These men thought the Elkhorn was navigable and that they could ship their goods from Quincy by way of the Missouri, Platte, and Elkhorn rivers.
Early in the spring of 1855 a number of the colonists, bringing their household goods, left Quincy on a small boat, the "Mary Cole," expecting to reach Fontenelle by way of the Elkhorn; and then use the boat as a packet to points on the Platte and Elkhorn rivers.
But the boat struck a snag in the Missouri and, with a part of the cargo, was lost. The colonists then took what was saved overland to Fontenelle.
By the first of May, 1855, there were sufficient colonists on the site to hold the claims. Then each of the fifty members drew by lot for the eighteen lots each one was to hold. The first choice fell to W. H. Davis. He chose the land along the river, fully convinced of its superior situation as a steamboat landing.
The colonists then built houses of cottonwood timber, and a store and hotel were started. Thus the little town of about two hundred inhabitants was started with great hopes of soon becoming a large city.
Land on the edge of the bluff had been set aside for a college building. This was called Collegeview. Here a building was begun in 1856 and completed in 1859. This was the first advanced educational institution to be chartered west of the Missouri river.
In 1865 this building was burned. Another building was immediately erected, but after a few years' struggle for patronage, they found it was doomed to die, so negotiated with the people of Crete, Nebraska, and the Congregational organizations (for it was built by the Congregationalists) in Nebraska. It therefore became the nucleus of what is now Doane College.
The bell of the old building is still in use in the little village.
The first religious services were held by the Congregationalists. The church was first organized by Rev. Reuben Gaylord, who also organized the First Congregational church in Omaha.
In Fontenelle the Congregationalists did not have a building but worshiped in the college. This church has long since ceased to exist, but strange as it may seem after so many years, the last regular pastor was the same man, Rev. Reuben Gaylord, who organized it.