Kennard

March 1, 1933 - I mailed the invitation to Dist. 21 for our St. Patrick's Party.  March came in like a lamb.  All the folks except Mr. Walker and me went to church this evening.  I read awhile and went to bed about 8:30.
March 2, 1933 - All week I've been wondering why I feel so tired.  It just dawned on me today that it's because I've been playing at noon with the kids.  I'm not used to such strenuous exercise.  Hektographed some material and listened to the radio this evening.
March 3, 1933 - We planned our menu for our party.  Ray came after me about 3:30.  I took two of Walker's jig-saw puzzles home with me. Tonite Mom, Ray and I each had a puzzle.  Grandad tried to help all of us.

Hmmm.  So staying out until 3:30 a.m. doesn't make one tired, only long recesses.  Okay, Grandma.

John and I went up to Sioux City last week and took one route up and a different one back.  The way back took us right by Kennard in Washington County where a lot of the Andersen bunch lived.  I had it in my head that Kennard was much further away from Lincoln and Ceresco than it is.  Just a way east of Fremont.  I will have to plan that cemetery visit I have been mentioning off and on for a year or better now.

Wikipedia has only sparse information about Kennard; this is about it -- It was established in 1869 when the Sioux City & Pacific Railroad was extended to that point.  It was named for Thomas P. Kennard, the first Secretary of State for Nebraska.  The town was incorporated in 1895.  According to the 2010 census, the population was 361, ten down from the 2000 census.

Undaunted, I looked for information on Thomas Kennard.  The first to pop up was actually information about the Thomas P. Kennard House in Lincoln.

The Thomas P. Kennard House, also known as the Nebraska Statehood Memorial is the oldest remaining building in the original plat of Lincoln, Nebraska. Built in 1869, the Italianate house belonged to Thomas P. Kennard, the first Secretary of State for Nebraska, and one of three men who picked the Lincoln site for the new state's capital in 1867. The house was designed by architect John Keys Winchell of Chicago.

In 1965 the Kennard House was designated the Nebraska Statehood Memorial, and became a museum.  It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on April 16, 1969.

The house is a 2-1/2 story stuccoed brick building with a frame cupola on the shallow-pitched hip roof.  The house was extensively altered inside and out before its designation as a memorial and required major restoration work to return its appearance to its original state.

So, I had to keep digging to get the above photograph and the following about Mr. Kennard from the official Nebraska government website (note they go on and on about the house):

Thomas Perkins Kennard was born near Flushing, Belmont County, Ohio, in 1828.  At the age of seven his family moved to Indiana, where Kennard lived until coming to Nebraska.  In his youth he worked in a woolen manufacturing plant, then joined his brother, Jenkins, in purchasing it. He also began reading law. Selling his interest in the woolen plant, he practiced law in Indiana for several years, then in 1857 moved with his oldest brother, Levi, to the former town of De Soto in Washington County, Nebraska Territory. He soon became involved in Nebraska politics and was elected secretary of state in 1867. In later years he served a short time as a state senator and held several federal appointments, while pursuing an active career as a Lincoln lawyer and businessman. In 1879 he founded the Western Paint and Glass Company, with which he was associated for the rest of his life.

While in Indiana, Kennard married Livia Emily Templeton. One son and two daughters lived to maturity. Mrs. Kennard died in January 1887, and that same year the present Kennard House was sold. The reason for this decision is unclear, although it has been speculated that it was in mourning for Mrs. Kennard. From 1887 until his death in 1920, Kennard occupied a house (razed in 1962) built for him in 1887 at the southwest corner of H and Seventeenth Streets, two houses east of the 1869 mansion. The town of Kennard in Washington County remains to perpetuate his name.


After 1887 the Kennard House was used as a boarding house, fraternity house, and a single-family dwelling at various times. In 1961 the state of Nebraska acquired the house through the purchase of all lots on the north half of the block on which the house is located. This purchase was made in conjunction with a plan to provide additional state parking and office space and to improve the aesthetic appearance of the area surrounding the present statehouse. The house was in danger of demolition, but a concentrated preservation drive resulted in the 1965 passage of Nebraska Legislative Bill 609, introduced by state senators Fern Hubbard Orme of Lincoln and Jerome Warner of Waverly. This bill designated the house as the "Nebraska Statehood Memorial" and appointed the Nebraska State Historical Society to restore and refurnish it. Renovation began in December 1966, the house was opened to the public on August 18, 1968, and it was formally dedicated on October 5, 1968.