Historic Otoe County Courthouse gets makeover

 

Largest remodeling since 1936 reintroduces state’s oldest public building.

dan Swanson

 

The cottonwood used to construct the first courthouse in the newly-settled state was milled at Nebraska City from trees along the river, architect Jerry Berggren surmised.

Impressed with the durability of materials and craftsmanship put into the 1864 construction, Berggren mulled over how the additions of 1883 and 1936 compared.

While the original building is solid, he told Otoe County commissioners in July of 2005, the roof for the 1883 addition was never properly supported.

Commissioners had already begun searching for ways to make the building, which projected U.S. power across the Missouri River, more energy efficient.

They had realized major updates were needed to modernize county offices and extensive remodeling was already in store when Berggren said the roof had to be repaired immediately.

The county paid $85,000 to install a new boiler and approved $773,000 for a new copper roof.

Restoring the tile flooring in the public corridors, bathroom upgrades and new fire safety measures were also ordered.

Office ceilings, which had been lowered with false ceilings no fewer than three times over the years, were restored to their original height.

New plumbing, data ports, light fixtures and painting neared completion, when new offices were built for the state probation office.

The basement, strongly constructed to house the county jail, had been used for storage in recent years.

An ongoing remodeling project will create a day reporting center for probation and conference room for Otoe County Emergency Management.