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Settlement and early history. In late 1865 three scouts were sent from a German Lutheran settlement near Ixonia, Wisconsin, to find productive, inexpensive farmland that could be claimed under the Homestead Act. From the Omaha area they followed the Elkhorn River upstream to West Point. Finding that area too crowded, they continued up the river.
The Founding of Norfolk. The city’s roots trace back to the 1860s when German settlers moved westward, seeking fertile land. These pioneers initially named their settlement “North Fork”, a nod to its location at the North Fork of the Elkhorn River. Over time, this name was shortened and adapted to “Norfolk”. 3.
Norfolk, city, Madison county, northeastern Nebraska, U.S., on the North Fork Elkhorn River, about 110 miles (175 km) northwest of Omaha. Settled in 1866 by German farmers from Ixonia and Watertown, Wis., its name, originally proposed as North Fork, was abbreviated to Norfork and then changed by.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sep 15, 2022 · Insider graciously compiled a list of how each state got its name. Here's what they found out about the great state of Nebraska: "The Native American word 'Nebrathka' means 'flat water,' and refers to the state's symbol the Platte River."
May 2, 2016 · The post office was established in 1869 and named Norfolk, because it was on the North Fork of the Elkhorn, and August Raasch was first Postmaster. The first church building was erected in the fall of 1867, by the German Lutherans, John Heckendorf preaching the first sermon in it soon after its completion.
In the spring of 1866 a close-knit group of German Lutherans left Ixonia, Wisconsin, and traveled to the banks of the North Fork of the Elkhorn River in what was then Nebraska Territory. They arrived in mid-July and the families claimed land along the river.
The history of the U.S. state of Nebraska dates back to its formation as a territory by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, passed by the United States Congress on May 30, 1854. The Nebraska Territory was settled extensively under the Homestead Act of 1862 during the 1860s, and in 1867 was admitted to the Union as the 37th U.S. state.
