Fun fact: what we tend to refer to as the Homestead Act actually includes a bunch of laws opening and regulating the acquisition of government land way out West. So, what did you just spend time reading about? That would be the first of those acts, which is why it is has the nickname of the Homestead Act. Plus, that’s a lot faster than saying/writing "An Act to secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public Domain" every time. (Source)

Daniel Freeman just wasn’t content with being the first homesteader, but had to go and make legal history, too. In 1899, he stirred up controversy by protesting the local schoolteacher adding Bible readings and exercises to the curriculum. Despite setbacks in local court, by 1902, he took it all the way to the Nebraska Supreme Court in Daniel Freeman v. John Scheve, et. al. This was one of the precedent cases used in the U.S. Supreme Court to declare separation of church and state in Everson v. Board of Education in 1947. Go Daniel, you rabble-rouser, you. (Source)

Not all federal land was open to settle right away. Nope, to get their pick of the choicest land, prospective settlers would gather around the border of not-yet opened territory. And get thrown out by the army. And then come back and do it all over again until the government got with the program and opened the land. (Source)

Rome wasn’t built in a day, but cities on the frontier sure were. Places like Oklahoma City were established the same day the land opened for settling, thanks to the swarms of people involved in land rushes. Tents sprang up to mark future buildings and some enterprising people set up shop out of wagons. (Source)

Follow college sports? The Sooners (University of Oklahoma) are named after the nickname for people who snuck into the Unassigned Lands of Indian Territory before it officially opened (noon on April 22, 1889) to settlers. Hence being "Sooner" than allowed. (Source)

There are at least fifteen towns named Homestead in the U.S.: in Florida, Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, Pennsylvania, California (4 of ‘em), Wisconsin, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, and Oregon. Hmm, all of those (minus PA) seem to have been open to homesteaders under the Homestead Act. Coincidence? We think not. (Source)