Today in Nebraska-January

Jan. 1

1863 - The first homestead claim was filed at Brownville.

1891 - Modern Woodmen of America, a fraternal and insurance organization, incorporated in Omaha.

1926 - More than 4,000 people attended a reception at the state Capitol for the first official display of the state flag

Jan. 2

1939 - Gov. Kay Orr was born in Burlington, Iowa.

1984 - The Miami Hurricanes defeated the top-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers 31-30 in the Orange Bowl to win the national collegiate football championship.

Jan. 3

1949 - A huge blizzard that Gov. Val Peterson called one of the greatest catastrophes ever to hit Nebraska raged across the state. Twenty-five deaths were attributed to the storm.

Jan. 4

1854 - A committee headed by Stephen Douglas reported to the U.S. Senate a bill creating the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which organized the Kansas and Nebraska territories.

Jan. 5

1937 - The first session of the unicameral Legislature began in Lincoln.

Jan. 6

1910 - Novelist Wright Morris was born in Central City.

Jan. 7

1870 - The first 10 miles of the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad were completed.

1944 - Three seamen were killed in an explosion at the Naval Ordnance Depot in Hastings. Two more fatal explosions occurred later in the year.

Jan. 8

1862 - Saunders County, formerly known as Calhoun County, was organized by an act of the Territorial Legislature.

1881 - Poet John G. Neihardt was born near Sharpsburg, Ill.

1910 - Chadron was chosen the site for the state’s fourth normal school, now known as Chadron State College.

Jan. 9

1866 - Territorial Gov. Alvin Saunders urged the Legislature to consider statehood.

1879 - A group of Cheyenne Indians broke out of Fort Robinson, leading Army troops on a chase that lasted several days in bitterly cold weather.

1953 - The state Supreme Court ruled that real estate should be assessed at actual value, touching off a controversy that lasted many months.

Jan. 10

1917 - Buffalo Bill Cody died in Denver.

1975 - A blizzard driven by 60 mph winds struck Omaha, dumping up to 16 inches of snow.

1976 - An explosion and fire destroyed the Hotel Pathfinder in Fremont, killing 18 people.

Jan. 11

1860 - Territorial Legislature authorized a special election to consider forming a state constitution.

Jan. 12

1858 - William Richardson became governor of the Nebraska Territory.

1872 - Grand Duke Alexis of Russia arrived in North Platte for a bison hunt with Bill Cody.

1888 - The Schoolchildren’s Blizzard.

Jan. 13

1873 - Gov. Robert Furnas issued a proclamation organizing Sherman County.

1987 - Mayor Mike Boyle, of Omaha, accused of misconduct in office, was recalled in a special election.

Jan. 14

1940 - Among manufacturing cities with 25,000 or more inhabitants, Omaha is the country’s first city in the manufacture of butter.

Jan. 15

1919 - The people of Sidney threw a welcome-home victory dance for servicemen returning from World War I. Several foxtrots were on the program.

Jan. 16

1855 - The first session of the Nebraska Territorial Legislature opened.

Jan. 17

1965 - An early Omaha landmark, the Omaha Paper Co. building, was destroyed by fire.

Jan. 18

1856 - The Territorial Legislature chartered the Bank of Florence, which failed three years later.

2008 - An 18-year-old North Platte man pleaded guilty to charges related to a double homicide. Michael Grandon admitted killing Lori Solie and 5-year-old Tiara Solie, the mother and half sister, respectively, of Grandon’s teenage girlfriend, Alisha Ochoa.

2012 - President Barack Obama rejected plans for a massive oil pipeline that would carry tar sands oil from Canada through Nebraska and other states on its way to the Gulf Coast. The decision didn’t kill the project, however.

Jan. 19

1874 - Settlers and a band of Sioux Indians were involved in a skirmish near Elyria that became known as the Battle of Pebble Creek. The Indians withdrew after an exchange of shots with the settlers that left one settler dead.

Jan. 20

1965 - The Omaha Benson High School Band, in Washington, D.C., for the inaugural parade, experienced a brief period of panic when members learned that their instruments had not arrived in the Capitol with them. Musicians and instruments were soon reunited when the mix-up was straightened out.

Jan. 21

1879 - Cheyenne outbreak at Fort Robinson ends with the Battle of Antelope Creek.

1930 - Longtime Omaha Mayor Jim Dahlman died.

Jan. 22

1879 - Nine Northern Cheyenne Indians were captured and about two dozen killed at the end of the Battle of Antelope Creek about 40 miles northwest of Fort Robinson.

1893 - The Capitol National Bank failed in Lincoln during a financial panic.

Jan. 24

1949 - The village of Terrytown was incorporated.

Jan. 25

1940 - Shattering all records for a movie here, “Gone With the Wind” opened at the Paramount in Omaha, with an advance sale of 17,000 tickets.

Jan. 26

1856 - Dixon County was organized.

1916 - Keya Paha High School opened in Springview.

Jan. 27

1949 - Thirteen inches of snow fell in Omaha during a blizzard.

1958 - Police found the bodies of three people at a Lincoln home, the first victims discovered in a murder spree by Charles Starkweather.

Jan. 28

1940 - John Steinbeck’s novel “The Grapes of Wrath” was not available to patrons of the Omaha Public Library. The Library Board had not taken formal action after a discussion to ban the book, but the librarian said the book had been catalogued and then withdrawn from circulation.

Jan. 29

1958 - Mass murderer Charles Starkweather, of Lincoln, was arrested in Douglas, Wyo.

Jan. 30

1965 - Noting that it is difficult to determine where to draw the line in laws regulating exotic dancing, the Omaha city attorney told a council member that he didn’t think it rational to write an ordinance permitting only one wiggle per drum beat.

Jan. 31

1876 - The Sioux Nation was turned over to the War Department. The U.S. government issued a decree the month before requiring that all Sioux Indians in Nebraska, Wyoming and Montana turn themselves in at reservations or be considered hostile.