Looking at the “today in history” webpage from the Associated Press, I saw that today in 1854, the territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.  There have certainly been jokes made at the expense of our Midwestern neighbors, but instead, a shout out to them on their birthday.  Below is a cartoon by Ding Darling from the Editorial Cartoons digital collection showing a nice gesture between Sioux City and Lincoln (however Omaha doesn’t seem too pleased about being left out):

I’m not entirely sure what the story was about the “Ashland Extension”, but I assume it had to do with extending rail service between the two cities.  Related to this, and on a personal level, I’m excited by the talk of possibly seeing passenger rail service return to Iowa City, with 2 daily trains running to Chicago.  Check out an article by Irving Weber describing the last time this was available:

–Mark F. Anderson
Digital Initiatives Librarian