school, District 3 organized in 1875, had 67 students in 1880. It was called Green Island School until 1928 when it became known as Aten School eventually closing in 1980. The first post office on Green Island was Elm Grove established May 1, 1858 on the Nebraska side of the river about one mile west of Yankton. It was discontinued October 1, 1868. The next post office, called Green Island but located in Strahmburg, was established January 7, 1871 with Saby Strahm as postmaster. This post office, wiped out by the 1881 flood, was replaced by Aten June 11, 1882 where it continued until July 3, 1906. The Great Flood of 1881, caused by heavy snowmelt in the Dakotas and ice jams on the Missouri, resulted in 400 miles of destruction from Pierre, SD to Omaha, NE. The Missouri was reportedly 20 miles wide in portions of the Yankton/Green Island area and rose 41 feet in a matter of hours due to an ice jam a few miles below Yankton. Water began rising in Yankton and on Green Island about 4:00 PM Tuesday, March 30, 1881, and the ice broke at 11:30 AM March 31. Subsequent ice jams and flooding continued until mid-April. Major damage including the destruction of several steamboats occurred in Yankton. Reports vary, but from zero to three people died in the flood. Strahmburg and the farms on Green Island were completely destroyed and total loss of property on Green Island, real and personal, was estimated at $100,000. Strahmburg made a temporary recovery when 2 hotels, a blacksmith shop and a house or two were built on the old townsite and a new steam ferry connecting Green Island with Yankton began service April 18, 1882. But recovery did not last and Aten, Nebraska, which had been established soon after the flood, replaced Strahmburg as the place of business and social activity on Green Island. Aten, situated 3 miles west of Strahmburg on high ground a mile from the river, was named after John Aten, a state senator and its first postmaster. Today, Green Island is farming and recreation area, with Aten and South Yankton, NE the nearest populated places to the former Strahmburg. References Geography of Cedar County, Nebraska