History

On May 20, 1959, the Secretary of the Air Force and the Bellevue Public Schools entered into a lease agreement to permit the school district to build and operate a public school "within the boundaries of the Offutt Family Housing Annex" to be known as Capehart Housing.

Peter Sarpy, dedicated on April 20, 1961, was the first of three elementary schools to be built in Capehart on Air Force property. The other two are Fort Crook Elementary School and LeMay Elementary School.

The leases permit the Bellevue Public Schools to build, maintain, and operate the schools. The Bellevue Public School District is granted "authority and control" needed to provide "for the education of children in attendance at the school facilities."

The school was named after Peter A. Sarpy, the pioneer politician who, in 1854, organized the Bellevue Town Company, which incorporated our city. A street in Bellevue and the county were also named Sarpy, honors bestowed upon Peter Sarpy nine years before his death on January 5, 1865.

"...from the early 1830's on, Peter Sarpy was the dominant figure in the Nebraska country. His post in Bellevue was a rendezvous for Indians, traders, and travelers."
—James C. Olsen, Nebraska Historian