O’Neill Historic Marker

O’Neill Historic Marker

Thousands of Irish were leaving troubled Ireland to settle in crowded American cities. O’Neill became interested in founding agrarian colonies in the West. For his first colony, he selected Holt County, on Nebraska’s frontier. The first colonists arrived in May 1874, and his fourth and last group arrived in 1877. General O’Neill died the following year, but the town was already the county seat and growing.

Though there were numerous Irish settlements in Nebraska, O’Neill was the largest formal Irish colony. Its citizens have always been proud of their Old World Heritage.