ABSTRACT
In the earliest years of white settlement, few Nebraskans were concerned with the development of an agricultural system, but most were interested in the profits to be made from investment in growing cities. Omaha’s rail access to eastern markets was certainly a major factor in its success as a meatpacking center, but the industry could not thrive until sufficient agricultural development had occurred in surrounding rural communities. Through its rail connections, Lincoln became an important wholesale center for Beatrice, Hastings, York, Crete, Fairbury, and other cities south and west of the capital. Real estate speculation was rampant. In 1880, Omaha contained only five thousand residential dwellings. The physical expansion of Omaha and Lincoln would not have been possible without the development of a transportation system to move people with reasonable speed from one place to another. As people moved their residences farther from the historic centers of the cities, commercial enterprises were drawn toward and into the new automobile suburbs.
