Here is a photo postcard showing a view of the Sarpy County Court house at Papillion, NE around 1908. The structure reminds me of some of the earlier brick school buildings in Nebraska built around the same time. Note the incorrect spelling of the town on the postcard. Papillion photo postcards (and cards from there in general) are fairly tough to come by. I believe most of the photo postcards I have seen from there were produced by Olson of Plattsmouth, NE. I appreciate his work and might write a bit about him in the future, so keep tuned.
Sarpy County in Nebraska is among the oldest counties in the state and was organized in 1857. Bellevue was the original county seat, but its designation was moved to Papillion in 1875. Following the change to Papillion, a modest brick courthouse was constructed but by 1921 it was deteriorating and deemed inadequate. In that same year voters approved a bond issue for a new building. Construction began in 1922 and in 1923 the Classical Revival-style courthouse was completed. That building has been added to the Nebraska National Historical Register in 2005 and can be seen here.
Sarpy County is home to the following communities: Bellevue Gretna La Vista Papillion Springfield Chalco and Offutt Air Force Base.
I have had the opportunity to help a number of collectors in their pursuit of acquiring all of the 92 or 93 County Courthouses from Nebraska. This can be accomplished but there are a few of them which are a little difficult to find. Some collectors want any example, be it the original courthouse or the current courthouse, some want both. I also know of several collectors who collect courthouse postcards for all the entire U.S. One collector from Maryland has a wonderful website where you can view his collection of postcards from every State: http://courthousehistory.com/html/collection.htm
In 2002 a gentleman from Nebraska put out a book of all of the NE courthouses. He used a lot of postcards in the book which you can view here: Nebr Courthouse Book .
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