Fitting the Tilden Community Story into American History

Last week I had the opportunity to drive through Tilden NE. For those of you not familiar with Tilden it is located about 20 miles west of Norfolk on highway 275 along the Elkhorn River. As I drove through town I thought about the “Tilden Woman’s Club project of local historical remembrance” that can be found in Nebraska Memories. This 120+ page type-written manuscript with hand-written corrections was compiled by Violet E. Garrison of Tilden for the Tilden Woman’s Club project. It covers the history of Tilden, which was originally named Burnett, from 1870 to 1902. The paragraph on the front cover of the document states: “At the beginning of each year–we “fit” the Tilden Community Story into the larger framework of American history to help the reader “place” the period we describe.” The document is very interesting to read. It paints a great picture of what life in Nebraska was like in the late 1800’s. I can only imagine what the land looked like back then with buffalo, antelope, elk, deer, beaver, wolves, badgers and wild cats roaming the land. I knew that Tilden currently is located in both Madison and Antelope County, but I didn’t realize this divide dated back to at least 1885. The Village of Burnett was incorporated in 1885. There was one small problem however; the first corporate limits did not include any territory in Antelope County. This split in 1885 left about 1/3 of the population free from city tax and not controlled by city ordinances. “This situation was novel in that public peace could be disturbed on the Antelope side of Tilden, and those offending could not be arrested by the Burnett Marshal under city laws.” “This condition was to prevail until 1894 when the Antelope side of Tilden was annexed.” To learn more about the history of Tilden and Nebraska in the late 1800’s spend some time reading the “Tilden Woman’s Club project of local historical remembrance”. Visit Nebraska Memories to search for or browse through many more historical images digitized from photographs, negatives, postcards, maps, lantern slides, books and other materials. Nebraska Memories is a cooperative project to digitize Nebraska-related historical and cultural heritage materials and make them available to researchers of all ages via the Internet. Nebraska Memories is brought to you by the Nebraska Library Commission. If your institution is interested in participating in Nebraska Memories, see http://nlc.nebraska.gov/nebraskamemories/participation.aspx for more information, or contact Beth Goble, Government Information Services Director, or Devra Dragos, Technology & Access Services Director.