NEBRASKA'S CENTENNIAL MALL

As envisioned by Capitol Architect Bertram Goodhue in 1922, Nebraska’s Centennial Mall is the primary grand entrance to the Nebraska Capitol. The Mall provides flexible gathering spaces and opportunities for visitors who want to learn more about the history of Nebraska and a place for future stories to be told.

LOAD 3D MODEL PLAY 360 VIDEO

Nebraska's Centennial Mall is more than just Lincoln. It's Nebraska's front door to the State Capitol, home to our Unicameral. It's where 35,000 school children visit each year to learn about their state. And it is the front door to the University of Nebraska, our state's oldest and largest university system and the cultural and intellectual hub of the state.

Nebraska's Centennial Mall shows us, our visitors, and our children and grandchildren, what's important to us and what has influenced us. Most importantly, it's a place where we can gather, learn or even protest.

Capitol Fountain and Plaza

Civic Zone
This area of Centennial Mall explores the themes of "We the People" and "Our Home Nebraska." It focuses on the geographic features, natural resources, and stewardship of the land of Nebraska.

Lincoln Parks & Rec

Missouri River Fountain and Nebraska Heritage Plaza

Community Zone
The three central blocks of Centennial Mall, which stretch from "M" to "P" streets are open to automobile traffic and focus on the theme "Mosaic of Nebraskans."

Lincoln Parks Foundation

Imagination to Innovation Fountain and Plaza

Campus Zone
This space celebrates innovators, educators, and artists from Nebraska. This area features an art alcove, water features, and an amphitheater to celebrate and encourage creativity and artistic expression.

Anderson Hall

CENTENNIAL MALL MASTER PLAN APPROVAL
In 2010, city of Lincoln approved the master plan for centennial mall. Addressed the question like design requirement, planned the blocks and sections.

Capitol Fountain and the Great Seal of the State of Nebraska

Plaza gathering area
Limestone planters reflect the north entrance of the Capitol

Flexible greenspace for events
Native grasses in the planters

Spirit of Nebraska Pathway

Colored pavers represent ecological regions with tallgrass prairie in the east, short grass prairie in the west

State of Nebraska map shows rivers, county seats, Union Pacific
transcontinental railroad route, and Chief Standing Bear’s Ponca Tribe Trail

Seating areas on the west side of the block are tributes to the Platte River and Ogalalla Aquifer, Nebraska’s primary water resources

Granite tiles depicting Nebraska’s 93 counties border the plaza

Imagination to Innovation Fountain and plaza

Fountain with “jumping jets” of water represent playfulness
and creativity

“Standing Bear, Chief of the Ponca” portrait sculpture
by Benjamin Victor

Lincoln Children’s Museum
University of Nebraska’s Anderson Hall

No special actions required, all sites you make with Mobirise are mobile-friendly. You don't have to create a special mobile version of your site, it will adapt automagically.

Cut down the development time with drag-and-drop website builder. Drop the blocks into the page, edit content inline and publish - no technical skills required.

Choose from the large selection pre-made blocks - full-screen intro, bootstrap carousel, slider, responsive image gallery with, parallax scrolling, sticky header and more.

Functional

Meets accessibility needs while providing space for seating, gathering and movement.

Safe

Provides a well-lit, secure space where people will not easily injure themselves.

Beautiful

A place Nebraska can be proud of once again.

Timeline

A Capitol Square in a Capitol City

In 1867, the Nebraska Capital Commission selected the tiny settlement of Lancaster for the new capital city and renamed it Lincoln.
The Commission platted a grid of 300-foot square blocks and 100-foot wide rights of way. Most of the 245 blocks were intentded for house lots, but six blocks were reserved for public schools and three for local government functions.
Three larger blocks - four times the size of regular blocks - were set aside for a park, a university campus and a capitol grounds. A twelve-acre State House Square was bounded by H, K, 14th and 16th Streets, which 15th Street and J Street centering on that Square were laid out with extra width - 120 feet of right of way. These wider corridors provide for the Capitol vistas seen today on Centennial Mall and Lincoln Mall.

