Last week we went to Fontanelle, Nebraska. My brother's baby girl was baptized, and Orsuré and I have the honor of being two of her Godparents. She's a gorgeous, funny, happy little baby. I'm so excited to be one of her cool uncles! ... Before I get sidetracked on her awesomeness - and she is really awesome - I really want to share some about what I learned about Fontanelle.
Places have stories and legacies, and it's easy to forget that, ignore this, or even never take the time to discover them.
Fontanelle is a quaint little place with a grand history. ... Today, Fontanelle is a little, unincorporated village north of Omaha. It seems like there are less than a hundred people who call this home. It is surrounded by vast farmlands and even a little forest along a river. There are no "stores" you can go. There are no food or drink establishments. There are homes. There are farm lands. There is an old church. If I didn't know any better I would say this village is on its last legs. ... I did learn that this village has deep history in Nebraska.
Fontanelle is named after Logan Fontenelle. The name of the place was misspelled with an "a" as opposed to an "e". Logan Fontenelle was respected by many people and is understood to have been a negotiator between white-European ancestry settlers and nearby native peoples. He was the son of the daughter of the chief of the Omaha people and the son of a French trader. You will find many things throughout Nebraska named after him, including the now unincorporated village of Fontanelle.
This village used to be a thriving and bustling city. It is older than even the state of Nebraska. When Nebraska was only a territory the city of Fontanelle was one of its largest cities. It's hard to believe that today, but it is true. The prominent and really old church in Fontanelle is Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church. It is one of the oldest churches in the state and is the oldest active Lutheran church in the USA west of the Mississippi River. Back in the 1850s, the village had hundreds and hundreds of people living in it. It had everything a busy "western" city had for its day. Because of this, it was even one of the two possible cities to become the capitol of the Nebraska when it would become a state. Clearly, the capitol of Nebraska is the city of Lincoln, and Lincoln has become something massive.
Fontanelle almost became the capitol city of Nebraska. Things would be so different today for the little village if it had been. Why didn't it become the capitol, you ask? It's a very simple answer. The railroad system ended up being built further south of Fontanelle, cutting off Fontanelle from the growth and development that railroads brought.
That one thing, that never came, ruined the grand plans the city had for itself. The city of Fontanelle had planned for major population growth, as they expected the train to run near or even through the city. Even today the county has on file the prospective growth and development map of the late 1800s of what Fontanelle was supposed to become. And, according to the Pastor of the Lutheran church, they have received a notice from the county that a shed they built is built on what is supposed to be an alley road - the county citing the Fontanelle planning map from the 1860s.
The city expected it was going to become the state's capitol. But when the railroad system ultimately built the railway through Omaha, the city quickly lost favor and people started moving away.
Today, Fontanelle is a little, unincorporated area. My brother's family lives there, and they have a beautiful little baby girl. Even though the area seems pretty desolate, it has a lasting history and legacy.
Very interesting!
Shavanda sitting across from Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Fontanelle, Nebraska.
Thomas (me) posing with the sunglaring in his eyes.
A local Fontanelle farm selling apples and pumpkins.