Plains Indians, descendants of indigenous peoples who occupied the area for thousands of years, lived in and hunted along Salt Creek.

The Great Sioux Nation, including the Ihanktowan-Ihanktowana and the Lakota, to the north and west, used Nebraska as a hunting and skirmish ground, but did not have any long-term settlements in the state.

The Nebraska State Capitol was completed on December 1, 1868, a two-story building constructed with native limestone with a central cupola.

Volga-German immigrants from Russia settled in the North Bottoms neighborhood and as Lincoln expanded with the growth in population, the city began to annex nearby towns.

Havelock actively opposed annexation to Lincoln and only relented due to a strike by the Burlington railroad shop workers which halted progress and growth for the city.

In 1911, the Omaha-Denver Trans-Continental Route Association, with support from the Good Roads Movement, established the Omaha-Lincoln-Denver Highway (O-L-D) through Lincoln.

[34] Some remnants of the Union Airport are still visible between N. 56th and N. 70th Streets, north of Fletcher Avenue; mangled within a slowly developing industrial zone.

It was north of Salt Lake, in an area known over the years as Huskerville, Arnold Heights and Air Park; and was approximately within the western half of the West Lincoln Township.

In 1956, Bankers Life Insurance Company of Nebraska announced plans to build a $6 million shopping center next to their new campus on Lincoln's eastern outskirts.

1974 marked a new assembly facility in Lincoln, a subsidiary of Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan to produce motorcycles for the North American market.

[66] Westfield made a $45 million makeover of the mall in 2005 including an expanded food court, a new west-side entrance and installation of an Italian carousel.

Construction on the citywide network began in March 2016 and was estimated to be complete by 2019,[70] making it one of the largest infrastructure projects in the United States.

In recent years, Lincoln's northward growth has encroached on the habitat of the endangered Salt Creek tiger beetle.

[92][93] Located in the Great Plains far from the moderating influence of mountains or large bodies of water, Lincoln has a highly variable four season humid continental climate (Köppen Dfa, Trewartha Dcao): winters are cold and summers are hot.

[97] Based on 30-year averages obtained from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center for December, January and February, the Weather Channel ranked Lincoln the seventh-coldest major U.S. city in a 2014 article.

Lincoln's economy is fairly typical of a mid-sized American city; most economic activity is derived from the service and manufacturing industries.

[118] Several national business were originally established in Lincoln; these include student lender Nelnet, Ameritas, Assurity, Fort Western Stores, CliffsNotes and HobbyTown USA.

[136][137][138] Primary venues for live music include Pinnacle Bank Arena,[139] Bourbon Theatre, Duffy's Tavern, and the Zoo Bar.

[144] For movie viewing, Marcus Theatres owns 32 screens at four locations, and the University of Nebraska's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center shows independent and foreign films.

[148] It is also the hometown of several notable musical groups, such as Remedy Drive, VOTA, For Against, Lullaby for the Working Class, Matthew Sweet, Dirtfedd, The Show is the Rainbow and Straight.

The Speedway Motors Museum of American Speed preserves, interprets, and displays physical items significant in racing and automotive history.

[192] Lincoln's health, personnel, and planning departments are joint city/county agencies; most city and Lancaster County offices are in the County/City Building.

The two-year Academic Transfer program is popular among students who want to complete their general education requirements before they enroll in a four-year institution.

The eastern segment of Nebraska Highway 2 is a primary trucking route that connects the Kansas City metropolitan area (Interstate 29) to the I-80 corridor in Lincoln.

[235] Lincoln is served by both Express Arrow and Burlington Trailways for regional bus service between Omaha, Denver and points beyond.

[236][237] Megabus, in partnership with Windstar Lines, provides bus service between Lincoln and Chicago with stops in Omaha, Des Moines, Iowa City and Moline.

About 2.4 percent used all other forms of transportation, including taxis, bicycles, and motorcycles as well as ride-sharing services such as Lyft and Uber which entered the Lincoln market in the summer of 2014.

[251] Renewable resources have increased with partial help from the addition of an LES-owned five Megawatt solar energy farm put into service June, 2016.

[265][266] In addition, ALLO Communications provides telephone, television and internet service over their underground fiber network to all parts of the city.

[citation needed] In April 2011, a contest held by DC Comics selected Omaha, Nebraska, as the site of a new issue.