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Red Cloud, Nebraska

Built in 1897, the main section of Red Cloud's Burlington Depot contained sleeping quarters on the 2nd floor, and a freight room, agents offices, and waiting rooms below. The building was moved here from its site near the tracts directly south of its present location. It has been restored and donated by the Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational Foundation.

"The Burlington Railroad: Colonizing Willa Cather's Wild Land" can be found on tour of the Willa Cather historic buildings at the restored Burlington Depot.

Depots and trains played a significant role in Willa Cather's life and writings, symbolizing both escape to the world and the door through which the world came to Red Cloud.

Attractions and Upcoming Events

Grace Episcopal Church

Built in 1884 on the corner of Second and Walnut, the Grace Protestant Episcopal Church was moved to its present location in 1891. The brick veneer was added sometime after 1922. Grace Episcopal Church is the church in which Willa Cather and her parents were confirmed on December 27, 1922

Red Cloud, NE Historic Churches

The State Bank Building

The State Bank Building, 1883, with its entrance on the diagonal, is made of native brick and was one of the first brick buildings in Red Cloud.

Red Cloud, NE Historic Buildings

The Red Cloud Opera House

The Red Cloud Opera House, 1885, stood for many years as the jewel in Main Street's crown. Here Blind Boone played, William Jennings Bryan spoke, and it was from this stage that Willa Cather graduated in 1890 and delivered her eloquent oration, "Superstition vs. Investigation"

Red Cloud, NE Historic Buildings

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

Starke Round Barn

Nebraska's largest round barn and one of the nation's largest, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in April 1972, and is still in use today. It was built in 1902-3

Red Cloud, NE Historic Buildings

Things to do near Red Cloud, NE

Harlan County's City RV Parks

Swanson Reservoir Fishing

The water clarity of the lake has a special appeal for both boaters and anglers. High water years in the early 1980's cut dow...

Audubon Crane Sanctuary

Every spring they come...A half million of them. Most of the sandhill cranes on this earth. And for a long, splendid month in...

Red Smoke Historic Site

National Historic Register - Red Smoke is one of three Paleo-Indian Tradition sites excavated following World War II ...

Hastings Museum of Natural and Cultural History