38 Nebraskaland • January-February 2023
before the boom collapsed following
a nationwide fi nancial crisis and the
beginning of a prolonged drought.
Burrows said that most of the new
homes and businesses in Kearney were
heavily mortgaged. Many people lost
everything.
The city eventually recovered, but
never again would local leaders think
that Kearney was on its way toward
ABOVE: The Kearney Cotton Mill
employed hundreds of workers, many
of them women and children. Each
year, they transformed some 50,000
bales of Texas cotton into 76,000
yards of fabric. In winter, the water-
powered mill periodically ground to
a halt when the canal froze. The mill
declared bankruptcy in 1901.
HISTORY NEBRASKA, RG2178-2-7
Buff alo County Courthouse, built in 1890 and replaced in 1974. HISTORY NEBRASKA, RG2101-2-7
