Downtown in Lincoln in Lancaster County, Nebraska — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Old City Hall)
Photographed By William Fischer, Jr., June 22, 2013
1. U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Old City Hall) Marker
In 1874 construction began on Lincoln's first U.S. Post Office and Courthouse on a block originally intended as a market square. The building was completed by 1879 at a cost of about. $200,000. Alfred B. Mullet, supervising architect of the U.S. Treasury and his successor, William Appleton Potter, prepared the design. The building is of brick, faced with Nebraska limestone, and blends Gothic Revival and French Second Empire styles.
In 1906, when a new post office and courthouse was completed on the northeast corner of this block, the federal government sold the old building to the city for $50,000. It served as Lincoln's city hall until 1969, when a new county-city building was occupied. Deed provisions required Old City Hall to remain in municipal use or it would revert to federal ownership.
In 1969 Old City Hall was one of the first Lincoln buildings listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The Lincoln/Lancaster County Historical Society advocated its preservation, and federal, city, and community support accomplished its renovation. It continues to house city and community agencies.
Erected by Lincoln-Lancaster County Historical Society and Nebraska State Historical Society. (Marker Number 441.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed
this page online
Location. 40° 48.831′ N, 96° 42.455′ W. Marker is in Lincoln, Nebraska, in Lancaster County. It is in Downtown. Marker is on O Street (U.S. 34) west of 10th Street, on the right when traveling west. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Lincoln NE 68508, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Artesian Well Fountain (within shouting distance of this marker); Lincoln Fixture Building (about 500 feet away, measured in a direct line); Veith Building (about 600 feet away); Ridnour Building (about 600 feet away); Harpham Building (about 600 feet away); Original Site of St. Paul Methodist Church (about 700 feet away); Lincoln's Founding Block (about 700 feet away); Salvation Army Building (about 700 feet away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Lincoln.
Also see . . . City of Lincoln and Lancaster County NE
Photographed By William Fischer, Jr., June 22, 2013
2. U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Old City Hall) Marker
Photographed By David Murphy, 1981
3. VIEW OF THE SOUTH AND EAST FRONTS,LOOKING NORTHWEST - Lincoln City Hall, 916 "O" Street
Significance: Lincoln's Old City Hall is architecturally significant as a notable product of the "Grant era" and as an unusual fusion of Victorian Gothic and Second Empire elements, typifying in an important measure the manner in which Federal architecture was created in the nineteenth century. Historical significance is derived from the prominent stature given to early Lincoln by the Federal government when it constructed this edifice as a United States Post Office and Courthouse: the completed structure cost about $200,000 a large Federal expenditure on a community with an 1875 population of only 7,000. The building is associated with an event that significantly contributed to the history of Nebraska, for between 1879-1906 it housed a U.S. Land Office at which over five million acres of land in the southern part of the state were claimed under the Homestead Act. The building is also rendered historical significance through its having been the first city hall of Lincoln and for housing the municipal government during a 62-year period that witnessed the population triple (43,973 in 1910; 149,518 in 1970). Significance is also derived from the building's association with two prominent 19th-century American architects: Alfred B. Mullett and William A. Potter. - Historic American Buildings Survey
Credits. This page was last revised on February 16, 2023. It was originally submitted on July 20, 2013, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania. This page has been viewed 633 times since then and 26 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on July 21, 2013, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania. 3. submitted on August 28, 2015.
