The Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company provided the first meeting place, which was a building "constructed for public purposes".
Standing out from the estimated twenty shacks in the young town, it was the first brick building in Omaha, which was founded the year before when the Nebraska Territory was created.
The first legislature, along with several subsequent gatherings, drew criticism for a perceived lack of representation of the population south of the Platte River.
[3] Although the then current Omaha capitol building, built in 1857-58, was apparently sturdy enough to house legislative sessions for several years and was well located in relation to Nebraska's 1867 population, it was still north of the Platte.
Forces from the south launched a major verbal and legal initiative to move the seat of government to their part of the state.