The mansion is also well known for its&nbsp;association with the husband of Governor Kay Orr, who was elected in 1986 and served a one-year term. He was the state's first "First Gentleman" and enjoyed that role. He published a cookbook, titled&nbsp;The First Gentleman's Cookbook,&nbsp;to raise funds to pay for&nbsp;renovations of&nbsp;the mansion (the renovations in 1997-1998 was a full revamp, including ADA enhancements and modern technology). The book featured many recipes of famous people including Johnny Carson and Katherine Hepburn. &nbsp;

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Located across the street from the state capital building, the Nebraska Governor's Mansion has been the official home of Nebraska governors since it was built in 1957. The Classical Revival building was designed by the Selmer Solheim & Associates firm. It features 31 rooms (five of which are bedrooms), 12 bathrooms, 4 fireplaces and a 3-stall garage. It underwent extensive renovations beginning in 1997 that were completed the following year. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

Nebraska Governor's Mansion

This very short walk includes a variety of historic landmarks including the governor's house, the State Capitol, the Ferguson House, the Kennard House, and several commercial buildings along O Street such as the Woods Brothers Building and Nebraska Telephone Company Building. 

Historic Walking Tour, Downtown Lincoln, Nebraska, South of O Street

The Italianate mansion was designed for Thomas P. Kennard by a Chicago architect, John K. Winchell. Kennard has been called the "Father of Lincoln, Nebraska." The house stands as direct reminder of the contentious battle waged by various factions that wanted their town to become the new capital. From 1854-1867, Omaha was the Nebraska territory's seat of government. Those living south of the Platte River (Omaha is situated to the north of the river) contended that they were not well represented in the government and for this reason, generally speaking, they believed that the new capital should be south of the river.  A commission of three state officials, including Kennard, was established to settle the issue. Eventually, they chose Lincoln. To further strengthen this choice each had homes built (Kennard's is the only one still standing). After the home was sold in 1887, it has gone through time as a single family home, a fraternity house for Delta Upsilon in the 1910s, a boarding house, and a private home for boys. The original kitchen and the bedroom wing on the rear of the hose were demolished in the 1920s and a new kitchen was built in the main part of the house. In 1965, the state declared the house a statehood memorial and museum. The building was restored to mark the centennial of Nebraska statehood in 1967. Historical archaeology excavations took place in the house's yard in 1968 to gain a deeper understanding of the occupants' daily life. Another dig took place in 1992, under the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's (UNL) Department of Anthropology. The 1992 dig's excavation units were placed with the aid of remote sensing done by a UNL physicist. The foundation to the former rear wing were uncovered, plus a cistern, a hand-dug well, and a plumbing feature dated 1888. The building houses exhibits on Victorian life in the new capitol and is furnished as it would have looked in that era. A historical marker stands outside the house.  The house is open once again, now that restoration has been completed. Tours are offered by appointment only and are free, but donations are appreciated.

The Thomas P. Kennard House is the oldest surviving house in the original plat of Lincoln. It was built in 1869 in the Italianate style for its namesake, Thomas P. Kennard, who was elected Nebraska's first Secretary of State in 1867, the same year the federal government granted Nebraska statehood. The house is a museum operated by the Nebraska State Historical Society which offers tours of the house by appointment. Visitors will learn about the process that resulted in Lincoln becoming the state's new capital, Victorian life, and the archaeological excavations that shed light on the house's history. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

Thomas P. Kennard House

William Ferguson was born in Earlville, Illinois and arrived in Nebraska in 1879 (when he was born is unclear). He became a farmer and helped introduce winter wheat in the state. Later in 1890, he played a large role in introducing alfalfa from Denver. Ferguson started to accrue wealth when he bought land in central Nebraska during economic downturns, earning a share of profits with the people who farmed the land he owned. By 1913, he owned 6,000 acres.Ferguson expanded his business interests into other areas as well. He founded the a creamery company and a sand gravel company and served as president of a traction company around that time as well. He also became a grain merchant and eventually owned 85 grain elevators, most of which he sold in 1902 when he entered the milling industry. In 1903, he moved to Lincoln and continued his business activities, including establishing a brick company and the Capitol Beach Amusement Park. At its peak, the brick company produced 75,000 bricks in the early 1900s. Ferguson also served as vice president of a land company that owned 30,000 acres in Scotts Bluff County and built a 56-mile irrigation ditch. He died in November 1937. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

Successful businessman William Henry Ferguson built this elegant home around 1911. It is considered one of the best examples of Renaissance Revival architecture in the city and probably the state. It was built of brick and features smooth limestone detailing, a clay tile roof, and a large porch with an arched main entrance. The house is also notable for how it was built. The first floor structure was erected using a concrete slab system and the second floor was framed using steel beams. The house might be the first in Iowa constructed using these two methods. As of August 2024, the landmark structure is home to the Nebraska Broadband Office.

