Richard Dick Cabela started selling fishing flies, which became Cabela's. Local farmer and painter Aaron Gunn Pyle was called the Painter of Nebraska. The Pony Express passed through from April 3, 1860, to October 24, 1861. Congresswoman Virginia Dodd Smith served from 1975 to 1991, and the Virginia Smith Charitable Trust started in 2007. Charles Henry Chappell worked for railroad companies from 1870 to 1913, and the town was named after him. His wife, Orianna Ward Chappell, donated the Chappell Memorial Library and Act Gallery. A broach and glasses were artifacts found in the Library's Art Gallery. The Lincoln Highway, a transcontinental highway from New York to San Francisco, was dedicated in 1913, and a mural was painted by Lauren Olson Art in 2021.