Work Likely to Begin This Spring
NELIGH — There’s a movement going on at the Antelope County Courthouse. No, it doesn’t involve anyone or any political party. Instead, it’s all about bricks and mortar.
At last week’s meeting of the Antelope County Board of Supervisors, they heard a blunt warning. They were told that the northwest corner of the courthouse will one day collapse if repairs are not made. That was the prognosis made by architect Jerry Berggren.
Berggren, who hails from Lincoln, came to Neligh at the supervisors’ request, to look at the cause of cracks and drainage problems located on the north side of the old courthouse building.
After an inspection of the attic, Berggren told the supervisors that the framing for the roof is different for each corner. Since the roof framing has not been adequately tied together at the northwest corner, the roof has been slowly, methodically, pushing the corner out for 100 years or more.
Among his suggestions to fix the problem are to have additions made to tie in the existing framing and have a mason relay brick on the corner from the bottom of the arch to the eaves.
