Historic Hotels & Inns in Nebraska

Ways in

Themes in Nebraska

Omaha’s converted buildings

Kimpton Cottonwood Hotel is the 1916 Blackstone Hotel, which closed as a hotel in 1976 and reopened in November 2020. Hotel Indigo is in the Logan, built in 1918 as an apartment hotel. The other three began as workplaces: the Aquila Court Building of about 1923 was converted to a hotel in 1996 and is now the Magnolia, the 1930 Redick Tower held storefronts, offices and parking before it became a hotel in the mid-1980s, and the 1933 Federal Office Building opened as a Residence Inn in October 2013.

A Lincoln department store and a Broken Bow town hotel

Gold and Company began planning a new Lincoln store in 1923, and its six-story section opened in November 1924 at 11th and O. Brandeis closed there in 1980, the south side was demolished by May 2023, and the building opened as a Hampton Inn in October 2025. In Broken Bow, the Public Service Club conceived the Arrow Hotel in late 1927 and raised the money through a sales campaign. High school student Helen Roberts won the contest to name it, and it was ready to open on December 27, 1928.

Fort Robinson

The Army set up a camp at the Red Cloud Agency in March 1874 and renamed it Fort Robinson in January 1878. Crazy Horse surrendered on May 6, 1877, and died at the fort on September 5, 1877, after a guard bayoneted him as he resisted imprisonment. On January 9, 1879, Northern Cheyenne held in the barracks broke out in what is known as the Cheyenne Outbreak, and a two-week pursuit followed, with deaths on both sides. The 9th Cavalry, Buffalo Soldiers, arrived in 1885, the post became a quartermaster remount depot in 1919, and it held a K-9 training center and a German prisoner-of-war camp in World War II. The Army left in 1947 and the state established the park in 1956. Lodge rooms are in the 1909 enlisted men’s barracks, cabins are former officers’ quarters from 1874 to 1909, and Comanche Hall (1909) is a group lodge. Book through ReserveAmerica; lodging runs spring through fall, so confirm dates before you plan.

Road trip

Omaha to Fort Robinson, east to west

Omaha

Start with a night or two in the city. Pick the Old Market side, downtown or the Blackstone District from our Omaha guide.

Lincoln

Stay at Hampton Inn Lincoln Downtown, in Gold and Company’s 1924 department store at 11th and O.

Broken Bow

Stop at the Arrow Hotel, the 1928 hotel just off the city square, and book a room not labelled ‘Arrow East’, since those suites are in a modern East Building.

Crawford

End at Fort Robinson State Park, with a lodge room in the 1909 enlisted men’s barracks or a cabin in former officers’ quarters. Reserve through ReserveAmerica and confirm season dates first.

Context

History and architecture

Nebraska became the 37th state on March 1, 1867. The oldest buildings we list are at Fort Robinson, where the Army set up a camp in 1874 and stayed until 1947. The rest date from 1916 to 1933: in Omaha, the Blackstone in 1916, the Logan in 1918, the Aquila Court Building about 1923, the Redick Tower in 1930 and the Federal Office Building in 1933; in Lincoln, Gold and Company’s store in 1924; and in Broken Bow, the Arrow Hotel in 1928. Several then lost their first use: the Blackstone closed as a hotel in 1976, Brandeis closed the Lincoln store in 1980, and the Army Corps of Engineers left the Federal Office Building in July 2008. Their lives as hotels came later, with the Redick Tower in the mid-1980s, the Aquila Court Building in 1996, the Federal Office Building in October 2013, the Blackstone’s reopening in November 2020, the Logan in 2022 and the Gold’s Building in October 2025.