[Illustration: {uncaptioned}]
The official milestone of Lincoln, standing in front of the city hall at
10th and P, has caused considerable comment, mostly favorable, since it
was placed there in 1926. The suitability of the covered wagon idea and
the manner of execution are not questioned. This very portion of Lincoln
was alive with prairie schooners, not always drawn by oxen however, in
the first 30 years of the city’s existence—tied to the hitching posts,
relaxing in government square for the night. The editor of The Journal
often put his head out the window and counted the wagons on the square.
Then he drew it back and sat down—not to his typewriter, in those
days—and told his readers how many new settlers were coming into the
state. Sometimes they needed encouragement, when grasshoppers were thick
or dry dust piled high.
The only critical note indicated in comment is the fact that the prairie
schooner is headed east instead of west. That seems to indicate the
back-home defeatist attitude rather than the on-to-victory pioneer
spirit.
The city hall itself was built early in the city’s history ... 1874. For
50 years it grew dingier and dingier. Then a sandman polished it off and
it showed up as an attractive edifice made of limestone—quarried near
the Platte river. The texture of its surface contrasts pleasingly with
the smoother face of the postoffice building.
The city hall was first Lincoln’s postoffice. Not until 1906 was the
first section of the present postoffice built. Until then the city
edifice was on the present site of the municipal building on Q street.