page_title: Nebraska State Capitol
section_title: Social history timeline
hierarchical_section_title: Nebraska State Capitol / Social history / Social history timeline
caption_attribution_description: English: Nebraska National Guard Soldiers with Troop B, 1-134th Cavalry Squadron, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Nebraska State Patrol Troopers, May 31, 2020, outside the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska. The National Guard Soldiers was activated to support civil authorities in protecting property and ensuring the safety of Nebraskans participating lawfully in peaceful demonstrations. (Nebraska National Guard photo by Maj. Scott Ingalsbe)
context_page_description: The Nebraska State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Nebraska and is located in downtown Lincoln. It was designed by New York architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in 1920 and was constructed of Indiana limestone from 1922 to 1932. The capitol houses the primary executive and judicial offices of Nebraska and is home to the Nebraska Legislature—the only unicameral state legislature in the United States.
  The Nebraska State Capitol's 400-foot tower can be seen 20 miles away. It was the first state capitol to incorporate a functional tower into its design. Goodhue stated that "Nebraska is a level country and its capitol should have some altitude or beacon effect." In 1976, the National Park Service designated the capitol a National Historic Landmark, and in 1997, the Park Service extended the designation to include the capitol grounds, which Ernst H. Herminghaus designed in 1932.
context_section_description: July 1934: Lincolnites sleep on capitol lawn during heatwave; Capitol Commission worries blankets will kill grass
  January 16, 1935: Dan Hellweg dies after jumping from the fourteenth floor
  June 13, 1935: Mari Sandoz receives telegram at her Nebraska State Historical Society office on the ninth floor announcing that she won the Atlantic Monthly Press nonfiction contest for her biography Old Jules
  October 10, 1936: President Franklin D. Roosevelt address crowd of 30,000 in front of north entrance
  November 13, 1945: Roy Kohler dies after falling or jumping from the fourteenth floor
  December 31, 1948: State installs wire fencing above parapet wall of the fourteenth floor observation decks to prevent falls or jumps
  May 29, 1954: Dick Cavett "sloshes" white paint on the statue of William Jennings Bryan, which stands on the capitol’s north plaza
  February 12, 2001: Same-sex couples hold wedding ceremonies on the west steps of the Capitol, showing support for legalization of same-sex marriage as a part of National Freedom to Marry Day.
  April 10, 2002: Nebraska Coalition for LGBT Civil Rights organizes a human chain around the Capitol in protest of Nebraska Initiative 416.
  July 17, 2004: Neo-nazis hold a rally at the north steps of the Capitol. The rally was opposed by a far larger anti-Nazi counterprotest.
  July 12, 2005: The body of James Exon lay in state in the Capitol rotunda.
  May 30–31, 2020: Police fire CS gas and rubber bullets at Black Lives Matter demonstrators protesting police brutality at the Capitol and on Lincoln Mall, to the west of the building. While protestors had their hands up, police shot them in the face; one was blinded and another suffered a shattered nose.
caption: Nebraska National Guard and state troopers at the Capitol on May 31, 2020, during the George Floyd protests
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Nebraska National Guard Soldiers with Troop B, 1-134th Cavalry Squadron, stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Nebraska State Patrol Troopers, May 31, 2020, outside the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln, Nebraska. The National Guard Soldiers was activated to support civil authorities in protecting property and ensuring the safety of Nebraskans participating lawfully in peaceful demonstrations. (Nebraska National Guard photo by Maj. Scott Ingalsbe)", "Image Make": "Apple", "Image Model": "iPhone 11", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Artist": "Maj. Scott Ingalsbe", "Image Copyright": "Public Domain", "Image ExifOffset": "204", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "816", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "16562", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/40", "EXIF FNumber": "9/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0231", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "665241/125000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "847997/500000", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "7062/13403", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "17/4", "EXIF SubjectArea": "[2002, 1505, 2213, 1324]", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[807365/524263, 17/4, 9/5, 12/5]", "EXIF LensMake": "Apple", "EXIF LensModel": "iPhone 11 back dual wide camera 4.25mm f/1.8"}