Antelope County Museum

Antelope County Fair  A county fair is a celebration of agriculture, competition, and education. Today, county fairs provide educational activities to help today's consumers understand the importance of agriculture, livestock, and horticulture. County fairs have given rural communities the chance to celebrate their hard work and achievements.   The Antelope County Fair has gathered people in celebration for over a hundred and thirty-five years as the first fair was held in 1883, two miles east of Neligh, Nebraska. There has not been much information regarding the early years of the fair recorded, only that financial and economic issues caused the fair to discontinue in the late 1890s.  County Fair in 1928 However in 1914, the fair was held again. This time at Riverside Park. Memberships for the fair were sold for $2 a piece. In the 1920's more activities that we recognize today were added to the celebration. For example community involvement began with a concer

Shelterbelts Saved the County As settlers adventured out West seeking land and profit, they soon discovered their new homes were often victims to broken sod, droughts, and dust storms. To protect the citizen's land from erosion the U. S. passed various acts, such as the Timber Culture Act of 1873 and the Clark-McNary Act of 1924, to encourage people to plant trees. In 1935, the Plains Shelterbelt Project was created by the Forest Service, which was called the "Prairie States Forestry Project" and ran until 1942.  The Shelterbelt Program began planting trees along borders of farmland extending from Canada to Texas. Mary Rice shelterbelt, east of Orchard Photo taken by Carl A. Taylor Primarily ten or eleven species of trees were planted throughout the Great Plains: Cottonwood, Chinese Elm, Boxelder, Green Ash, Western Red Cedar, Hackberry, Bur Oak, American Elm, Honey Locust, Russian Olive, and Walnut. Trees were seen as a beneficial way to protect the land, and pe