The increase in overland travel after 1842 resulted in the
establishment of a chain of military posts across the West to
protect the travelers. Early in 1846 the first of these posts
was built by the army in this location near the mouth of Table
Creek, an area explored and selected by Colonel Stephen W.
Kearny. A two-story blockhouse was erected about 1/2 block west
of here. Subsequently, a number of log huts were built as
temporary shelter for the troops. The Table Creek site was not
on the main route of overland traffic and relatively few
emigrants passed the fort. The War Department, in 1847, selected
a new site on the widely used main branch of the Oregon Trail.
Fort Childs, later designated as Fort Kearny, was built near the
Platte River, in present day Kearney County. The Old Fort Kearny
area remained important as the beginning of a secondary route of
the Oregon Trail, the Nebraska City-Fort Kearny cut off.
Nebraska City was started at the site. The blockhouse was used
as a printing office, justice cour