Nebraska Facts

State population: estimated 1,842,641 (2011)
State capital: Lincoln
Largest City: Omaha
Legislature: Unicameral
State bird: Meadowlark
State flower: Goldenrod
State nickname: Cornhusker State
Major industries: farming (corn, soybeans, wheat, sorghum), grain processing, meat-packing, the Air Force Strategic Air Command

There are four campuses in the University of Nebraska system:
Lincoln, Kearney, Omaha, and the Medical Center in Omaha

Location:

The Missouri River forms the eastern border of the state.

Nebraska is about 430 miles east to west, 210 miles north to south, and is the 16th largest state.

North of the Platte River in central Nebraska lies the largest area of sand dunes in North America. This area, about 20,000 square miles, is created of fine sand formed into hills by the wind. Most of the sand in the so-called Sand Hills, is held in place by grass.

Well-known Nebraskans: Johnny Carson, Grace Abbott, Marlon Brando, Henry Fonda, Fred Astaire, Robert Taylor, Harold Lloyd, James Colburn, Edward E. Perkins (inventor of Kool-Aid), Gerald R. Ford, Warren Buffet, Sandy Dennis, Red Cloud, Willa Cather, Mari Sandoz, Dorothy McGuire, Nick Nolte, Malcolm X, Darryl F. Zanuck, Marg Helgenberger, Ward Bond, U. S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser (2004-2006)

View traveling directions for Lincoln, Nebraska here. |  View a Google map of location here.

State map of Nebraska courtesy of Online Highways.