Thursday, October 24, 2019

Wilber, NE - the Czech Capital of the USA

Thanks to the fact I was in Lincoln, NE, I also had a chance to visit Wilber, NE, with my friends. Wilber is the official "Czech Capital of the USA" - place where up to 90 percent of all inhabitants have Czech roots. And they are very proud about these roots.


Wilber, which is located about 26 miles (42 kilometers) south-west from Lincoln, was founded (platted) in 1873 by Charles Dana Wilber, author and educator born in Ohio, and named after him. Soon after Wilber was founded, first Czechs moved in - they lived in Saline County since 1865 and since 1873 in Wilber. 


Wilber is a town of about 1870 people today and many of them have Czech ancestors. When you visit this small town, you can see number of Czech signs, streets are named both in English and Czech and so on.


If you are interested in Wilber Czechs, you can find a list of families, which came to Wilber as pioneers, in the book A History of Czechs (Bohemians) in Nebraska.


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