Learn the History
Jessie Tishue Langworthy
Jessie Tishue Langworthy was born in Seward, Nebraska on April 25, 1872 to Joel Maranda Towner Tishue in their home at the site of the present Seward Civic Center. She received her early education in the Seward Public Schools and graduated as the valedictorian from Brownell Hall of Omaha in 1890. Her interests included music, traveling, and art. Several of her paintings presently hang in the Civic Center.
Jessie Langworthy gave a great deal of thought to her widespread charitable bequests. Her will directed that $130,000 be expended from her estate to be used for the purchase of a site and construction of a civic center in the City of Seward, stating that the... "...property (is) to be used as a civic center, as a home for the Chamber of Commerce, for various civic, educational, and religious clubs or groups and as a home for the Women's club of Seward, Nebraska, and all of which property shall be used without renumeration or profit to any person or persons." The Langworthy Trust, through its administrator, has provided the Seward Civic Center with more than $7.5 million from 1954 to 2024 for new additions, equipment and maintenance.
Since 1964, a seven-member Civic Center Commission has been annually appointed by the Mayor and City Council of the City of Seward. Meetings of the Commission, which are open to the public, are held for the purpose of administering all phases of development, operation and maintenance of the building subject to the provisions of the Will.
Following the death of Jessie Langworthy, a Lincoln newspaper editorial stated: “Nowhere in the world has philanthropy revealed itself to a greater degree or with the maximum wisdom in accomplishing lasting, permanent good for the people.”