Green Island, 10.5 square miles of land in northwestern Cedar County, Nebraska bordering the Missouri River across from Yankton, SD, was home to Strahmburg a former town on the island. Green Island and Strahmburg have had their names used interchangeably over the years because, in part, the post office in Strahmburg was officially designated as Green Island. Supposedly Green Island acquired its name came the color of its lush vegetation. Though called an island, it was physically connected to Nebraska by a swampy, low-lying area along its southern edge. Both were destroyed by the Great Flood of 1881 on the Missouri. Their history is better understood knowing the braided, meandering, flood-prone history of the Missouri River in that area. Completion of Gavins Point Dam in 1957, 5 miles upriver from the former location of Strahmburg, greatly reduced the risk of floods on the river. Today the Missouri National Recreational River, 59-miles between Gavins Point Dam and Ponca State Park, has restrictions on commercial development. Early maps indicate the presence of numerous islands some of which, like Green Island, no longer exist. History Green Island was first settled by Sabie Strahm, an enterprising Swiss immigrant who squatted there in 1857. On March 1, 1862, Strahm obtained 182 acres bordering the river via military warrant. Likely because much of this land was lost to the Missouri, Strahm purchased 320 acres via the agricultural scrip process further from the river on November 10, 1868 and platted Strahmburg on this land in 1872. It was 6 to 15 above river level, thought to be above flood level. Yankton, SD, established in 1858 across the river from Green Island, became a busy river port in the 1860s and 1870s. By 1876 a steam-driven ferry operated between Yankton and Green Island, and Stramburg was one of three recorded towns in Cedar County, St. James and St. Helena being the others. The 1880 federal census listed 63 people living in Strahmburg, including 13 families, 2 blacksmiths, carpenters and teachers, a shoemaker, steamboater, hotel keeper, minister and merchant, 3 stage drivers, and 4 farmers. Among the farmers was Saby Strahm, born in Switzerland, the only inhabitant not born in the U.S. By the time of the 1881 flood, Green Island had 150 inhabitants and Strahmburg had the Green Island post office, about 15 dwellings, a blacksmith shop, a hotel/restaurant, 2 general stores and churches, and a school. The