January-February 2023 • Nebraskaland 39
becoming a major city. The City of
Kearney, Nebraska, documents the
high-water mark of local ambitions.
A much larger monument to
Kearney's boom years stands on the
campus of the University of Nebraska
at Kearney. A local architect named
George W. Frank was among the
city's biggest boosters. He invested
aggressively but paid the price when
the boom ended. He lost much of his
fortune, but his grand, red sandstone
house remains. One of the fi rst homes
west of the Mississippi to be wired for
electricity, it is open as the G. W. Frank
Museum of History and Culture.
N
ABOVE: Kearney Cotton Mills ad. HISTORY NEBRASKA, 6089-2
BELOW: George W. Frank lost much of his fortune during the depression of the
1890s, but his grand, red sandstone house remains. From The City of Kearney,
Nebraska. HISTORY NEBRASKA
