Henningson Engineering Company, Engineers
Principal:
The Henningson Engineering Company in Omaha was founded in 1917 by Henning H. Henningson. The firm employed 12 persons that year.[4:5] Most of the firm’s work in the 1920s and early 1930s was the design of municipal power and light plants, water distribution systems, and storm sewer and sanitary sewer systems. The business grew during the “Prosperous Twenties,” and employed 24 persons by 1927.[5]
With the advent of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs were instrumental in the further growth of Henningson Engineering, particularly as other sources of work declined. In 1933, Henningson engineered the $2 million Middle Loup Irrigation Project, and by the mid-thirties had designed the Southeastern Nebraska Public Power District, headquartered in Beatrice. Perhaps most important of the New Deal programs to the firm was the Rural Electrification Administration (REA,) and the company played a “major role in organizing most of the REA public power districts across Nebraska.”[4:10] By 1937 the firm employed 40 persons and ultimately designed more than 25,000 miles of electrical transmission lines, playing a part in a larger, national effort that “electrified” rural America. This enabled the company to survive during the otherwise lean war years.[5][4:12][2:13]
The next period of growth came as a result of the addition of two key employees in the late 1930s. Electrical engineer, Willard A. Richardson, a Iowa State graduate, joined the firm in 1936, and Charles W. Durham began work during summer vacation as an Iowa State student in 1938, joining the firm full time in 1940.[6:11] In addition to their electrification projects, the companyadded large military contracts during the 1940s. Their first was the design of a winter training camp for the Quartermaster Corps’ Triangular Division and 20,000 other troops at West Yellowstone, Montana.[5]
In 1946 Henningson offered Durham and Richardson a one-third interest each in the company, then in 1950, Henningson sold his remaining stock to the two partners and Henningson Durham & Richardson, Architects & Engineers, or “HDR,” as it later came to be known, was born.[5] Henningson continued to work for the company until 1953.
Contents
Lineage of the Firm
1917-1950: Henningson Engineering Company, Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska.
1950-2013: Henningson Durham & Richardson, Architects & Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska
Other Associations
1938-1950: employed Charles W. Durham, summer worker (1938), draftsman (1939), engineer (1940-1946), and engineer and partner (1946-1950).
Principal Works
Power House (1917-1918), City of Ogallala, Nebraska.[6:5]
Monticello Apartments (1919), 520 S 31st St, Omaha, Nebraska.[1:80][5] (DO09:0208-003)
Mount Vernon Apartments (1919), 524 S 31st St, Omaha, Nebraska.[1:80][5] (DO09:0208-004)
W. C. Humphreys house (1921), 1106 Turner Blvd, Omaha, Nebraska.[1:172][5] (DO09:0204-015)
Sherman County Courthouse (1921), Loup City, Nebraska.[3][4] (SM04-135) National Register narrative
Apartment (1921), 4337-39 Wakeley St., Omaha, Nebraska. [5] (DO09:0322-012)
Middle Loup segment (1933), Loup River Irrigation Project, a PWA project, central Nebraska.[6:9]
Sewage Disposal plant (1930s), Hastings, Nebraska.[6:6]
Southeastern Nebraska Public Power District, project plans (1930s). [6:12]
Winter Training Camp (1942), United States Quartermaster Corps, West Yellowstone, Montana.[7]
City of Council Bluffs, sewer system and treatment plant master plan (1947), Council Bluffs, Iowa.[6:11][6:15]
Offutt Air Force Base barracks (1940s), Corps of Engineers, Omaha, Nebraska.[6:14]
In 1950 the company reorganized as Henningson Durham & Richardson, Architects & Engineers.
Notes
References
1. Landmarks, Inc., An Inventory of Historic Omaha Buildings (Omaha: City of Omaha and Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission, 1980).
2. Charles W. Durham and Robert F. Krohn, Henningson, Durham & Richardson: Offering Professional Design Services Since 1917 (New York: The Newcomen Society in North America, 1978).
3. Oliver B. Pollak, Nebraska Courthouses: Contention, Compromise, and Community [Images of America Series] (Chicago: Arcadia Publishing, 2002), 90. [725.1.P771n]
4. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
5. City of Omaha Planning Department, Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission, Database, Query on Architects, May 20, 2002; courtesy of Lynn Meyer, Preservation Planner.
6. HDR, History of Excellence: 90th Anniversary, 1917-2007 (Omaha: HDR, 2007), accessed January 16, 2013, http://www.hdrinc.com/sites/all/files/assets/about-hdr/history-of-excellence-book.pdf
7. HDR Timeline, [2010], accessed January 16, 2013, http://www.hdrinc.com/sites/all/files/assets/about-hdr/hdr-timeline.pdf
Page Citation
Alan Eastman and D. Murphy, “Henningson Engineering Company, Engineers,” in David Murphy, Edward F. Zimmer, and Lynn Meyer, comps. Place Makers of Nebraska: The Architects. Lincoln: Nebraska State Historical Society, January 27, 2015. http://www.e-nebraskahistory.org/index.php?title=Place_Makers_of_Nebraska:_The_Architects Accessed, November 22, 2024.
Contact the Nebraska State Historic Preservation Office with questions or comments concerning this page, including any problems you may have with broken links (see, however, the Disclaimers link at the bottom of this page). Please provide the URL to this page with your inquiry.
