Lincoln

Lincoln is the capital of Nebraska, on the plains of the southeast of the state near Salt Creek. The Nebraska State Capitol, a tower of limestone designed by Bertram Goodhue and finished in 1932, rises over the city with a bronze statue of a sower on its dome.

The village of Lancaster stood near the salt flats of Salt Creek when the new state chose it as its capital in 1867 and renamed it after Abraham Lincoln. The University of Nebraska was founded in the city in the following years, and the railways brought settlers and trade from the east. The state government and the university shaped the growth of the town, and its old warehouse quarter by the railway kept its brick buildings. Salt from the flats of Salt Creek had drawn the first settlers, who hoped to build an industry on it.

Kawasaki builds motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles and rail cars at its plant in Lincoln. Hudl, a company founded in the city, makes video software that sports teams use to study games. Duncan Aviation repairs and refits business jets at its base at the Lincoln airport.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers play football at Memorial Stadium on the university campus, which has been sold out for every home game since the 1960s. The Sheldon Museum of Art, in a marble building by Philip Johnson, holds American paintings and sculpture. The Sunken Gardens, laid out in the 1930s, have flower beds and pools below street level. Pioneers Park, on the west side, has a nature center and herds of bison and elk.