Color postcard (14 x 9 cm) with a view of two men on a path leading to the entrance and administration building of the Nebraska State Penitentiary, located in the distance at present-day 14th and Pioneers Boulevard, on the south side of Lincoln, Nebraska. The bottom of the card has a white border with the caption "Nebraska State Penitentiary, Lincoln, Nebr." in the lower left side.
The Nebraska State Penitentiary was built on land owned by Captain W. T. Donovan and G. H. Hilton donated in 1867 as an inducement to locate the State Capitol in Lancaster County. Located three miles south of Lincoln, construction was begun in 1870 and by July a small temporary structure was completed. Prison labor was used to quarry and cut magnesia limestone from the Saltillo quarries 12 miles south of Lincoln to build the structure seen here. It was completed in 1876 and remained in constant use until it was razed in 1982, at which time portions of the original wall and guard tower were among the oldest structures in Lancaster County. Source: McKee, James L. Remember When.....Memories of Lincoln. Lincoln: J & L Lee Co., 1998, p. 43-44.
