At present he is chairman of the state railway commission.

"In 1862. during its territorial years, Henry T. Clarke was a member of the Nebraska house of representatives. In 1864 he was elected to the council (now the state senate). He was a prominent candidate for the gubernatorial nomination in 1SSS. He was a member of the board of education at Omaha for three years and president of the board for two years of that time.

"Mr. Clarke was the first man to be made a Master Mason in Xebraska, having been raised by Xebraska lodge Xo. 1, at Bellevue. He was one of the organizers of the lodge of veteran Masons at Omaha and was its president.

"Mr. Clarke has been actively interested in man_\- business enterprises at Omaha, among them being the Xorthwestern Electric Light Company and the Lee-Glass Andreson Hardware Company. In 1883 he started the wholesale drug house of the 11. T. Clarke

HISTORY OF WESTERN" NEBRASKA

Drug Company at Omaha, with a branch in Lincoln.

"He built Clarke Hall, at Bellevue, the institution now known as Bellevue college. He presented it to the Presbyterian synod of Nebraska together with two residences and two hundred and sixty-five acres of ground. The institution is now the collegiate department of the University of Omaha.

"Mr. Clarke received a large amount of land for building railroads in the state and put many thousand acres under cultivation, giving his personal attention to raising grain and stock.

"In 1905 Mr. Clarke was elected president of the state historical society and of the Nebraska Territorial Pioneers' Association."