle in the 1850s. The Union Pacific Railroad would plat the area Grand Island in 1866. The Platte River has changed. The island is gone, but Grand Island remains.

That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. For Grand Island, I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll See you next time.