BlockFrom the record
One of 14 National Register listings published here for Custer County · listed in 2007 · category: Building.
Sources: the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service
Benjamin and Mary Kellenbarger House
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.
The listing
- What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 3 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
- Listed as. Kellenbarger, Benjamin and Mary, House - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
- Address. 451 W. Center Ave., Merna, 68856
- When was it listed? July 2007
- Category. building
- Township. Kilfoil township
- Architectural style. Queen Anne style architecture in the United States
- National Register reference number. 07000659 - 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 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Benjamin and Mary Kellenbarger House 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 |
Storms near this property
60 of 67 shownRegional 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 |
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 milesOther 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Brenizer Library | 0.1 miles | 2007 |
Sources for this property
| National Archives record | The nomination case file for reference 07000659 in Record Group 79. |
| 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.