Bill would fund Standing Bear center, Ft. Robinson update, Mayhew Cabin
Nebraska City welcomes History Humanities management of Mayhew Cabin
By News Channel NebraskaNEBRASKA CITY – The state Legislature’s Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee held a hearing Thursday on a bill that would provide funding for a Standing Bear culture center, Ft. Robinson State Park interpretation of the Sioux Wars and the Underground Railroad site and Mayhew Cabin.
Sen. Justin Wayne’s LB 474 is seeking $35 million, but he told the committee negotiations on the total funds are expected if the committee advances it to the Unicameral floor.
Wayne: “The point is we as a state have to start preserving some of this culture and history before we lose it and these particular sites, these three, are, I mean, you can’t get more historic. Not just in time and length, but in the amount of change these three represent in our Nebraska culture.”
Judy gaiashkibos, director of Commission on Indian Affairs, advocated for a Standing Bear Culture Center at Niobrara State Park and other sites where civil rights are a topic.
gaiashkibos: “I’m going to trust all of you and be flexible and be willing to work with the tribe, with you, with the Mayhew people, with Ft. Robinson because all of those stories are threaded together to be a part of our people’s history and we’ve been left out for far too long. I know you all want the children of our state not have to go to South Dakota and other places to learn our history, when they could come here.”
Sen. Brewer said the bill developed in hopes of capturing history that needed to be championed.
Brewer: “There was a good chance that the Mayhew Cabin could be forgot and lost to history and nobody was scheduled to really do anything to help develop Standing Bear and tell the story and have a place you could go to see and hear and just have the history of what Standing Bear had done.”
Nebraska City Mayor Bryan Bequette said he learned of LB 474 from the League of Municipalities and wanted the committee to know that Nebraska City values and has affection for its 11 museum sites.
Bequette: “The city looks forward to working with History Nebraska to get Mayhew Cabin up and running and it’s important story to be told again from the site.”
Sen. Wayne said it was difficult to write the bill because his office was not able to get feedback from the Mayhew Foundation, a private, non-profit that owns the grounds.
Nebraska City City Attorney Drew Graham said the city does not plan to work with the foundation as it now exists.
Graham: “I would say currently no relationship between the foundation and the city. The site is incredibly important from a historical standpoint and it would be the hope of the city that the state could take ownership and secure the funds to re-open it for future generations.”
He said the city was put in a position of defending itself against a $3.9 million claim after flooding damaged the main display building and the underground tunnel.
He said the legal contention was not resolved by the court before the case was dismissed.
Graham: “So, for the four years interim the city did weather all of the public statements and disparagement that came along with denial of this claim and defending of that lawsuit. The city shares in the disappointment of the closing of that cabin both as a historical site and as a tourist attraction for the city. I’ll reiterate, as Mayor Bequette, said this city is one of the oldest in the state of Nebraska and there is a great deal of history and extremely old history for the State of Nebraska including the cabin and the site there.”
The cabin, which predates Nebraska City in 1854, was a stop on the Underground Railroad. A tunnel at the site was damaged by flooding in 2019. The historical accuracy of a tunnel at the site has been questioned, but attraction advocates say a replica tunnel dug after the cabin was moved in 1937 provides a popular visual for the historic narrative.
The site was closed after flooding in 2019
Jill Dolberg interim director Historic Nebraska said Mayhew Cabin is important in two time-frames, the Underground Railroad from 1855 to 1859, and the tourism draw of John Brown’s Cave after 1937.
Dolberg: “Although there were other stops along the Underground Railroad, no others in Nebraska are know to remain as stands. The sites may exist but the buildings do not.”
No one testified in opposition to the bill.