28 NEBRASKA CATTLEMAN December 2024 PAST Lights to Behold AMANDA OVERLEESE | CONTRIBUTING WRITER T he Kearney County Courthouse in Minden stands strong in the center of the town square, surrounded by its beautiful courtyard. Its 110-foot dome rises high over the city of more than 3,000 residents. Each year, the day after Thanksgiving, this square showcases the beauty of the Christmas season featuring more than 12,000 colorful Christmas lights that can be seen from miles away. This tradition, which started 109 years ago this Christmas, has earned Minden the title “The Christmas City.” Seeds for this tradition were planted when courthouse construction coincided with electricity coming to the area. Looking back, Jack Hultquist, a Minden historian, explains that the town square has been a popular choice as the city’s hub to display electric lights since they were available. In fact, the first electric lights were hung on the day the cornerstone of the courthouse was laid – July 17, 1906. The News-Gazette at Minden records this in the July 20, 1906, issue, stating “The Minden-Edison Light & Power Co. have finished their plant enough to be able to turn on the current, which was done Tuesday night. The streets were strung with incandescent lights, which, with the large arc lights on the four corners of the square, served to light the streets in a good way and produced a very pretty effect. Small lights were also distributed among the trees in the courthouse square and made a suitable climax to the other events of the day.” Hultquist discovered another instance when electric lights were clearly being hung from the Minden courthouse. A photo taken in September 1911 was originally meant to advertise the local county fair to be held in early October. In the background, a man can clearly be seen on top of the courthouse hanging lights. The Kearney County Courthouse in Minden circa 1938. The tradition of displaying Christmas lights in the courtyard began in 1915, and lights were added to the courthouse in 1922. Photo courtesy of Jack Hultquist. This September 1911 photo was used to advertise the local county fair in early October. In the background, you can see a man hanging lights on the top right corner of the courthouse. This example shows the electric lights were used early on in Minden’s history at the city’s hub. Photo by James A. Pattison, courtesy of Jack Hultquist.
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