THREE SUMMITS: GETTING THERE AND SUMMIT #1, PANORAMA POINT IN NEBRASKA

 October 16, 2020

Now that we have been to all 50 states, my husband is trying to "fill in the spaces" on the United States map--traveling to places within the states where we have not been. Since we have been to many of the major cities, that means that he is looking for, shall we say, "out-of-the-way" places to visit. He also is keeping a list of state high points that he has climbed (or driven to). That's how he got the idea to travel to a rather obscure area of the U.S.--the western regions of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. He could check three high points off his list and visit a little-known area of the U.S. Perfect.

Looks excitin', doesn't it?

And just to convince you of how exciting this trip was going to be, here is the location of those three high points. Note how close they are to major cities--heck, to any city. They are in Nowheresville.

This is what I was leaving behind. (The mural is in the Ontario Airport.)

We flew from Ontario, California, to Denver, Colorado. The best part of the flight was that we flew directly over the Grand Canyon. If we've done that before, I have not had a window seat on the correct side of the plane. This time, I had a spectacular view.

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA: ST. MARY'S CATHOLIC CHURCH

From the top of the state capitol tower in Lincoln, Nebraska, we could see a charming white church across the street that looked as if it should be peaking through the rich emerald pine branches of the dense Bavarian forest rather than sitting on the unimaginative flat asphalt streets of a Nebraska prairie town:

St. Mary's Catholic Church of Lincoln, Nebraska, is a hidden gem and a great example of why Americans should spend some time exploring their own country.

I couldn't find any information about this church online other than its own website, which wasn't designed for tourists--no history, no information about the architecture or stained glass--just times for mass, services provided by the church, parish staff, links to important Catholic sites, etc. Clearly, it's a working church and not a "destination," but it was unlocked, and we were thrilled to get a peak inside.

The simple white walls and pink and gold accents give the interior, like the exterior, a Bavarian feel. 

If I had to describe the church in one word, it would be "serenity."

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA: STATE CAPITOL BUILDING

I have to admit that my initial response to the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln was a mixture of snickering and incredulity.  It looked like a cross between the Ghostbusters building and a state prison--which just goes to show my ignorance.

View from the front

The building was designed by Bertram Goodhue (1869-1924), a celebrated American architect known for his Neo-Gothic buildings. The Nebraska State Capitol is part Classical, part Neo-Gothic.

View of the back

I was surprised to discover that I am familiar with two other buildings Goodhue designed, the California Tower (1915) in Balboa Park, San Diego:

Photo from here

. . . and the Los Angeles Central Library, finished in 1924, the same year as the Nebraska Capitol:

Photo from here

The capitol's 400-foot tower can be seen from as far away as 30 miles, giving the building the nickname "The Tower on the Plains." It is the second-tallest state capitol, topped only by Louisiana's capitol. Thematically, it is said to represent a plant thrusting its way heavenward, referring to the importance of agriculture in this state. This was actually the first state capitol with a functional tower--a much more modern design than the traditional but purely decorative domes seen on so many capitols. Goodhue said he wanted to design "something quite unlike the usual [capitol building], with its veneered order and invariable Roman dome."

LDS CHURCH HISTORY SITES: KANESVILLE TABERNACLE, WINTER QUARTERS, THE PIONEER CEMETERY, AND AN LDS TEMPLE

In the spring of 1846, persecution-weary members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were once again driven out of their homes, this time in Nauvoo, Illinois. It had been two years since the murder of their prophet and leader Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. The Saints were determined to "find the place which God for [them] prepared, Far away, in the West, Where none shall come to hurt or make afraid; There the Saints will be blessed." (From the LDS hymn "Come, Come Ye Saints.") The beginning of winter found most of them encamped on the Missouri River, either in a town on the east bank that the Mormons called Kanesville until 1852 (after which time it was called Council Bluffs), or in Indian territory on the west bank.

The east-side town was named for this American attorney, military officer, and abolitionist, Thomas L. Kane, who had met Jesse C. Little, a member of the LDS Church, in May 1846. Brigham Young had sent Little to Washington, D.C., to seek governmental help for the Mormon exodus, and Little had stopped at an LDS conference in Philadelphia. Kane, who was a new lawyer serving as a clerk in his father's court, had read about the exiled Mormons in the newspaper. His curiosity prompted him to attend the conference, where he was moved by the terrible plight of the Mormon refugees. Kane offered Little some legal advice and arranged a meeting for him with President Polk. Later, Kane encouraged President Polk to call up a Mormon militia to fight in the Mexican-American War, providing some much needed income to the poor travelers. This group became known as the Mormon Battalion. Kane also got President Polk to designate some Indian land along the western side of Missouri River for the Saints' use for two years. 

The Mormons were so grateful for Kane's intervention in their behalf that they renamed their settlement on the eastern side of the Missouri River, which had originally been dubbed Miller's Hollow, "Kanesville." (For more about Kane's ongoing relationship with the Mormons, see this article.) By the way, Iowa was given statehood on December 28, 1846, not long after the Mormons established their settlement there, making President Polk's intervention giving them legal rights to live in "Indian territory" on the other side of the river that much more important.

The Mormons spent the winter of 1846-1847 in Kanesville and across the river in the Nebraska Territory. After the martyrdom of Joseph Smith in 1844, a struggle for the Presidency of the Church had ensued, and by 1846 Brigham Young had emerged as the new Prophet and President. He directed the Saints in Kanesville to build a "tabernacle" that could hold as many people as possible for a conference in December 1847 at which the presidency of the church would be formally reorganized. About 200 men set to work cutting down trees, hauling lumber, and building the tabernacle, completing the structure in less than three weeks.

 

In the LDS Church, a tabernacle is a large building that serves multiple congregations in a geographic area. They were the precursors to today's stake centers, but were generally larger and more ornate. The Church continued to build tabernacles through the 1950s, about eighty in all, the most famous of which is the Mormon Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. 

Photo from Wikipedia

Most of the tabernacles have been destroyed or remodeled for different uses, including one in Provo built in 1898 that was being used as a cultural arts center. When it was gutted by fire in 2010, the decision was made to rebuild it as an LDS Temple, and it will be dedicated in March 2016. For more information, see this article.

Photo from here