Pioneer
Park
George
S.
Harris
arrived
in
Lincoln
in
1871.
He
was
employed
as
a
land
commissioner
for
the
Burlington
&
Missouri
River
Railroad.
The
Harris
family
prospered.
George's
son,
John
F.
was
a
member
of
the
New
York
City
stock
brokerage.
John
wanted
to
leave
a
memorial
to
his
parents
as
Lincoln
pioneers.
Lincoln
had
only
one
park,
Lincoln
Park,
at
8th
&
D
Streets,
at
that
time.
In
1928
John
Harris
decided
on
a
park,
and
he
called
his
former
classmate
George
Woods
and
asked
him
to
get
a
tract
of
land
in
or
near
Lincoln
for
a
memorial
to
his
parents.
Woods
secured
500
acres
southwest
of
Lincoln.
Chet
Ager,
as
Park
Superintendent,
drafted
plans
for
the
park.
Ernst
Herminghaus,
landscape
architect,
drafted
a
proposed
layout.
John
Harris
was
so
impressed
with
the
plan
that
he
purchased
an
additional
100
acres.
He
decided
not
to
name
the
park
solely
in
his
parents'
honor
but
in
honor
of
all
pioneers.
He
named
the
park
Pioneer
Park.
City
Engineer
D.
L.
Erickson
drew
up
a
topographical
map.
Architect
William
Tucker
drew
plans
for
the
park
and
the
golf
course.
Lincoln
Mayor
Verne
Hedge
accepted
the
gift
in
January
of
1929.
Many
people
in
Lincoln
feared
the
park
was
to
far
from
Lincoln
and
would
be
used
by
only
a
few
people.
During
the
1930's
Lincoln's
economy
was
helped
by
the
Works
Progress
Administration
(WPA).
Under
the
WPA,
Ellis
Burman
designed
the
Smoke
Signal
statue.
The
statue
is
fourteen
feet
and
weighs
five
ton.
It
is
a
huge
bronze
statue
of
an
Indian
sending
smoke
signals
that
is
on
one
of
the
park's
knolls.
At
the
dedication
services
in
September
1935,
more
than
100
members
and
chiefs
of
the
Omaha,
Winnebago,
Sioux,
and
Ponca
tribes
camped
on
the
site.
Throughout
the
ceremonies,
many
of
the
Indians
sat
on
their
horses
on
the
top
of
the
hill,
which
faces
west
and
the
setting
sun.
John
Harris
also
commissioned
the
bronze
casting
of
a
buffalo.
The
buffalo
was
designed
and
sculpted
in
Paris
by
George
Gaudet.
The
statue
was
tossed
about
during
its
trip
across
the
ocean.
Later
the
statue
was
lost
by
the
railroad,
narrowly
avoided
a
collision,
and
finally
almost
collapsed
a
wooden
bridge
across
a
local
creek.
Today
the
buffalo
is
located
in
the
circle
at
the
park's
entrance.
Members
of
the
Civilian
Conservation
Corps
planted
thousands
of
trees.
A
dedication
was
planned
for
June
2,
1929,
featuring
Paul
Whiteman
and
his
band.
Because
of
a
week
of
rain
which
made
the
park
extremely
muddy,
Whiteman
and
his
band
gave
a
concert
at
the
Burlington
Station.
The
other
festivities
planned
were
postponed.
The
park
and
golf
course
were
officially
dedicated
May
17,
1930.
Today
the
park
has
800
acres
and
is
listed
by
the
U.S.
Department
of
Interior/National
Park
Service's
National
Registry
of
Historic
Places.
The
Elk
statue
is
a
gift
to
the
citizens
of
Lincoln
from
Leonard
J.
Stransky
and
Angeleen
E.
Stransky.
Mr.
Stransky
was
a
prominent
Lincoln
grocer,
owning
Trixes
IGA
Foodliner
from
1940
to
1974.
A
property
owner
with
extensive
real
estate
holdings
in
Lincoln,
and
a
major
financier
in
the
stock
market.
It
is
their
wish
to
dedicate
this
elk
to
the
natural
beauty
of
Pioneers
Park.
Mountain
Monarch
by
Rich
Haines
-
2001.
Photos
provided
by
Teresa
Sullivan
4-11-2003
