Logan Fontenelle, well-known chief of the Omaha tribe, was born at Fort Atkinson in l825. A son of Lucien Fontenelle, a Frenchman and noted fur trader, his mother was an Omaha Indian woman. After receiving his education in Saint Louis, he returned to Bellevue, where he was an interpreter for the United States Government from 1840 to l853.
Although he was not a chief by blood, he was elected principal chief of the tribe in 1853 at the time that the transfer of the tribe to its northeast Nebraska reservation was being negotiated. He played an important part in the signing of the Treaty of 1854 which gave all of the Omaha Indian land to the government. Fontenelle was respected by members of his tribe and by the whites. While he maintained absolute control over the Omaha, he promoted education and agriculture.
Although there is controversy over his exact death date, Logan Fontenelle was killed in a skirmish with the Sioux while leading Omaha Indians on a hunt on Beaver Creek in present-day Boone County in the summer of 1855.
Many Nebraska landmarks have been named for Logan Fontenelle, including a town (spelled "Fontanelle") in Washington County; Fontenelle Forest north of Bellevue; and parks, schools, streets, and public housing in eastern Nebraska.