Theron Nye

In the Nye/Nash store he made $25 a month "and board," in the second year his pay doubling to $50.

He struggled the first few years in Nebraska with a bad winter, flooding with the wolves and Pawnee indians stealing his livestock and crops. The buffalo still roamed the plains and they enjoyed eating buffalo. He built a log house from cottonwood trees and covered the floor with reed mats they purchased from the Pawnees. It would take a three day trip to travel to Omaha to get supplies.

He found fame and fortune as a rancher, cattle raiser and the town's first mayor. He founded grain, lumber and coal enterprises. At one time the Nye, Schneider, Fowler & Co. controlled nearly 200 grain elevators across the Great Plains. He built a frame house to replace his log cabin in which his second child Ray, had been born. Later he built a mansion on the northwest side of town.

He was County Treasurer of his county two terms, dating from 1863 and served as a member of the Board of County Commissioners.

He and his wife were founding members of the St. James Protestant Episcopal Church in 1865.

Mr. Nye has the honor of having been the first Mayor of Fremont, serving two terms in that capacity, being first elected in the spring of 1871. He was also President of the First National Bank of Fremont, NE.