Behind the History on A Bargain to Keep

Before you begin reading, be aware that this behind the scenes glimpse into A Bargain to Keep does include spoilers! You’ll want to read the book before you continue.

If you read A Bargain to Keep and loved it, you may be wondering how much was fact and how much was fiction. This is for you. Osceola has a rich history, and before creating this story, I made pages of notes, but . . . a novella is only allowed so many words. At least I can let the overflow spill onto here.

A Bargain to Keep

The novella that begins the Home to Osceola series

As an intro before we plunge into the history behind the book, I purposefully set Ethan, Jeanne, and the characters from the rest of the series in Osceola. No accident about it or searching a map for the right Nebraska town. Almost as soon as I got the idea for what will be book one, I knew these characters had to live in Osceola.

I spent the first fourteen years of my life on a farm outside of Osceola. The land had been in the family for five generations, and it was the stories, the old pictures, and the tools from times gone by that made me first want to explore deeper into the past of the town I had called home for so many years. And the more I learned, the more I knew I had to write a series about the area, a series to capture the feel of the era.

And this book was born out of those feelings.

Some History Behind Columbus, Nebraska

At the beginning of A Bargain to Keep, Jeanne and Ethan meet in Columbus at the hotel. According to the map, Columbus is almost twenty miles from Osceola, if you go as the crow flies. Depending on the road conditions and the horse, a trip between the two towns on horseback would have taken a few hours–and if it was by wagon, the trip would have consumed an entire day.

The town of Columbus was formed in 1856 as a direct result of the transcontinental railroad. The idea of a railroad connecting the east coast to the west was still nothing more than talk and a proposed route at that time, but it was enough for a group of townspeople in Columbus, Ohio. In May, a group of citizens arrived on the plains of the Platte River Valley and set to work establishing their town named—you guessed it–Columbus.

When the railroad finally did come through in 1863, the town turned into a hub of activity. The Homestead Act had been passed the previous year, and the railroad played a crucial role in helping want-to-be settlers cross the plains to their new homes.

Not only that, but after the Black Hills Gold Rush hit in 1875, Columbus became a jumping off point for gold miners. After arriving in town by train, the miners would buy their supplies in Columbus, and then set out for the Black Hills by land. (In the backstory, Jeanne and her father came to Columbus in 1876).

Hotels were an important part of a growing town like Columbus, and by the year of 1878, Columbus had at least two of them. The arrival of the first hotel is actually a story in itself. An eccentric railroad promoter named George Francis Train wanted Columbus to be a part of “a magnificent highway of cities” that would line the Union Pacific Railroad, but he felt threatened when he noticed a little town named Cleveland taking root near Columbus. Acting quickly, he bought the only building on the site–a hotel–and rolled it away from Cleveland and into Columbus. Eccentric, all right.

The “Columbus Hotel” that appears in the book was not a real place. But historically there were at least two hotels in Columbus in 1878, and, as a matter of fact, one of them named Hammond House ran an ad in August of that year with prices of $0.35 a meal, and board and lodging at five to six dollars. Plus, “this popular house” had been “newly refitted and furnished,” and it was in connection with a “good livery and feed stable.”

Osceola in 1878

1878 was a fascinating year in Osceola’s history. The railroad would arrive the following year, bringing an influx of settlers that would expand the town to even greater proportions—but for now, it was a newly emerging town where the farmers still needed to travel all the way to Columbus to ship their crops out on the railroad.

Just eight years before, the Polk County lines had been plotted in 1870. And with the establishment of Polk County, that also meant that new positions were opened up, including the county clerk, the probate judge, the county treasurer, and the sheriff.

Having an organized county also meant that a county seat had to be chosen. The spot they selected had no town or building of any kind, but the commissioners gave it a name anyway—Osceola. Vinson Perry Davis, one of the earliest settlers, is credited with suggesting the name. He had originally lived in Osceola, Iowa, and thought it would be fun to say that he had moved to Nebraska, but was still in Osceola. Since Osceola was also an Indian name, the commissioners humored him.

The courthouse was the first building to go up on the new town-site–and from there, Osceola began to grow into a town. 

Final Notes

If you’re interested in more Osceola history, take a step back in time to 1870 with my short story Never Too Far.

The sources for most of the information above come from either the Osceola 1871—1971 centennial book or Early Days in Polk County by Mildred Flodman, although there are facts that I’ve drawn from other sources online and offline as well.