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Red Cloud, Nebraska

The Farmers' and Merchants' Bank building, 1889, was erected by Silas Garber, the founder of Red Cloud (1871), the fourth governor of Nebraska (1875-1879), and the prototype for Captain Forrester in A Lost Lady.

The former bank now houses the Willa Cather State Historic Site and is owned by Nebraska State Historical Society. Cather archival materials are located in this building. The building was restored in the late 1950s by the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation. No doubt the "lost lady" herself visited this building many times!

Attractions and Upcoming Events

Burlington Depot

Built in 1897, the main section of Red Cloud's Burlington Depot contained sleeping quarters on the 2

Red Cloud, NE Railroad History

Willa Cather's Childhood Home

World Famous author, Willa Sibert Cather (1873-1947), moved with her family from Virginia to the Red Cloud area in 1883. Nebraska became what Cather later described as "the happiness and the curse of my life". The state'

Red Cloud, NE Famous Homes

Chief Red Cloud

Red Cloud, the English name of Makhpiya Luta, the Oglala Sioux chief, and his followers were prominent participants in the Powder River War of 1865 and other subsequent battles. The chief himself was a significant player in the failure of the army's 1865

Red Cloud, NE Famous People

The Methodist Church

[The Methodist Church] The Methodist Church building described in My Antonia , now serves as a Masonic Lodge. Cather tells how, during the winter, the children were starved for color and how they stood in the cold and looked at the stained glass windows: "

Red Cloud, NE Historic Churches

The Auld Public Library

The Auld Public Library, 1917-1918, is a gift of William Thomas Auld, uncle of Jessica Cather Auld's husband, J. W. (Bill) Auld. Jessica was one of Willa's younger sisters. He gave the city of Red Cloud $20,000 in early April, 1917. On April 9

Red Cloud, NE Historic Buildings

Things to do near Red Cloud, NE

Gothenburg Carnegie Library

Johnson Lake Fishing

Species of game fish in the lake include white bass, walleye, channel catfish, flathead catfish, striped bass, largemouth bas...

First Presbyterian Church

Recreation

The State Bank Building