Benson City Hall (Omaha, Nebraska) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Benson City Hall |
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View from the southeast
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| General information | |
| Town or city | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Country | United States |
| Coordinates | 41°17′07″N 96°00′19″W / 41.2852°N 96.005279°W |
| Construction started | 1915 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Everett S. Dodds |
The Benson City Hall and Fire Station is a historic building in Omaha, Nebraska. Today, it is known as the Benson Community Center. You can find it at 6008 Maple Street in the Benson neighborhood. It was built in 1915, just before Benson became part of Omaha.
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A Look Back: The Building's History
Benson's First City Hall
Benson's very first public building was a city hall. It was built in 1892. This building was located at Military Road and Spencer Street. In 1901, it was moved to Military Avenue and Wirt Street. It stayed there until 1916, when it was sold.
Building a New City Hall
In the 1910s, the city of Omaha started to grow. It began to take over smaller towns nearby. This process is called annexation. Benson knew it would likely be annexed by Omaha. So, the people of Benson decided to build as many new public buildings as they could. They wanted to do this before Omaha took over.
There were two main reasons for this. First, Benson residents worried that the much larger Omaha government would be slow. They feared Omaha would not quickly build the improvements Benson needed. Second, they knew that once Omaha annexed Benson, Omaha would have to pay Benson's building debts.
In May 1915, a popular Omaha architect named Everett S. Dodds shared his building plans. He showed them to the Benson City Council. In the fall of 1915, the Council hired Rasmussen Construction Company. Their job was to build a new city hall and fire station combined.
After Benson Joined Omaha
Benson officially became part of Omaha in 1917. After this, the building became a community center. In 1923, the second floor was used by the Omaha Public Library. It became the Benson branch library. A new library was built in 1941. Even after that, the building kept serving the community. It continued to house the Benson Community Center.
