Do You Live Near a Homestead?

The Homestead Act of 1862 offered people 160 acres of free land if they were willing to live on it, farm it, and build a home. Homesteading reached 30 states, three of every five states, and the government gave away 270 million acres in those homesteading states. One hundred years after Congress passed the Homestead Act, President John F. Kennedy called it probably the single greatest stimulus to national development ever enacted, and said that under the impetus of that act and other laws, more than 1.1 billion acres had been transferred to private and non-federal public ownership.

Beatrice, Nebraska · United States