Brenizer Library

Built in 1917 (Prairie School architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

From the record

“The Brenizer Library is a historic building in Merna, Nebraska. Empfield & Bert Elder thanks to a $6,500 donation from homesteader James G.”
Wikipedia article Brenizer Library, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 14 National Register listings published here for Custer County · listed in 2007 · category: Building · built in 1917, Prairie School architecture.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. 430 W. Center Ave., Merna, 68856
When was it listed? July 2007
Category. building
Township. Kilfoil township
When was it built? 1917
Architectural style. Prairie School architecture, Neoclassical architecture
National Register reference number. 07000654 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

10 since 2006

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Brenizer Library between 2006 and 2018, burning about 928 acres in total. 1 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Railroad operations and maintenance	3
Debris and open burning	2
Power generation/transmission/distribution	1
Natural	1
Fireworks	1
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1
Equipment and vehicle use	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
5 September 2010	Fireworks	10 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
3 August 2018	Railroad operations and maintenance	14 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
2 August 2018	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
4 July 2012	Natural	under an acre	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
23 April 2009	Power generation/transmission/distribution	under an acre	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
9 March 2012	Debris and open burning	400 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
22 February 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	500 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
1 December 2017	Equipment and vehicle use	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named

Every fire recorded in Custer County

Storms near this property

60 of 67 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Merna, the town this property stands in, in 67 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 48 hail, 8 thunderstorm wind, 6 flash flood, 2 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
June 2010	Flood	Merna	$300,000	Thunderstorms with prolonged heavy rain falling on already saturated ground caused widespread flooding through northern and central Custer County. Three to five inches of rain caused water to flow across the Victoria Springs Road, the Callaway Road, and Highway 92 near Merna. The rain produced a sink hole, 4 feet in depth, to form in the road between Merna and Victoria Springs. The south side of the Sargent Diversion Dam collapsed sending a tremendous amount of water to the Comstock Diversion Dam which held the water. Numerous rural roads were also severely damaged.
May 2023	Lightning	Merna	$50,000	Lightning struck a house, setting it on fire.
July 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Merna	$25,000	Off-duty NWS employee reported high winds with large trees down and a grain bin destroyed. A fertilizer and seed plant was also demolished.
June 2007	Thunderstorm Wind	Merna	$20,000	Two center pivots over-turned and damaged.
May 1999	Hail	Merna	$10,000	no account filed
May 2019	Hail	Merna	$3,000	Hail damaged the roof of a greenhouse.
May 2003	Hail	Merna	$3,000	The jagged hail tore bark off trees.
April 2007	Hail	Merna	$1,000	no account filed
June 2004	Hail	Merna	$1,000	no account filed
July 2022	Hail	Merna	-	Public reported quarter size hail in Merna along with small tree limbs downed and loss of electricity.
April 2021	Hail	Merna	-	Nickel sized hail was reported just west of Merna.
May 2020	Flash Flood	Merna	-	Highway 2 between mile markers 272 and 273 has one lane flooded.
May 2020	Flash Flood	Merna	-	Road 433 near Merna is washed out and covered with water.
May 2020	Hail	Merna	-	Report from social media.
May 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Merna	-	A storm chaser measured a 63 MPH wind gust.
June 2020	Tornado (EF0)	Merna	-	Brief touchdown with no damage reported.
March 2019	Flood	Merna	-	The NDOR web site reported flooding on Highway 92 or about 8 miles west of Merna.
August 2017	Flash Flood	Merna	-	Street flooding reported in several locations in Merna.
August 2017	Flash Flood	Merna	-	Water over highway 92 10 miles west of Merna.
May 2013	Flash Flood	Merna	-	Flood water flowing across the road.
June 2011	Flash Flood	Merna	-	Water was reported over the westbound lane on Highway 92 in northwest Custer county.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Merna	-	Strong thunderstorm wind gust did damage to trees and field 8 miles west of Merna.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Merna	-	The Severe Thunderstorm produced winds of 60 to 70 mph accompanied by hail up to nickel size. This blew siding off of houses and broke windows in Merna, Nebraska.
June 1999	Tornado (F0)	Merna	-	The tornado touched down briefly.
June 2024	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2022	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2020	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2019	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
August 2017	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
August 2017	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
August 2017	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
August 2017	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
August 2013	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
May 2012	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2010	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2010	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2010	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2010	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2010	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2009	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2009	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2009	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2009	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
August 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2007	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2007	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
April 2005	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
May 2005	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
March 2004	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
June 2002	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2002	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
May 2000	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed
July 2000	Hail	Merna	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Custer County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

1 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph	Property	Distance	Listed
	Benjamin and Mary Kellenbarger House	0.1 miles	2007

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 07000654 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Custer County	All 14 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.