Talk:Nebraska State Capitol

Penis of the plains
What, no mention of the moniker, "Penis of the Plains?"


 * It appears that people are censoring the common nickname of the "Penis of the Plains". This is against the wikipeida rules.  We are suppose to document what is, not some sanitized version of what we want the world to be.  I will try to make sure this correct stays, and if people keep reverting it, I will escalate it up to the wikipedia admins. Wrs1864 17:36, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

When I was there, people called it the "Phallus Palace." --128.146.58.128 19:55, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure why, but some time, someone deleted the reference supporting the nickname "penis of the plains", I'm not sure why, but I've re-added it. Earlier, yesterday, someone put an unsource claim that "penis of the prairies" is more common, but a very quick search did not turn up any WP:reliable sources for that one. I'm not sure if the people keep deleting this are not from Nebraska and therefore don't know about these very common nicknames or if they just want to go against WP:NOTCENSORED. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Wrs1864 (talk • contribs) 12:56, 17 February 2009 (UTC)


 * i also keep trying to add this and the clue bot keeps reporting me for vandalism — Preceding unsigned comment added by Monroe55 (talk • contribs) 04:19, 7 June 2011 (UTC)
 * Provide a reliable, verifiable source for the edit and it should stand. Please see WP:reliable source for guidance on what constitutes a reliable source; personal experience or "common knowledge" does not.  Sea photo Talk  04:27, 7 June 2011 (UTC)
 * It was removed without comment but its ref was actually left (albeit with mangled syntax). I undid the removal. Feel free to discuss whether it's appropriate content and whether it's a good enough ref, but at least it's cited. DMacks (talk) 04:37, 7 June 2011 (UTC)

I've re-added this nickname with two sources, grouped under a single footnote per these guidelines. I hope two aren't seen as overkill by my fellow editors; I made this choice because the nickname seems to be an often-reverted item in this article. Jno.skinner (talk) 16:27, 11 December 2019 (UTC)


 * Let's put it to a vote. I say Delete, per WP:INDISCRIMINATE. This isn't about censorship; this is about notability. Not everything about the Nebraska State Capitol is important enough to be mentioned in the article. Semi-popular folk names for buildings do not necessarily qualify as notable facts. I lived in Nebraska for a long time, and I never once heard that nickname in reference to the state capitol, and I have a lot of friends there who have no qualms with making dirty jokes or dirty references to things they've seen. The nickname in question is simply too trivial to warrant inclusion in the article. Greggens (talk) 03:32, 15 April 2020 (UTC)


 * It seems to me that insofar as this notability argument applies to "Penis of the Plains" it also applies to removal of "Tower on the Plains." Aside from removal, I am also open to arguments that nicknames don't belong in the opening paragraphs, but somewhere else in the article. (For my part, I've heard the name "Penis of the Plains" many of times as a Nebraskan, but never heard "Tower on the Plains" once. Yet, it is not our personal experience that WP is to be based upon.) I believe there is some official procedure for forming consensus on a contentious question, but I don't know it — can any fellow editors guide us? Jno.skinner (talk) 16:28, 15 April 2020 (UTC)


 * I moved both nicknames lower in the page. I don't quite agree with Greggens that they're non-notable, but do I agree they're not top-level notable. Jno.skinner (talk) 14:50, 20 April 2020 (UTC)


 * That seems okay by me, Jno.skinner. The world is full of buildings that somebody, somewhere could possibly describe as "phallic," and many of them have indeed been referred to as such. But for most of these buildings, such a description isn't a defining characteristic. Greggens (talk) 04:58, 21 April 2020 (UTC)

Cubic footage
I can't fix this typo: "The cost for the 400 cubic foot Indiana limestone structure came in just under the $10 million budget." Is it 400,000? --Wetman 11:18, 25 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hi, a)I've been looking for the source on that 400 cubic foot issue and I can't find it... and I'm not good enough with abstract measurments to know if that sounds very wrong. b) The current capitol building is actually the third structure in Lincoln (and there were two "territorial" capitols in Omaha before that - both built in the 1850s before Nebraska became a state in 1867 and the capital moved to Lincoln ). The first (1867) and second (1889) Lincoln capitol buildings both had structural problems. -Astragal

400 cubic feet represents a cube measuring 7.4 feet per side. Unless all the Nebraska State legislators are from Whoville, I doubt that that is the correct measurement. -- DrWhy


 * I'm pretty sure the 400 cubic foot error derives from the building being 400 feet tall. --Swid 18:31, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

Earlier capitols
Was there a state capitol before this one? Where is it now? Cool Hand Luke  04:36, 27 Oct 2004 (UTC)

NE State Capitol & Hitler
"Adolf Hitler planned on moving into the Nebraska State Capitol and using it as the Nazi headquarters if he won World War II." I don't think this is right, so I removed it pending verification. --Rayc 14:55, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

There was something in the paper about Adolf wishing to make a copy of the Vatican in Berlin, with a big statue of Benito in the replican of St Peters square. This sound a bit more realistic, assuming that he won the war. 23 Jan 2006

Naming of Lincoln
I've removed, for the second time, a lengthy quote from a 1938 Nebraska Folklore pamphlet issued by the Federal Writers' Project (source). The quote states that, in an attempt to prevent the move of the state capital from Omaha to a site south of the Platte River, the name "Lincoln" was proposed in order to alienate the vote of a Senator Reeves, who had supported the Confederacy in the U.S. Civil War; and that the measure passed, "to Reeve's [sic] chagrin".

A source closer to the event, History of the City of Lincoln, Nebraska by A. B. Hayes and Sam. D. Cox, published in Lincoln in 1889, p. 108, states that the motion to rename the city was made in order to annoy Reeves, but that Reeves himself seconded it. The FWP account is probably based on oral folklore rather than a study of the historical records. Ammodramus (talk) 23:35, 9 June 2014 (UTC)
 * The extended quote itself is excessive. WP thrives on editors' own writings and summaries of multiple sources, not a collection of quotes of others. Especially if it's disputed, important to avoid relying too heavily on one of the sources unless there are additional sources that are themselves reliable (WP:TERTIARY) to explain the dispute and support who is correct. DMacks (talk) 02:58, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

Coordinates
Added coordinates. Verified against Google Maps. Epeterso2 (talk) 12:39, 4 December 2016 (UTC)epeterso2

Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons files used on this page or its Wikidata item have been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 06:36, 19 November 2022 (UTC)
 * The Ideal of Freedom, Stephen C. Roberts, 1996.jpg
 * The Ideal of International Law, Stephen C. Roberts, 1996.jpg
 * The Ideal of Self-Determination, Stephen C. Roberts, 1996.jpg
 * The Ideal of Universal Peace, Stephen C. Roberts, 1996.jpg
 * The Perils of Fire, Stephen C. Roberts, 1996.jpg
 * The Scourge of Famine, Stephen C. Roberts, 1996.jpg
 * The Scourge of Plague, Stephen C. Roberts, 1996.jpg
 * The Scourge of Poverty, Stephen C. Roberts, 1996.jpg