Hamilton County Courthouse

Andreas's 1882 history tells the fight behind the five elections. Orville held the seat from 1870. Aurora won a two-thirds vote in 1873, but the commissioners refused to move and the courts upheld them. After a second win in the fall of 1874, Aurora mustered 150 men and carried off the records; a writ of mandamus sent them back the next spring. Hamilton then made it a three-way race and in July 1875 beat Aurora by 150 votes without taking the seat. Aurora's fifth try won by eighty over all. By 1882 Orville had become the county poor farm.

What the plaque says

The Hamilton County Courthouse This building is Hamilton County's third courthouse. The first was built in Orville City, the original county seat, in 1870. After five elections, Aurora was chosen as county seat in 1876. To assure the victory, the town constructed the second courthouse here in Central Park Square in 1877. It was destroyed by fire in January 1894. In March 1894 the county board hired architect William Gray of Lincoln, who had designed several Nebraska courthouses, to provide plans for a new building. Voters approved $60,000 in bonds for its construction and furnishing. The courthouse was completed in 1895. The Hamilton County Courthouse is built in the County Capitol Style, emulating the shape of the U. S. Capitol. Here a tall spire is used instead of a central dome, and red brick with Colorado sandstone instead of marble. The architectural detailing follows American Round Arch designs made popular by Boston architect H. H. Richardson. The stability of county government is suggested by the building's impressive exterior and by the ornate white oak woodwork inside. The courthouse is listed in The National Register of Historic Places. Hamilton County Courthouse Centennial Committee Nebraska State Historical Society June 24, 1995

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Stuhr Museum of the Prairie Pioneer — 19 mi
  Edward Durell Stone's island pavilion in Grand Island and an 1890s railroad town of moved buildings, among them the cottage where Henry Fonda was born in 1905.

More markers nearby

• Deep Well Irrigation — 0.3 mi
• Siloa Cemetery — 5.7 mi
• Youst Cemetery, Hampton, Nebraska — 6.3 mi
• Porcupine Ranch — 10 mi