1867

Goodhue Expands the Vision for 15th Street

Bertram Goodhue's 1920 concept for the new Capitol envisioned State House Square at the intersection of two great avenues, centering on a vast low structure with a great centrol tower and gleaming gold-tile dome. This landmark wound dominate not only downtown Lincoln, but the whole capital city and the countryside beyond. His design reflected the exisiting street grid and used the grid to enhance the building. A rendering of the Goodhue Capitol illustrated his thoughts on how the cityscape wound change through time. The north axis of the intersecting avenues was depicted as a broad boulevard with green space and government buildings arranged on either side. His vision was gradually realized as Lincoln grew. The expansion of the university eastward beyoond its original 12th Street boundary spurred interest in extending 15th Street beyond its original terminus at O Street. During the 1930s and early '40s the City of Lincoln acquired property and removed buildings, opening 15th Street to R Street and setting the stage for the future development of Centennial Mall.

1920

1966

From 15th Street to Nebraska's Centennial Mall

In 1966 the Lincoln City Council approved landscape architect Larry Enersen's plan to beautify 15th Street between the Capitol and UNL City Campus to celebrate Nebraska's centennial in 1967. The statewide Centennial Association assisted the project, demonstrating its importance to Nebraska, not just to Lincoln. Completed in 1970, Enersen's design for Centennial Mall echoed the geometry of the Capitol's north entrance plaze and grand staircase. The design featured a cascade of steps which followed the topography between the two state institutions. Trees, shrubs and turf replaced streets in the north and south blocks, which three blocks between M and P Streets were left open to vehicular traffic. Six fountains enlivened the mall and enhanced the vistas. After five decades of service, the Mall of the 1960s required replacement due to failing pavements and plantings, and a desire for greater accessibility and maintainabiulity. Again, statewide support funded t he redesign and rebuilding of Nebraska's Centennial Mall, completed in 2016.

Timeline

Modern Construction Timeline After 1967

1967

Built in 1967 to commemorate the state's 100th anniversary, Nebraska's Centennial Mall extends north from the State Capitol seven blocks on what would be 15th Street.

2003

Over the past few decades, it had fallen into disrepair, did not meet accessibility standards and needed to be rebuilt. Three of the original fountains were decommissioned by 2003, and the fountain north of K Street was turned off in 2014 prior to beginning construction.

2012

The Lincoln Parks Foundation led a successful $9.6 million fundraising campaign that allowed the revitalization project to begin in 2012. A total of 130 donors from across the state supported the campaign, which included a $1.5 million endowment to maintain the mall.

The significant influence of Native Americans is expressed throughout the Mall’s design. A ‘light circle’ that recognizes 27 tribes associated with Nebraska history.

This is part of a native landscape garden located north of the fountain between P and Q Streets. Native American words, symbols and design patterns are incorporated into features throughout the Mall. A Pow Wow gathering circle at the north end provides a celebration and gathering space for all Mall visitors, with special appreciation for Native Americans in the Nebraska region.

Native American Civil Rights

CHIEF STANDING BEAR

From his birth on the banks of the Niobrara River in Nebraska until his death in 1908, Chief Standing Bear spent his life in a constant struggle to gain equality and justice for our nation’s Native Americans. Chief Standing Bear and the Ponca Tribe were forced in 1877 by federal treaty to leave their homeland in Nebraska for Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma.

The hardship of travel, illness, and the conditions of Indian Territory caused many members of the tribe to perish, including Chief Standing Bear’s son. Determined to bury his son in his homeland, Chief Standing Bear led thirty members of his tribe back to their home in Nebraska. As a result, Chief Standing Bear became the first Native American to be recognized as a person in a federal court decision rendered in Omaha at the trial following his return.

LEARN MORE LOAD 3D MODEL

Address

Centennial Mall N
Lincoln, 68508

Links

Cheif Standing Bear
Reference

NEBRASKA'S CENTENNIAL MALL

Capitol Fountain and Plaza

Missouri River Fountain and Nebraska Heritage Plaza

Imagination to Innovation Fountain and Plaza

CENTENNIAL MALL MASTER PLAN APPROVALIn 2010, city of Lincoln approved the master plan for centennial mall. Addressed the question like design requirement, planned the blocks and sections.

Functional

Safe

Beautiful

Timeline

A Capitol Square in a Capitol City

Goodhue Expands the Vision for 15th Street

1966

From 15th Street to Nebraska's Centennial Mall

Timeline

Modern Construction Timeline After 1967

1967

2003

2012

Native American Civil Rights

Read more about Chief Standing Bear

CHIEF STANDING BEAR

CENTENNIAL MALL MASTER PLAN APPROVAL
In 2010, city of Lincoln approved the master plan for centennial mall. Addressed the question like design requirement, planned the blocks and sections.