Crete

Late-19th-century publications regularly promoted Nebraska's young cities and towns, and Crete was no exception. Settled by homesteaders, merchants, railroaders, and New Englanders associated with Doane College, Crete began as an agricultural trade center, but it soon possessed the refinements of gentility and city culture. One 1890s booklet described the 20-year-old town, with a population of 3,000, as a modern, cosmopolitan, progressive city—traits that few places of similar size in the W...