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and second largest city. About a quar-
ter of a million Nebraskans live here.
According to a 2013 Gallup-
Healthways survey, Lincoln residents
are the healthiest and happiest in the
nation.
Fur traders in the early 19th centu-
ry appreciated
Bellevue’s
pleasant
scenery and gave the city its name—
meaning “beautiful view” in French.
Today, Bellevue is Nebraska’s oldest
and third-largest city (population
50,137). During World War II, facto-
ries in Bellevue assembled B-29
bombers for the U.S. military, includ-
ing the ones that that dropped atomic
bombs on Japan in August 1945.
Almost 25,000 people live in
North Platte
, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau. But although the
southwestern Nebraska city is only
the eighth-largest in the state, it is the
site of the largest train yard in the
world. The 2,850-acre facility at
Bailey Yard manages up to 14,000 rail
cars a day. Back in the 1880s, North
Platte was home to Buffalo Bill
Cody—famed Pony Express rider,
buffalo hunter, U.S. Army scout, and
60
Lower Plains: Kansas, Nebraska
View of downtown Lincoln, including St. Mary
Catholic Church, founded in 1867.
The ranch and home owned by famed Western
showman Buffalo Bill Cody is now a state park
near North Platte.