Nebraska History posts materials online for your personal use. Please remember that the contents of Nebraska History are copyrighted by the Nebraska State Historical Society (except for materials credited to other institutions). The NSHS retains its copyrights even to materials it posts on the web. For permission to re-use materials or for photo ordering information, please see: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/magazine/permission.htm Nebraska State Historical Society members receive four issues of Nebraska History and four issues of Nebraska History News annually. For membership information, see: http://nebraskahistory.org/admin/members/index.htm Article Title: Housing Nebraska's Governors, 1854-1980 Full Citation: Peg Poeschi, "Housing Nebraska's Governors, 1854-1980," Nebraska History 61 (1980): 267-279. URL of article: http://www.nebraskahistory.org/publish/publicat/history/full-text/NH1980GovHouses.pdf Date: 1/16/2013 Article Summary: Nebraska has had two official governor's mansions, the first purchased in 1899, the second built in 1956. This article investigates the legislative history, architectural development and the events which occurred in the mansions and the experiences of the people who lived there. Appendix A lists the residents of the governors; Appendix B lists selected legislative appropriations for the Governor's Mansion Cataloging Information: Names: Francis Burt, D E Thompson, Thomas Cumings, Mark W Izard, Robert W Furnas, John P Kennard, John M Thayer, William F Cody, James C Olson, William H. Poynter, Charles H. Dietrich, Samuel R. McKelvie, Victor E. Anderson, William J Bryan, George W Norris, George L Sheldon, Keith Neville, Mrs Fred W Sieman, John J Pershing, Val Peterson, Frank B Woods, Harry F Cunningham, Frank Latenser, Aileen Cochran, Patricia Exon, Victor E Anderson, Selmer Solheim, J. B. Peacock, J. G. Welding, Colonel Harry F. Cunningham, Keats W. Lorenz, Ralph G Brooks, John F. Kennedy, Hubert Humphrey, Chuck Connors, Frank B Morrison, Mrs Lyndon B Johnson Keywords: "Red Cross Mary;" "Birthday Club;" W. J. Broer Construction Company; Wilhelm Company; modified Georgian Colonial; Goodhue and Associates; American Institute of Architects; governor's library; First Lady's Portrait Gallery; First Ladies' Doll Collection; Distaffs; Lutheran Medical Center Photographs / Images: Nebraska's first governor's mansion, 1445 H; Nebraska's second governor's mansion, built in 1956; Dining room old mansion with alcove; Front parlor of old mansion; Oak foyer of the old mansion; Paneling from the old mansion (top photo) was used in the governor's library of new mansion (below); Empire style state drawing room in new mansion; a ballroom, occupying the entire third floor of the old mansion; the state dining room in the new mansion seats 24; the kitchen of the new mansion; Open house, March 15 and 16, 1958; the family room on the second floor of the new mansion HOUSING NEBRASKA'S GOVERNORS, 1854-1980 By Peg Poeschl Nebraska Territory in 1854 was a virgin land, a pioneer socie­ ty. Nebraska was then the edge of the American frontier; today it is the heartland of the nation. This change is reflected in the development of its institutions and traditions. One such institu­ tion is the governor's mansion, whose history is a microcosm of Nebraska's growth and change. I Nebraska has had two official governor's Mansions, the first purchased in 1899, the second built in 1956. Narrating the history of a state institution, such as that which these two man­ sions represent, involves investigating its legislative history and architectural development. Yet one must further consider events which occurred in the mansions and the experiences of the peo­ ple who lived there. Once blended, these four elements-legisla­ tion, architecture, events, and people-reveal a broad picture of the governors' homes. And once the character of a building is defined, it is no longer inanimate brick and wood, but rather a living symbol of the times through which it has passed. The history of living quarters of Nebraska governors falls in­ to three stages, which will be given the following titles: (1) "A Society of Equals, 1854-1899." (No mansion is pro­ vided). (2) "The Honor of Society, 1899-1956." (A mansion is pur­ chased for the use of the governor.) (3) "Society Goes Modern, 1956-1980." (A mansion is built for the use of the governor.) A Society Of Equals, 1854-1899 According to an August 30, 1854, newspaper, Francis Burt, the newly appointed territorial governor of Nebraska Frontispiece: Color rendering of second governor's Mansion by architect Selmer Solheim. Courtesy of Nebraska Department of Administrative Services. 259 260 NEBRASKA HISTORY will start [from South Carolina] for that territory about the first of next month. He will take a territorial library with him, and one household servant called a slave, an aged female domestic . .. The Governor, and his followers will dwell in nomadic style, that is tents, until they can knock-up log houses in the wilderness. 