Photograph of Custer County Courthouse — Photograph by Ammodramus, Public domain. Via Wikimedia Commons.

First Custer County Courthouse

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

From the record

“The Custer County Courthouse in Callaway, Nebraska was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as First Custer County Courthouse in 1990.”
Wikipedia article Custer County Courthouse (Callaway, Nebraska), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 14 National Register listings published here for Custer County · listed in 1990 · category: District.

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

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Address. Pacific St. and Cameron Ave., Callaway, 68825
When was it listed? January 1990
Category. district
Also known as. County Courthouses of Nebraska MPS
Township. Delight township
National Register reference number. 89002213 - 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

2 since 2003

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of First Custer County Courthouse between 2003 and 2020, burning about 4 acres in total. None 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
Debris and open burning	2

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
18 February 2020	Debris and open burning	3.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
1 January 2003	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named

Every fire recorded in Custer County

Storms near this property

60 of 165 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Callaway, the town this property stands in, in 165 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 118 hail, 40 thunderstorm wind, 4 tornado, 2 flash flood. The reports record 1 injury. 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
March 1998	Flash Flood	Callaway	1 hurt, $4,000	Heavy thunderstorm rain washed out a culvert in the road. An injury accident occurred when a vehicle drove into the washed out area of the road.
March 2019	Flood	Callaway	$500,000	Water reported over the road on Highway 40 from the junction of highway's 40 and 47 south of Arnold, to Arnold. Ditches are full with several secondary roads washed out in the Callaway area.
June 2022	Hail	Callaway	$250,000	Hail broke numerous windshields and windows in homes in Callaway. Siding on homes sustained damage as well.
May 2007	Tornado (EF1)	Callaway	$150,000	The tornado touched down 17 miles southwest of Callaway and tracked northward for approximately 21 miles near Highways 47 and 40 in western Custer County before lifting approximately 5 miles east of Arnold. The tornado destroyed several grain bins, uprooted trees, destroyed a garage and small outbuildings, overturned center pivot irrigation systems, snapped many power poles, broke windows, destroyed a barn, and mangled farm machinery, vehicles, and a horse trailer.
July 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	$100,000	Strong straight line thunderstorm winds overturned center pivot irrigation systems and uprooted large trees southwest of Callaway.
July 2007	Hail	Callaway	$15,000	no account filed
May 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	$10,000	A 10 foot diameter grain bin was blown over at the grain elevator in Callaway. Time estimated from radar.
August 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	$10,000	Thunderstorm wind gusts measured 80 MPH on a home weather station. Meanwhile, hail up to the size of walnuts punched several holes in siding at a farmstead.
May 2002	Hail	Callaway	$8,000	no account filed
June 2002	Hail	Callaway	$8,000	no account filed
June 2002	Hail	Callaway	$6,000	no account filed
June 2004	Flash Flood	Callaway	$5,000	5 to 6 inches of rain from heavy thunderstorms caused water to flood corn fields and flow over roadways.
June 2009	Hail	Callaway	$5,000	no account filed
May 2000	Hail	Callaway	$5,000	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Callaway	$4,000	no account filed
June 2002	Hail	Callaway	$4,000	no account filed
May 2007	Hail	Callaway	$3,000	A couple of vehicles sustained damage.
August 2002	Hail	Callaway	$2,000	Hail covered the ground.
July 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	$1,000	A basketball goal was blown over and some green snap damage occurred to a corn crop at this location.
July 2004	Hail	Callaway	$1,000	Hail destroyed fields of corn and soy beans. It also broke a window in a home.
April 2007	Hail	Callaway	$1,000	no account filed
May 2004	Hail	Callaway	$1,000	no account filed
August 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	$1,000	no account filed
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	$500	An apparent micro-burst overturned a pivot irrigator.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Measured wind gust at this location.
July 2024	Hail	Callaway	-	Report via social media. Time estimated from radar.
July 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts, estimated at 60 MPH, were reported at this location.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Cooperative weather observer reported damage to two large grain bins and an empty irrigation pivot flipped near Callaway.
July 2023	Hail	Callaway	-	Public reported quarter size hail southwest of Callaway.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	A mesonet station southwest of Callaway measured a 59 mph wind gust.
September 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Public estimated a 70 MPH wind gust at this location.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	A cooperative weather observer southwest of Callaway measured a 75 mph wind gust. A 72 mph wind gust preceded this report.
September 2022	Hail	Callaway	-	Time estimated by radar.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Public reported a pole barn destroyed. Wind speeds were estimated around 70 mph.
May 2020	Hail	Callaway	-	Quarter sized hail reported at this location. Time estimated by radar.
July 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	A cooperative observer measured a 58 mph wind gust with a personal weather station southwest of Callaway.
July 2019	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	A COOP observer measured wind gusts to 64 mph.
July 2019	Hail	Callaway	-	Public reported quarter size hail.
April 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Wind measured with an anemometer.
May 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	No damage reported.
April 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	A COOP observer west of Callaway measured a wind gust of 62 MPH.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Cooperative observer reported gust.
May 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Wind gust measured with a Davis Anemometer.
July 2016	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	A personal weather station recorded a 72 mph wind gust. Several tree branches were downed.
June 2015	Hail	Callaway	-	Nickel size hail covered the ground.
September 2014	Hail	Callaway	-	Ping pong ball size hail fell as the thunderstorm passed.
August 2014	Hail	Callaway	-	Half dollar sized hail was reported along with very heavy rain.
May 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Wind gusts estimated at 60 mph.
May 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	A report of small branches being down from strong winds.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Thunderstorm wind gusts measured at 64 mph.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	General public reported large tree limbs blown down.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Winds downed tree branches from 4 to 6 inches in diameter.
June 2014	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	Wind gusts estimated at 60 mph.
June 2014	Hail	Callaway	-	Hail covered the ground.
June 2013	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	COOP observer had a thunderstorm wind gust measured at 58 mph.
August 2013	Hail	Callaway	-	Large hail damaged and destroyed corn and bean crops for nearly 5 miles along and near Highway 47. The corn fields were stripped down leaving only the stalks.
May 2012	Hail	Callaway	-	Hail covered the ground throughout the town of Callaway.
July 2011	Hail	Callaway	-	Only a few hailstones fell with the largest being ping pong ball size.
July 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Callaway	-	The winds were estimated with small hail the size of marbles.
October 2007	Hail	Callaway	-	In addition to the hail, 1.34 inches of rain fell over the past hour.

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.

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 89002213 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.