John Keys Winchell Explained

John Keys Winchell (1841 - 1877) was an architect in Chicago who worked on buildings in Nebraska's then newly designated capitol of Lincoln.^[1] He designed the state's first insane asylum. He also designed the Thomas P. Kennard House for the state's first secretary of state and Butler Mansion for Nebraska Governor David Butler in Lincoln, Nebraska.^[2]

The Butler House was used by a Klavern of the KKK before the great depression, was then a clubhouse for a golf course, and was also a radio station and Ideal Grocery before being razed by 1960.^[3] Winchell designed houses for all three commissioners who oversaw the relocation of Nebraska's Capitol from Omaha to Lincoln, including the Thomas Kennard house. It is the oldest extant building in the original plat of Lincoln, Nebraska. It was designated the Nebraska Statehood Memorial in 1965.^[4]

A May 27, 1875 news brief in the Sacramento Daily Union described Winchell as the architect of Nevada's state capitol grounds and building.^[5] Other sources credit the Nevada State Capitol to Joseph Gosling, a San Francisco architect.^[6]

Work

• Thomas P. Kennard House (1869) at 1627 H. Street

• John Gillespie (auditor) House (1869)
  • David Butler House (1869) for Nebraska Governor David Butler Nebraska Asylum for the Insane (1870), burned down in 1871
• State Prison in Reno, Nevada^[7]
• Bigelow House Hotel (1871), destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871^{[8] [9]}
• Nye County Courthouse (1875)^{[10] [11]}

Further reading

• Nebraska entry on Winchell

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Kennard House – Lincoln Today Magazine.
2. Web site: Jim McKee: The many lives of the Butler Mansion. JIM McKEE /. Column. JournalStar.com.
3. Web site: Archived copy . 2019-12-30 . 2019-12-30 . https://web.archive.org/web/20191230114358/https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/43c441e0-6094-4fe0-9731-4ff42d1133de . dead .
4. Web site: Nebraska Statehood Memorial. The Explore Nebraska History. team. Explore Nebraska History.
5. Web site: Sacramento Daily Union 27 May 1875 — California Digital Newspaper Collection. cdnc.ucr.edu.
6. Web site: Nevada State Capitol--Three Historic Nevada Cities: Carson City, Reno and Virginia City--A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary. www.nps.gov.
7. Web site: Appendix to Journals of Senate and Assembly ... of the Legislature. December 30, 1875. Google Books. Legislature. Nevada.
8. Book: History of the Development of Building Construction in Chicago. Frank Alfred. Randall. Frank Hall. Randall. John D.. Randall. Both Are Professors of Mathematics John. Randall. December 30, 1999. University of Illinois Press. 9780252024160. Google Books.
9. Web site: Bigelow Hotel. chicagology.com.
10. Web site: Nye County Courthouse | ONE. www.onlinenevada.org.
11. Web site: courthousehistory.com | a historical look at out nation's county courthouses through postcards. courthousehistory.com.