COMSTOCK- History Nebraska has announced the recipients of the Historic Preservation Fund Bricks and Mortar Grant. A total of $74,046 was awarded to three communities to support the rehabilitation of roofs on historic structures of national, state, and local significance.
Projects in Beatrice, Comstock, and Verdigre, Nebraska, were selected as recipients of the grant. The three projects were chosen from seven qualifying applications
In Comstock, funds will be used to remove and replace the shake shingle roof of the Dowse Sod House.
According to the Society of Architectural Historians, the Dowse Sod House was built in 1900 by William and Florence Dowse. Additions were made in 1924 where frame shed-roofed additions were attached. Eleven years later, Willian and Florence applied a concrete coating to the outside walls to protect the walls from eroding. The sod house was occupied until 1959 when it remained vacant for two decades until it was later restored and opened as a museum in 1982.
