First Omaha doctor served Nebraska territory and state

Today marks the 150th anniversary (sesquicentennial) of Nebraska statehood, a good time to look back at Omaha’s first physician, George Miller, M.D., (1830-1920), who served the city, the territory and the state.

Omaha was organized informally in July 1854, shortly after Nebraska Territory opened to settlement. A group of settlers met on Capitol Hill, later the location of the Nebraska territorial capitol (and currently the location of Omaha Central High School), to celebrate the Fourth of July and found a town. Dr. Miller came to Omaha with his wife and his father that October.

Dr. Miller was born in upstate New York. At 17, he apprenticed as a physician in Syracuse. He attended a course of medical lectures at Geneva and graduated in the spring of 1852 from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. He returned to Syracuse and was appointed city physician.

After Dr. Miller arrived in Omaha, he served as a member of the Omaha Claim Club, which insured property rights of members in the quickly growing town where real estate speculation, and sometimes fraud, often took place. Dr. Miller quickly became involved in many civic organizations in the frontier town.

With the territorial capital established in Omaha in January 1855, Dr. Miller was elected chief clerk of the council in the first territorial legislature. He was re-elected to the legislature, serving from 1856 to 1859. He helped organize the first Nebraska regiment during the Civil War.

After the war, he returned to Omaha and was a candidate for congress but was defeated. Among his many accomplishments, Dr. Miller is best known for establishing the Omaha Daily Herald (now the Omaha World-Herald) in 1865 and remaining as its publisher and editor until 1888.

After statehood was established on March 1, 1867, the capital was removed to the new town of Lincoln, 50 miles southwest. Dr. Miller continued to promote Omaha and often was called the “Father of Omaha.” Among his many civic duties, he served the following organizations: public library, parks commission (Miller Park is named for him), school board (Miller Park Elementary is named for him), fire and police commissions, the humane society, and the Nebraska Medical Society.

Dr. Miller supported Democratic presidential candidate Grover Cleveland and was mentioned for possible cabinet appointments in the Cleveland administration. He helped to build Nebraska into a great agricultural state, and Omaha into a great commercial city.