Fillmore County

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Our Town Geneva:
Fillmore County Courthouse



Geneva, Neb. (KOLN) - As you might imagine, there’s plenty of pride surrounding the Fillmore County Courthouse which sits in the center of the town square in Geneva. Geneva is the seat of Fillmore County, and it was named in honor of former President Millard Fillmore. We sat down with Norman Marks, who portrays Millard Fillmore, talked to us about how the county was formed. “I was President upon the death of Zachary Taylor on July 4, 1850,” Millard Fillmore re-enactor Norman Marks said. “I ascended to the presidency the day after. Around 1854, some surveyors came through this area. Nebraska was not even a territory at that point, but the surveyors plotted off a second of land 24 miles by 24 miles square, and called it Fillmore county. As ‘president’, I’m honored the county was named after me.” Marks, who portrays Millard Fillmore, went on to talk about the construction of the Fillmore County Courthouse. The construction began in the spring of 1893. “The original courthouse was a wooden building that sat where the current NAPA Auto Parts store is today,” Marks said. “In 1880, they moved it across the street to the town square. A bond issue for a new courthouse passed the second time around. The people felt optimistic, they had a county with 17,000 people in it at the time, and the courthouse was dedicated on February 22, 1894.”

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Our Town Geneva:
Thriving Downtown



GENEVA, Neb. (KOLN) - There are many eye-catching buildings in downtown Geneva, but it turns out the area is also a great place for business. “Geneva has a very vibrant downtown for small town Nebraska,” Mayor Cody Lightwine said. The mayor says that most of the storefronts in Geneva are full, and volunteers are always helping to keep the area looking great. “They work hand in hand together, whether it’s downtown promotions during the holiday, advertising or just doing business with one another and helping each other out,” Lightwine said.

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Our Town Geneva:
Veterans Memorial Park



GENEVA, Neb. (KOLN) - The Geneva Veterans Memorial Park is really taking shape now, and it’s been a labor of love for those involved in the project. “There was a committee that was put together in the Spring of 2021 to work on this,” Geneva Veterans Memorial Park treasurer Donna Norrie said. “There was a veterans soup supper in November of 2021, and that started all of the fundraising efforts. The city had interns from their engineering firm draw up some concepts, and this is the concept that we originally chose from.”

There have been some adaptations and changes from the original design, but the overall goal has always remained the same, and that is to honor Geneva and Fillmore County veterans. “We are very proud at this point that we have sold 325 bricks for veterans that range anywhere from people who are currently serving, to people back to the Revolutionary War,” Norrie said. The bricks from military families will be displayed in a elevated way. “Those will actually be displayed on black tables that can be seen here at the park,” Norrie said. “We can put 49 bricks on each one of those tables.”