Why is Lincoln the State Capital and not Yankee Hill?

Description

Nebraska’s original territorial capital was located in Omaha. Why, when statehood arrived, was the seat of government relocated to the tiny and insignificant village of Lancaster? Located on the edge of the “Great American Desert,” with a population of just 30, Lancaster was renamed Lincoln and selected as the site for the new state’s capitol building, the university, the insane asylum and the penitentiary. The reasons are complicated, fascinating and—according to McKee—it all boils down to mosquitoes and ice cream.