National Register of Historic Places

Thurston County Courthouse

Pender, Thurston County, Nebraska
Listed
January 10, 1990
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
89002209

About this property

Thurston County Courthouse in Pender, Nebraska is a Late Victorian style building. It has also been known as 2nd Thurston County Courthouse and Pender School. It was built as a school in 1895 and was converted to a courthouse in 1927. Architect J.F. Reynolds of Sioux City, Iowa designed the conversion. The 1927 conversion created permanent courthouse space adequate for the court, which was desirable to settle dispute within the county about the county seat's proper location. Pender, established in 1884, has always been the county seat of Thurston County, established in 1889, but during the early 1900s the town of Walthill struggled to obtain the seat instead. The First Thurston County Courthouse (also NRHP-listed) had inadequate space and the county leased additional space from the nearby Palace Hotel. As part of promoting a county seat change, Walthill proponents sued the county commissioners to dispute the leasing arrangement in a case that won in a lower court and then went up to the Nebraska Supreme Court, which upheld the leasing arrangement and reversed the lower court decision. Walthill also pursued a petition drive which failed after Pender advocates established that there was fraud in obtaining signatures. The controversy included other charges back and forth, and went on during 1909 and 1910. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1990.

Location

Pender, Thurston County, Nebraska
42.11372, -96.70916

Categories

POLITICS/GOVERNMENT
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

First Thurston County Courthouse
Industrial
0.1 mi
Rattlesnake Creek Bridge
Civil War
6.9 mi
Neihardt, John G., Study
Industrial
9.8 mi
North Omaha Creek Bridge
Industrial
10.7 mi
Picotte, Dr. Susan, Memorial Hospital
Industrial
11.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Thurston County Courthouse listed on the National Register?

Thurston County Courthouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 10, 1990.

What type of historic resource is Thurston County Courthouse?

Thurston County Courthouse is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Thurston County Courthouse?

The period of significance for Thurston County Courthouse is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Thurston County Courthouse?

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