The Great Platte River Road Archway Monument - Kearney, NE
In the late 1990's, Robert Fitzgerald was approached by the late Frank Morrison, who had been Governor of Nebraska in the early 1960's. Gov. Morrison said that he had left office without accomplishing one of his major life's goals: to construct a monument somewhere in Nebraska which celebrated the lives of the people who had migrated westward and struggled for survival on the Great Platte River Road. After much research and months of design schemes, Fitzgerald learned that at least 10 interstate trail systems overlapped along the Platte River trails. In addition, the city of Kearney, Nebraska had played a huge role in the history of trans-continental movement and was the exact geographic center of the United States. Having become a sleepy little college town out in the middle of the Great Plains, Kearney was about to rediscover its past with the construction of an elaborate elevated two story museum worthy of presidential visits and much acclaim.
The idea for the archway monument was really quite simple, though at the time it seemed far fetched - to establish a line in the sky and on the land, in Kearney and over Interstate 80; perpendicular to the route of migrating Native Americans, the Mormons, those heading for Oregon and the California Gold Rush, the Pony Express, the Trans-Continental Railroad, the first Inter-State Highway section, the first Interstate Fiber Optic line; and also parallel to the great bird migrations of North America, including the path and mid-point of the annual Sand Hill Crane migration. The goal was to place along that line a two story museum in a bridge spanning the trail below (now Interstate 80) which could tell all of the stories of these great migrations. The idea morphed over a few years of research and re-design until President William Jefferson Clinton finally dedicated the great monument. It opened to all those tired of their I-80 trek and looking for a respite to wander. It opened with the help of historians, art coordinators, exhibit designers and Fitzgerald's team of architects and engineers. Now there is a place to rest along the trail and to learn of all those who have gone before along the very same route and along the Great Platte River Road.
Photos
In the late 1990's, Robert Fitzgerald was approached by the late Frank Morrison, who had been Governor of Nebraska in the early 1960's. Gov. Morrison said that he had left office without accomplishing one of his major life's goals: to construct a monument somewhere in Nebraska which celebrated the lives of the people who had migrated westward and struggled for survival on the Great Platte River Road. After much research and months of design schemes, Fitzgerald learned that at least 10 interstate trail systems overlapped along the Platte River trails. In addition, the city of Kearney, Nebraska had played a huge role in the history of trans-continental movement and was the exact geographic center of the United States. Having become a sleepy little college town out in the middle of the Great Plains, Kearney was about to rediscover its past with the construction of an elaborate elevated two story museum worthy of presidential visits and much acclaim.
The idea for the archway monument was really quite simple, though at the time it seemed far fetched - to establish a line in the sky and on the land, in Kearney and over Interstate 80; perpendicular to the route of migrating Native Americans, the Mormons, those heading for Oregon and the California Gold Rush, the Pony Express, the Trans-Continental Railroad, the first Inter-State Highway section, the first Interstate Fiber Optic line; and also parallel to the great bird migrations of North America, including the path and mid-point of the annual Sand Hill Crane migration. The goal was to place along that line a two story museum in a bridge spanning the trail below (now Interstate 80) which could tell all of the stories of these great migrations. The idea morphed over a few years of research and re-design until President William Jefferson Clinton finally dedicated the great monument. It opened to all those tired of their I-80 trek and looking for a respite to wander. It opened with the help of historians, art coordinators, exhibit designers and Fitzgerald's team of architects and engineers. Now there is a place to rest along the trail and to learn of all those who have gone before along the very same route and along the Great Platte River Road.
