Nebraska State Nickname: The Cornhusker State

Nebraska carried Tree Planters' State as its official name from 1895 until 1945. Early settlers planted millions of trees as windbreaks to protect crops, reduce soil erosion, and shelter livestock from harsh prairie winds. When settlers arrived in the mid-1800s, Nebraska had about one million acres of trees. That number doubled to two million acres thanks to extensive planting efforts. J. Sterling Morton of Nebraska City founded Arbor Day on April 10, 1872, and residents planted over one million trees on that first celebration. John MacMurphy, secretary of the Nebraska Territorial Pioneers Association, led a successful campaign to make Tree Planters' State the official designation because he wanted to replace less flattering nicknames like Bugeaters, and that legacy continues on the Nebraska state tree page.

Nebraska earned this name because of its enormous cattle industry. The state maintains about two million head of beef cows, making beef production one of Nebraska's largest economic activities. Nebraska license plates carried Beef State from the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s, though the legislature never made it an official nickname. Corn and cattle work together in Nebraska's economy because corn feeds the beef cattle that graze across the state. Ranchers appreciate the nickname because it recognizes agriculture beyond just crops, alongside wildlife traditions represented by the Nebraska state mammal.

This was Nebraska's most common nickname during the late 1800s before Cornhuskers replaced it. The name probably started during the grasshopper invasions of the 1870s, when massive swarms destroyed crops across the plains and reshaped Great Plains agriculture for years. According to historical accounts, an easterner visited Nebraska and joked that residents were eating bugs to survive after grasshoppers ate all the crops. The story spread through newspapers as humor. The University of Nebraska football teams used Bugeaters throughout the 1890s. Bull bats that ate insects across the prairie at night may have also contributed to the nickname. Most Nebraskans disliked being called Bugeaters despite appreciating its rugged character.