The Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, an Indiana limestone-clad
building with a 400-foot-tall domed tower rising from its base,
succeeds two territorial capitols and two state capitols.
The Nebraska Territory was created in 1854, and controversy
regarding the Omaha location of the territorial capitol was not
resolved until 1867 when Nebraska became a state. The Nebraska
Legislature voted to construct the first state capitol at the
western edge of settlement in the state in the village of
Lancaster.
The village, which was to include the Nebraska State Capitol and
the state's university, penitentiary and state hospital, was
renamed Lincoln, and construction of the first state capitol
commenced in 1867.
Built from 1867-68, the first state capitol was a two-story
native limestone building with a central cupola. Because of poor
construction and inferior building materials, the building soon
began to crumble. Construction of a second state capitol building
at the same site was completed in 1888; however, the building
experienced the same problems. In 1919, the state legislature
passed a bill to provide for construction of a third state capitol
building, as well as provisions for a capitol commission to...
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