Basement Waterproofing Columbus, NE

During the eighteenth century, the region around the confluence of the Platte and the Loup Rivers was utilized by a number of Native American tribes, such as Pawnee, Otoe, Ponca, and Omaha. The Pawnee are believed to have originated from the Protohistoric Lower Loup Culture; the Otoe had relocated from central Iowa into the lower Platte Valley during the early eighteenth century; and the strongly related Omaha and Ponca had relocated from the area of the Ohio River mouth, settling along the Missouri by the mid-18th century. In 1720, Pawnee and Otoe allied with the French massacred the Spanish force directed by Pedro de Villasur just to the south of the present site of Columbus.

During the nineteenth century, the “Great Platte River Road”-the valley of the Platte and North Platte rivers running from Fort Kearny to Fort Laramie- was the principal route of the westward expansion. For individuals following the northern bank of the Platte, the Loup River, with its soft banks and quicksands, depicted a major hurdle. With the absence of a ferry or a bridge, many of these followed the Loup for a substantial distance upstream before attempting a crossing: the first major wave of Mormon emigrants, for example, continued up that river to a point about 3 miles downstream from present-day Fullerton.

With the coming of World War II, Columbus’s boosters wanted a war plant for Columbus. They convinced the federal government to buy 90 acres in northeastern Columbus, and to create a railroad line to the site. Before development of the projected aluminum-extrusion plant could start, however, it became obvious that the war would end soon and that the plant would not be necessary. The site ended up being sold as surplus property to the Loup District for a fraction of its original cost; the District transformed it into an industrial site. In 1946, Behlen Manufacturing constructed a factory on the site; the rest of the available territory was occupied soon after that.