Ferguson House

The building nicknamed the "Tower on the Plains" is Nebraska's third official state capitol (there were two territorial capitol buildings before statehood). The first was a two-story structure with a central cupola built in 1868. Unfortunately, poor construction and low-quality stone caused the building to fall apart. The second capitol was constructed in 1888. However, it too was poorly constructed and eventually began to crumble from a failing foundation by 1915. This prompted calls for the construction of the current building.The building was constructed in four phases, beginning with the north and south portions of the three-story square base, built from 1922 to 1924. This square outer edge of the building was filled in with + shaped wings, leaving four square interior courtyards. Three of the four wings of the + were built from 1925 to 1928. The tower was added in the middle of the + from 1928 to 1930. The fourth arm of the + finished the building in 1932.Names of all ninety-three counties in Nebraska are inscribed around the top of the building's base. Above the names, twenty-one panels represent the creation of law. Interestingly, the building was originally going to house a law library whose book stacks would be located in the tower. This did not occur, however, and the tower houses offices. Eight sculptures around the base of the tower, visible from the courtyard, represent the ideals of culture.The interior contains three major spaces - the Vestibule, Great Hall, and Rotunda. The Vestibule's dome features a sun motif in a medallion; four 25-foot columns of red marble with a bull motif in the capitals support the vaulting. A series of bronze busts of famous Nebraskans form the Nebraska Hall of Fame in the Great Hall. Eight winged virtues form a celestial rose in the dome of the Rotunda. A series of designs in the mosaic tile floor of the Great Hall and Rotunda are themed the Procession of Life, from fossils to animals, vegetables, and humans.A number of hand-painted murals decorate the building's interior. Two were finished in the early years of the building, but the program was suspended when funds ran out. The mural project was revived in the 1950s and 1960s. Another series of murals was finished in 1996, in the Memorial Chamber on the 14th floor. The fourteenth floor is the highest publicly- accessible floor and offers observation decks for spectacular views for miles from 245 feet above the ground. The fifteenth floor is the top of the tower. The Nebraska State Capitol was the tallest building in Nebraska until being surpassed by buildings in Omaha in 1969 and in 2002.

Built in ten years between 1922-1932, the Nebraska State Capitol was the country's first vernacular architectural styled state capitol building. It marked a departure from typical designs where state capitol buildings emulated the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. Instead, the architect, Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue, chosen from ten submissions, designed a building with an enormous tower rising to a height of 400 feet, making it the second tallest state capitol in the country after Louisiana's. Atop the tower stands a 19-foot statue called "The Sower," which depicts a man gesturing as if he is planting seeds, honoring the importance of agriculture to the state. The building combines elements of the Gothic Revival, Art Deco, and Classical styles. The Nebraska State Capitol was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and became a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

Nebraska State Capitol

Immediately upon becoming a state in 1867 the Nebraska state legislature debated women’s suffrage in every session. While women did earn the right to vote in school board elections in 1869 there was no other progress made. In 1881 Erasmus Correll (Nebraska House of Representatives) introduced a bill to take the word “male” out of the state constitution, thus allowing women to vote. There was very little support for this measure, but he negotiated with fellow lawmakers to pass the change if it was approved by Nebraska voters. Suffragists campaigned into the next year to gain support for the measure, but it was defeated in the popular vote in November 1882. The Nebraska Woman Suffrage Association continued to work towards extending voting rights, but there were strong anti-suffrage sentiments in the state (especially from religious leaders and also from the alcohol industry due to women’s work in the temperance movement). Progress came in 1917 when pro-suffrage governor Keith Neville took office. In that year both municipal and presidential suffrage for women passed the legislature and became law. Opponents tried to challenge the new law but were not successful prior to the 19th Amendment passing Congress. Nebraska voted unanimously to ratify the amendment on August 2, 1919.

