Nebraska Engineering Company (neco) history

In 1898 the Mechanical Arts Building (later Stout Hall) was built to house Engineering Mechanics, Civil Engineering and the Math Department.

In 1909, state legislation reorganized the old Industrial College into two offshoots:

The engineering college then had 400 students and, by 1911, its first real home in Mechanical Arts Hall.

When H.H. Henningson founded the Henningson Engineering Company in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1917, his focus wasn’t on mega projects or global expansion.

In 1918 at East Campus, the Agricultural Engineering Building was built.

Sherman County Courthouse (1921), Loup City, Nebraska. (SM04-135) National Register narrative

Donald Othmer earned his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering at UNL in 1924 and later accumulated 150 patents in a variety of fields.

The business grew during the “Prosperous Twenties,” and employed 24 persons by 1927.

Middle Loup segment (1933), Loup River Irrigation Project, a PWA project, central Nebraska.[6:9]

Winter Training Camp (1942), United States Quartermaster Corps, West Yellowstone, Montana.

In 1947, he and Raymond Kirk, a Polytechnic colleague, published the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.

In 1950 the company reorganized as Henningson Durham & Richardson, Architects & Engineers.

Henningson continued to work for the company until 1953.

A chemical engineering wing was added to Avery Hall and in 1958, Chemical Engineering became a department.

Landmarks, Inc., An Inventory of Historic Omaha Buildings (Omaha: City of Omaha and Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission, 1980).

The state-of-the-art facility opened for classes in 1999.

City of Omaha Planning Department, Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission, Database, Query on Architects, May 20, 2002; courtesy of Lynn Meyer, Preservation Planner.

In 2003, Donald F. Othmer Hall, adjacent to Scott Engineering Center, became home to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and the Dean's Office suite.