You won't find a lot of towns in Nebraska's Panhandle, and the towns you will find are sparsely-populated, even by Nebraska standards. But the people who call the Panhandle home are the independent sort - the kind who rely on themselves and each other to grow their communities and improve the quality of life for all people.

The Scottsbluff area was settled by Germans from Russia who came to work the potato and sugar beet fields in the middle of the 19th century. The community still bears the tidy, manicured look that was their trademark. After the area was settled and the Germans from Russia began to take other jobs in the area, migrant Hispanic farm workers worked the crops beginning in the early 1900s, following the planting and harvest in many areas of the Midwest. Many stayed, choosing to make the community their home. North of the Panhandle, in South Dakota, is the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the second-largest reservation in the United States and the tribal home of the Oglala Lakota Sioux. The diversity of ethnicities and cultures have characterized the Panhandle and specifically, the Scottsbluff area since the community was settled. read more >>>