Nebraska Ratifies the 19th Amendment, August 2, 1919

The Woods Brothers Companies have been in business for 130 years, since 1889. They were once housed in this building on S. 13th Street that they designed in 1914 and was finished by 1916. The second floor central window features a balcony and is topped by ornamentation of ears of corn, representing Nebraska's agricultural roots. The name "WOOD BROTHERS COMPANIES" is engraved on the frieze; above is a pediment with a stone relief based on the seal of the United States. Fluted pilasters of Ionic order edge the façade. The ground floor housed executive offices of the Woods Brothers Company and the upstairs was for bookkeeping. The rear third of the building has a basement, for mechanical equipment. The Woods Brothers Company operated from the building until 1939. The firm was actually founded by three brothers - Frank, George and Mark - and their father, Col. Frederick M. Woods. The elder Woods moved from Illinois to Lincoln in 1873. The firm has been involved in real estate, river containment, telephone companies, and streetcar companies. The major focus in the twentieth century had been on construction of residential development, but Woods Brothers Construction Company branched out into commercial and government clients. They built airports in Kansas City (Fairfax Field) and St. Joseph, Missouri, and constructed bridges and dams throughout the region. Another division of the company managed 20,000 acres of farmland in four states. Mark Woods broadcast weekly by radio in the 1930s on agricultural topics and helped organize a corn-growers union. The building's design resembles that of the Morgan Guaranty Trust Company building in New York City. Frank Woods was the founder and president of the Nebraska State Bank; the adjacent building to the north of the Woods Brothers Building was built to house equipment for the telephone exchange of that phone company (the Nebraska Telephone Company building is also listed in the National Register and has its own Clio listing). The brothers could visit each others' buildings through entrances cut through the party wall on the first and second stories. The other neighbor, to the south of the Woods Brothers Building, is an early twentieth-century skyscraper, the Federal Trust Building, housing the First National Bank on the ground floor. The original ground-floor architectural details on the main (east) facade were modified in the 1950s; an aluminum storefront, set-back entrance with its own address, and a marquee were added. The rear façade faces an alley and contains three arched openings in brick. The building housed a clothing store in the 1970s that closed circa 1980. the building was listed in the NRHP in 1980 for its significance in architectural style and its contribution to local commerce. The building's recent tenants were Moose Roofing and Capitol Casualty Insurance. The original owner's firm is now known as Woods Bros Realty and is a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. They claim that more than 25 percent of Lincoln's families live in over 70 Woods Bros additions that total nearly 7,000 acres! Their over 200 agents are based in eight offices.

The Woods Brothers Companies was formed in 1889 by Mark, George and Frank Woods. The real estate company was a major player ion the early development of many Lincoln neighborhoods. Woods Brothers had this building constructed by 1916 from their design. The Neo-classical style is evidenced by a number of architectural details. The ears of corn above the balcony are an homage to Nebraska. The building housed the brothers' company until 1939, and has been used for commercial purposes since then. The Woods Brothers Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. Today, Woods Bros Realty continues the tradition after 130 years in the Lincoln area, in other offices.

Woods Brothers Building

The Nebraska Telephone Company Building is three stories tall over a basement. The ground story is composed of cast iron with a simple classical motif spanning the width of the front of the building. The upper stories are St. Louis pressed brick topped by a terra cotta entablature and wall cornice, under a copper free-standing anthemion motif. This motif featuring of alternating lotus and palmette is shared by the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. The second and third floor facades also feature ornate designs such as a terra cotta panel featuring a bell (a symbol of the phone company) and floral motif underneath a palladian window. The building is said to be the first building built in Lincoln as a telephone exchange. The sturdy design was meant to hold the heavy loads from telephone equipment within a fire-resistant structure. Lincoln was the second town in the state to receive telephone service, in 1879. The Nebraska Telephone Company incorporated in 1882. The prominent Omaha architect for this new building on S. 13th Street was Thomas R. Kimball, who also was a son of the company founder. Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company (L. T. &amp; T.) became the solo provider of phone service in southeast Nebraska. The company served homes and businesses south of the Platte River, and in 1912, this building was acquired by the company. L. T. &amp; T. was founded in 1903 as the Lincoln Independent Company. The Nebraska Telephone Company continued to provide telephone service north of the Platte River based on the two company's 1912 agreement. L.T. &amp; T. already had a building nearby in downtown Lincoln, at 231 S. 14th Street, so this building was used by their commercial department. By 1927, the company decided that the 13th Street building was no longer needed. After the phone company sold the building, it was leased to many businesses over the years. In 1978, the building was listed on the National Register and represents the early communications industry in the state. The building is the only survivor of two in Lincoln known to have been designed by Kimball. The other, the University of Nebraska's Administration Building, built in 1903, was demolished in the 1960s. The Nebraska Telephone Company Building shares a block with a modern drugstore across an alleyway to the north; and the 1916 Woods Brothers Building which is also listed in Clio. There is also an early-twentieth century skyscraper to the south. The tenant on the ground floor since 2016 is Francie &amp; Finch bookshop. Besides children and adult fiction and nonfiction books, the store displays art by local and national artists and holds special events like book signings and writing workshops.

This three-story building was built in 1894 for the Nebraska Telephone Company and is believed to be the first purpose-built structure designed to hold the heavy equipment needed to operate a telephone exchange. The Renaissance Revival style building housed the Lincoln Telephone and Telegraph Company from 1912 to 1927. The structure was later home to many area businesses. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The building's facade includes alternating lotus and palmette, a design that was also used in the Acropolis in Greece. The ground floor is now occupied by the Francie & Finch Bookshop. 

Historic Walking Tour, Downtown Lincoln, Nebraska, South of O Street

Nebraska Governor's Mansion

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information