Hall County Courthouse, (Carol Bryant, Central Nebraska Today)
GRAND ISLAND – The Hall County Courthouse is celebrating the 120th anniversary of completion of construction of the building.
History of the Courthouse is outlined in a 1976 application for the building to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The building was designed in 1901 by Thomas R. Kimball, a prominent Omaha architect. It is an example of Beaux-Arts Classicism.
The main feature of the interior is the rotunda of the main and upper levels. The rotunda has a plaster cast domed ceiling detailed with classical motifs and is lighted by a central skylight.
The building has a high limestone basement and is a two-story brick structure, located at the intersection of First and Locust Streets. The mounted tower has a symbolic dome surmounted with lantern and weather vane. Entrance to this level is gained by a “monumental” flight of steps.
Building construction began in 1901 and was completed in 1904 at a cost of $131,703. The cost included construction of a new jail at the rear of the courthouse, which is still in existence but virtually unrecognizable due to numerous modern additions.
Kimball received $5,621 for his services.
Kimball was perhaps Nebraska’s top architect at the time. He was born in 1862 near Cincinnati, Ohio. He received advanced education at the University of Nebraska, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Cowles Art School in Boston. He studied in Paris under various tutors.
Back in Boston, he became a partner in the architectural firm of Walker, Kimball, and Best. He was in charge of the Omaha office of the firm which continued until 1899 as Walker and Kimball. Kimball acted as a professional advisor to the Nebraska State Capitol Commission and is credited with writing that competition.
He was elected as a Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 1901 and served as its national president from 1918 to 1920. Kimball also designed the Omaha Public Library Building and St. Cecelia’s Cathedral in Omaha. He died in Omaha in 1934.
Prior to construction of this courthouse, the county had erected its first courthouse in 1872-1873 on another site. The original building was a two-story brick structure on a raised limestone basement. The structure featured a mounted tower over the entrance gable. The tower was designed with a slender dome with clocks on all four sides.
The Hall County Courthouse is one of only a few examples of its style in Nebraska. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places following the 1976 application.
