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Photograph of Hamilton-Donald House
Photograph by Smallbones, CC0 1.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Hamilton-Donald House

Built in 1905 (Neoclassical architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

From the record

“The Hamilton-Donald House is a historic house in Grand Island, Nebraska. In 1908, it was acquired by John Donald, a co-founder of the Donald Company, a dry goods and grocer's store.”

Wikipedia article Hamilton-Donald House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 28 National Register listings published here for Hall County · listed in 1986 · category: Building · built in 1905, Neoclassical 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.
  • Listed as. Hamilton--Donald House - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
  • Address. 820 W. Second St., Grand Island, 68801
  • When was it listed? March 1986
  • Category. building
  • City. Grand Island city
  • When was it built? 1905
  • Architectural style. Neoclassical architecture
  • National Register reference number. 86000390 - 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.

The ground it stands on

6,308 words

The chapter on Grand Island City in History of Hall County, Nebraska; a Narrative of the Past with Special Emphasis Upon the Pioneer Period of the County's History, and Chronological Presentation of Its Social, Commercial, Educational, Religious, and Civic Development from the Early Days to the Present Time, and Special Analysis of Its Military and Civil Participation in the Late World War, published 1920 names Grand Island. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.

This chapter will only treat of the early settlement and civic development of Grand Island. Its city government will be detailed and the development and growth of its public utilities and parks. The part that Grand Island has played in the manufacturing, industrial, commercial, and financial achievements of Hall County will be merged in the separate chapters on those subjects that are to follow this one. Likewise will the growth of her churches be included in the treatment of their respective denominations, her schools treated as -a part of the school history of the county, the press, professions and social and fraternal institutions be taken up in separate chapters relating to those respective activities.

Passage source: History of Hall County, Nebraska; a Narrative of the Past with Special Emphasis Upon the Pioneer Period of the County's History, and Chronological Presentation of Its Social, Commercial, Educational, Religious, and Civic Development from the Early Days to the Present Time, and Special Analysis of Its Military and Civil Participation in the Late World War, published 1920.

The original plat of Grand Island was filed for record September 29, 1866, and recorded in Book B, page 13, by Clerk Fred T. Evans. The document was found by Abstractor William Frank, at Omaha. Prior to this time Grand Island had nothing to show title to streets and alleys, beyond twenty-one years possession of the same, the county records then showing title only in the Union Pacific Railroad Company.

Passage source: History of Hall County, Nebraska; a Narrative of the Past with Special Emphasis Upon the Pioneer Period of the County's History, and Chronological Presentation of Its Social, Commercial, Educational, Religious, and Civic Development from the Early Days to the Present Time, and Special Analysis of Its Military and Civil Participation in the Late World War, published 1920.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Grand Island City - 6,308 words on its settlement, mills, schools and churches.

Mines and quarries near this property

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Hamilton-Donald House: 2 producers. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Talc-Soapstone. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Grand Island MillTalc-SoapstoneProducer
Grand Island Talc MillTalc-SoapstoneProducer

Every working recorded in Hall County

Storms near this property

14 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Grand Island, the town this property stands in, in 14 storm reports between 1994 and 1996: 7 thunderstorm wind, 6 hail, 1 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 1995HailGrand Island$1,500,000no account filed
August 1995HailGrand Island$1,000,000no account filed
August 1995Thunderstorm WindGrand Island$100,000no account filed
July 1995HailGrand Island$50,000no account filed
August 1995Thunderstorm WindGrand Island$5,000no account filed
August 1995Tornado (F0)Grand Island$2,000no account filed
April 1994Thunderstorm WindGrand Island-Thunderstorm winds gusted to 64 mph at Grand Island. The roof of a convenience store on the east side of town received considerable damage.
May 1996HailGrand Island-no account filed
May 1996HailGrand Island-no account filed
June 1995Thunderstorm WindGrand Island-no account filed
July 1995HailGrand Island-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindGrand Island-no account filed
July 1994Thunderstorm WindGrand Island-no account filed
August 1994Thunderstorm WindGrand Island-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hall 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

6 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 PropertyDistance Listed
Andrew M. Hargis House0.1 miles1978
Glade-Donald House0.2 miles1985
H. J. Bartenbach House0.2 miles1986
Oscar Roeser House0.2 miles1982
Cathedral of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary0.3 miles1982
Liederkranz0.3 miles1978

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 86000390 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Hall CountyAll 28 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.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • 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.