2 Although Governor Burt was never actually obliged to establish such primitive living quarters, the report is interesting in that its author believed that the highest appointed official of the United States territory might live in a tent. In 1854, when Nebraska was part of the American frontier, politicians, soldiers, and farmers all lived under difficult conditions. Even high government of­ ficials often led comparatively simple lives. Of course as the years passed, Nebraska society became richer and more structured. Social and occupational classes became more sharply defined and were reflected in differing incomes, life styles, and living arrangements. Yet for 46 years, from 1854 to 1899, Nebraska's governor was not distinguished from any other citizen by a special residence. Governors found their own quarters. (See Appendix A.) This situation slowly changed. As early as 1873 a bill to ap­ propriate money for the purchase of a governor's mansion passed the state Senate. 3 The bill died in the House, probably a victim of the harsh times imposed by the economic panic, brought on in part by drought and grasshoppers of the early 1870s. Still, the idea of an official governor's mansion gained ground in 1889, when $1,000 per year was appropriated to the governor for rent money. During the depression of the mid-1890s this sum was lowered to $750 a year. (Governor Lorenzo Crounse, 1893-1895, refused to accept rent money.) Then in the brighter year of 1899 Nebraska's Legislature ap­ propriated $25,000 for the purchase of a governor's mansion.4 What of the spirit of the events and people in Nebraska's ear­ ly series of unofficial "governors' mansions"? Few of these buildings remain, but numerous written accounts hint at what took palce in them. The houses were scattered over southeast Nebraska-Bellevue, Omaha, Lincoln, Nebraska City-de­ pending upon the location of the seat of government. The style in which early governors lived and entertained usually reflected their economic and social positions and was not greatly altered by ascendancy to the governorship. The social events held in the early residences are hard to separate into "official" and "private" functions. In those days Nebraska's population was HOUSING NEBRASKA'S GOVERNORS 261 so small that official guests were often personal friends. Governor Thomas Cuming's lodgings are a good example of the atmosphere of those times. During his term as acting gover­ nor, his rooms at the Douglas House, 13th and Harney Streets, Omaha, "were often filled with the elite of this young and grow­ ing city. Mrs. Cuming was very popular in the little gatherings which were frequently held."5 During his elected term (1857-1858), the Cumingses lived at 18th and Douglas in a "gothic cottage" which had been moved up the Missouri River from S1. Louis. Their house was used for Catholic Church ser­ vices. Mrs. Cuming told of the Sunday when someone, not realizing this fact, saw a large crowd of worshipers heading towards the Cuming home and assuming the worst ran to Governor Cuming's office to report his house on fire. 6 Regardless of the active social calendar that seems to have filled Governor Cuming's residence, from 1854 to 1899 much of a governor's entertaining was done either in hotels or in homes of other prominent citizens. For example, the first gubernatorial ball, for Mark W. Izard (1855-1857), was held at the New City Hotel in Omaha. Guests feasted on bacon sandwiches, dried­ apple pie, and coffee with brown sugar.7 In January, 1873, Governor Robert W. Furnas (1873-1875) was given a reception at the residence of Thomas P. Kennard in Lincoln, at which "through the whole evening fresh guests arrived, while others departed after having paid their respects to the Governor, who is especially popular with the ladies.,,8 And in 1889 the in­ augural reception for Governor John M. Thayer (1887-1891, 1891-1892) was held in the Capitol and attended by William F. (Buffalo Bill) Cody and his wife. 9 The attendance at the reception by Cody, a frontier celebrity, can perhaps be interpreted as a symbolic last bow to Nebraska's "Society of Equals." In 1889 the Legislature began to ap­ propriate rent money for the governor and by 1900 had provid­ ed him with an official mansion. As Nebraska entered a more mature era, the governor's need for an official residence was fully recognized. The Honor of Society, 1899-1956 By 1899 riches-even opulence-began to have an impact on Nebraska's social structure. In his History of Nebraska James 262 NEBRASKA HISTORY C. Olson, writing about the turn-of-the-century era, stated that most elements of society participated in some organized activi­ ty: "Lincoln's social life centered around its discussion clubs, literary societies and the opera house-proclaimed the most or­ nate Romanesque building west of Chicago-its 38 churches and 13 temperance societies." 10 The 1899 legislative provision for a governor's mansion was one more sign that Nebraska's pioneer phase was nearly over.