Jefferson County Courthouse Reconstruction Completed

FAIRBURY, Neb. - The reconstruction of the second floor of the Jefferson County Courthouse building in downtown Fairbury was completed this week. 

This phase of the project began in earnest in late July, with an estimated completion time of two to three months. In early September, scaffolding, fences, and the noise of progress persisted. By late September, the doors to the south end of the building were reopened and employees were returned to their offices, but construction continued. Now, in the first full week of October, the officials in charge of the project say it’s done – a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. 

“We’re definitely good upstairs now. Everything’s up and running,” Bob Elgert of EBS Construction said Tuesday morning.  

The final step of this phase of the project was a walkthrough of the building’s second floor with the Jefferson County Commissioners on Tuesday morning. The first request for reconstruction came in 2020, where part of the ceiling fell right onto an attorney’s desk in the second-floor courtroom. 

“That’s what made us think that we needed to get all this done,” Elgert said. “It was going to come down eventually, and when we did tear it down, it didn’t take much to bring it all down.” 

Elgert emphasized an important element of the operation – his is a local company, and nearly all of the people that worked on the reconstruction of the county courthouse call Jefferson County home.  

“They all pay taxes in here, so they’re getting a piece back,” Elgert said. “We’ve got to support the locals – if not, we’re going to be in trouble down the road.”