Homestead Heritage Center
One of the newer attractions in Beatrice, Nebraska is the Homestead Heritage Center. This building was built within the property of the Homestead National Monument of America, and was opened (and dedicated, as far as I know) just this year on the twentieth of May – yes, they picked this particular date to commemorate the signing of the Homestead Act. The facility was built to allow visitors a more complete and engaging experience of the area; it was built to be a more effective, as well as affective tool in educating everyone on the importance of the 1862 event and the scope of its significance.
The place, very much like the modern educational attractions that have been popping up since the last decade or so, has gone with the interactive approach in order to make learning fun for visitors (most of whom tend whole classes of students on educational field trips). The exhibits are displayed in such a way that rather than simply seeing them, those who come in to this Center – Nebraskan or otherwise – will experience and appreciate them. The Homestead Heritage Center in Beatrice, Nebraska also strives to make sure that any subject related to the socio-historical influence of the 1862 Homestead Act would encourage visitors to think and reflect on that phase and era of Nebraskan and American History; examples of the subjects in question include the Act’s effects on Federal land policies, the local ecosystem, the native tribes, agriculture, immigration and industrialization. Through this Center, visitors will be able to better understand the trials and triumphs of the first homesteaders
Apart from the exhibits, the Homestead Heritage Center plays home to a complete collection of every homestead case file (which number up to oh, I don’t know… about TWO MILLION CASES) produced while the Act was in effect – all microfilm copies, of course. The copies were made and compiled with the help of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and they are available for the viewing of everyone, ranging from curious visitors, students or passers-by to interested scholars, historians, or genealogists. More importantly, however, the records serve to make the era more concrete and complete for those who come to Beatrice, Nebraska to remember the Homestead Act.
The Homestead Heritage Center is a structure that is pretty hard to miss when you go to the Homestead Heritage Center, since its roof is shaped like (to quote the online brochure) “a single bottom plow moving through the sod”. Apart from this, the building was built to commemorate the Homestead Act by giving visitors an unparalleled view of the nature surrounding the area.
If you have time, it’s definitely worth the visit.
