A colorful past leading to a prosperous future

Note: This article was written from many different, but very reliable, historical sources. The collection of history comes from sources such as The City of Sidney, The University of Nebraska, the Official Nebraska Government, The Nebraska Historical Society and the Cheyenne County Historical Society’s websites.

First in a series

Saying Sidney has a colorful history would be an understatement. The many changes the town has seen from being a simple outpost established to protect against hostile Native Americans to the modern day thriving small city has truly given Sidney a life’s story.

Sidney is named after one of Union Pacific Railroad’s presidents, from 1874 until 1884, Sidney Dillon, a financier involved in the construction of several railroads, with the Union Pacific being his biggest job.

Dillon would serve as president of the Union Pacific railroad company twice – his second term came between 1890 and 1892 when he passed away – and would have two towns named after him due to his connection with the railroad; the second town Dillon, Mont .

Originally, and for the first two established years, Sidney was known as Sidney Barracks, consisting of a simple block house manned by soldiers to protect Union Pacific railroad crews from Indians during the construction of the railway in 1867.

It would take three years and a relocation of the original establishment, to where Sidney is now, for the simple blockhouse to become a tented outpost, with actual citizens, called Fort Sidney, still the main objective of the establishment was to protect the railroad and workers.

From the establishment of Fort Sidney and the residents who stayed past the completion of the railroad through the area came a call from the small populace to be considered a part of the Nebraskan government, allowing the residents a say in the politics happening within the state.

In 1870 Thomas Kane went to Lincoln to discuss the recognition of the area by the Nebraskan government as an established settlement.

By that August Governor Butler declared panhandle of Nebraska to be known as Cheyenne County with Fort Sidney as the county seat and an official established settlement of Nebraska.

During the 1870s the railroad that now ran through Sidney would become an essential hub for the transporting supplies and people along the Sidney-Blackhills trail.

It was during this time Sidney saw its first real boom in population, thanks in part to the gold rush but mainly due to the location of the railroad which allowed for many smaller freight lines to utilize Sidney and resulted in its history becoming colorful in nature.

The town was no longer tents and makeshift housing but consisted of homes, saloons, dance halls, brothels, a hospital, the world’s first all night theater and many other essential places of business including those that allowed gambling, and quickly became a true old west town.

In 1876 Sidney was used by miners who had stakes in the Blackhills of South Dakota, Custer City primarily, for a mail service called the Pony Express launched by Henry T. Clarke.

Clarke was unable to afford the expensive service and ended up selling the pony express to other businessmen until the United States Government took over once the Black Hills Treaty was signed.

By the mid-1870s, Fort Sidney’s value had begun to really shine. It became understood the location of this town made it prime for the traffic of supplies in many different directions within the west. It also gained a reputation of being “wide open,” attracting a less desirable element to town.

Already within the town the mix between the three army companies and freight workers could become volatile, especially on payday, but the worst was yet to come.

The disruption within the town by unsavory characters lead law abiding citizens to form a group called the Regulators, a group of men who were able to “persuade” many of the unruly elements to leave, but the peacefulness would be short lived.

By the late 1870s a new wave of unsavory characters would invade Fort Sidney, and they were harder to get rid of and would stay for longer.

Many of these new residents were from Texas, consisting of horse thieves who had taken to stealing horses from the reservations and in turn created an uprising where soldiers from Fort Sidney were called away to help control the potential rebellion.

Devastation would hit Fort Sidney in 1877 when a fire would take down more than half the buildings in the downtown area.

The absence of soldiers could arguably be the cause for more crime within the town, but so could the many saloons, brothels and gambling houses; whatever the cause for the increased lawlessness by the early 1880 Sidney was well known for its ever growing criminal element.

To be continued . . .