Lancaster County - American Courthouses

Lancaster County is named for the city of Lancaster in England and the county seat was Lancaster until the name was changed to Lincoln.

Surrounding County Courthouses:

N – Saunders County

E – Cass County and Otoe County

S – Gage County

W – Saline County and Seward County

Created: March 6, 1855

County Seat:

Lincoln 1859 – present

County Courthouse – Lincoln

Location: 575 South 10th Street / Lincoln Mall

Built: 1967 – 1968

Style: Modern

Architect: Hemphill Vierk & Dawason and Clark-Enersen-Olson- Burroughs-Thomsen

Contractor: Alvine Associates

Description: The building faces east and is a three story glass, chrome and stone structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds on the south side of the center of Lincoln. The east front has vertical diving pillars and further chrome dividers between the windows. There are three entrances in the center. The second story windows are smaller. There is a recessed third story. The roof line is flat. In the interior, there are seven County Court courtrooms on the second story and on the third story there are nine County District Court courtrooms. The fourth story has four County Juvenile Court courtrooms. The building houses the District Court, County Court and County Juvenile Court of the 3rd Judicial District. The building is named as the City-County Building. On the south side is the three story County Justice and Law Enforcement Center designed by Sinclair Hille Architects of Lincoln and Bahr Vermeer Haecker Architects of Lincoln and constructed by Builders, Inc. in 1998 to 2000. The building has a recessed first story and horizontal windows on the second and third story. The roof line is flat.

History: The county was created in 1855 and Lincoln was selected as the county seat in 1859 when the county was organized. The first court met at the home of Jacob Dawson in 1864. The first courthouse was a two story stone structure designed by F M Ellis and constructed by W H B Stout in 1888 to 1890 at a cost of $164,976. The courthouse was razed in 1969. The second and present courthouse was constructed in 1967 to 1969 at a cost of $5,000,000. The County Justice and Law Enforcement Center was constructed in 1998 to 2000.

See: The Nebraska Supreme Court and Nebraska Court of Appeals are located in the county.