New Hartington Historic Dist.is one step closer to goal

HARTINGTON — Area residents should know this summer if much of downtown Hartington has been approved as a new Historic District.

The Nebraska State Historical Preservation Board held one of its quarterly meetings in Hartington Friday to review seven applications involving property across the state.

The Board gave its approval to all nominations, which included the Hartington Historic District and the Hartington Carnegie Library.

Now that the State Board has given its approval to the nominations, all information will be given to the National Park Service so that entity can make the final determination as to whether these sites should be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

History Nebraska Director and CEO Trevor Jones said the application for Hartington’s Historic District didn’t require many modifications, so it should be reviewed and a decision rendered some time in July.

The proposed Historic District includes 30 buildings. The District would stretch on Broadway Avenue from the depot on the north, down to just past the City Auditorium on the south.

The District would widen out just north of Main Street to include the Cedar County News and then encompass all of the buildings between Main and State streets.

It would stretch to the east to include all of the buildings on East Main Street from Broadway to Madison Avenues.

Eighteen structures within the boundaries of the Historic District do not qualify for Historic status, said David Calease, National Register Coordinator with the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office.