Seward possessed many of the trappings of a well-developed city by the mid 1890s. During the period, a YMCA (SW09-173) and a Carnegie Library were constructed (SW09-172). The city no longer possessed a pioneer town appearance as represented by its fifty-two blocks of paved streets and twenty miles of board and paved sidewalks. Utility services included electricity from the local light plant and water from a municipal waterworks. Telephone service also was in operation by the 1890s.
The downtown commercial district evolved around a public square, which became the site of the Seward County Courthouse (SW09-093) in 1906. This district served the city’s two thousand residents with a wide variety of enterprises. Soon a number of ornate and substantial buildings were constructed to house these enterprises. Notable examples include the Zimmerer Hardware Store Building (SW09-136), the Tishue Block (SW09- 147) and the I.H. Feary Building (SW09-175). Many of the city’s businessmen also constructed large houses in the community. Those owned by the Jones (SW09-074) and Cattle (SW09-006) banking families are examples.Seward County: Nebraska Historic Buildings Survey (2007). The Heritage Research, Ltd. Prepared for the Nebraska State Historical Society.
Additional information about the Historic Seward Square can be found in the application for the National
Register of Historic Places.