The Smith Limekiln and Limestone House

Smith was a New Yorker, and he died in August 1906. Ronald Kivett's 1974 National Register nomination describes the kiln as working like a large chimney: big pieces of limestone were stacked above a fire hearth and burned until the stone crumbled as easily as dirt. The house is a story and a half of local limestone laid in lime, with a frame interior and roof and no fireplace; a stone pipe drum carried heat from the first-floor stove to the rooms above. Long vacant, the property went to the Jefferson County Historical Society in 1964.

What the plaque says

The Smith Limekiln and Limestone House The availability of suitable building material was of great importance to Nebraska's pioneer settlers. Here in Jefferson County, native limestone was used for building and the stone was burned in kilns to produce lime for mortar and whitewash. The U.S. Army reportedly operated the first kiln in this area during the 1848 construction of Fort Kearny on the Platte. During the 1870's and 1880's, the limestone industry flourished in Jefferson County and numerous kilns and quarries were located near here. The limekiln which survives on this site was built in 1874 by Woral C. Smith who had settled in the county the previous year. Much of the limestone from Smith's quarries was used locally, but after the St. Joseph and Denver City Railroad built a siding to the kiln, limestone products were shipped throughout the region. In 1876, Smith constructed the nearby house with limestone from his quarries. Today, commercial limestone production continues in several areas of Nebraska. Although the old limekilns have largely disappeared, the Smith kiln and limestone house remain as examples of this important pioneer industry. Jefferson County Historical Society Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rock Creek Station State Historical Park — 11 mi
  A stage and Pony Express station on the trail southeast of Fairbury where James Hickok killed David McCanles in July 1861, with the court papers that cleared him, and deep wagon ruts.
• Homestead National Historical Park — 22 mi
  Daniel Freeman's claim on Cub Creek near Beatrice, one of the first filed under the Homestead Act, with a one-room school, a homesteader's cabin, restored prairie and the land's earlier owners.

More markers nearby

• Jansen — 7.5 mi
• Bruning Army Air Field — 15 mi
• Plymouth — 15 mi
• 1880 Diller 1980 — 16 mi