John Keys Winchell

{{Short description|American architect & designer of Chicago's first insane asylum}}

File:Thomas P. Kennard house from NW 1.JPG]]

John Keys Winchell (1841 - 1877) was an architect in Chicago who worked on buildings in Nebraska's then newly designated capitol of Lincoln.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lincolntoday.co/?p=916|title=The Kennard House – Lincoln Today Magazine}} He designed the state's first insane asylum. He also designed the Thomas P. Kennard House for the state's first secretary of state and Butler Mansion for Nebraska Governor David Butler in Lincoln, Nebraska.{{Cite web|url=https://journalstar.com/news/local/jim-mckee-the-many-lives-of-the-butler-mansion/article_4433f333-abac-5b36-be73-768675828122.html|title=Jim McKee: The many lives of the Butler Mansion|first=JIM McKEE /|last=Column|website=JournalStar.com}}

The Butler House was used by a Klavern of the KKK before the great depression, was then a clubhouse for a golf course, and was also a radio station and Ideal Grocery before being razed by 1960.{{Cite web |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/43c441e0-6094-4fe0-9731-4ff42d1133de |title=Archived copy |access-date=2019-12-30 |archive-date=2019-12-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230114358/https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/43c441e0-6094-4fe0-9731-4ff42d1133de |url-status=dead }} Winchell designed houses for all three commissioners who oversaw the relocation of Nebraska's Capitol from Omaha to Lincoln, including the Thomas Kennard house. It is the oldest extant building in the original plat of Lincoln, Nebraska. It was designated the Nebraska Statehood Memorial in 1965.{{Cite web|url=https://mynehistory.com/items/show/1|title=Nebraska Statehood Memorial|first=The Explore Nebraska History|last=team|website=Explore Nebraska History}}

A May 27, 1875 news brief in the Sacramento Daily Union described Winchell as the architect of Nevada's state capitol grounds and building.{{Cite web|url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SDU18750527.2.5&e=-------en--20--1--txt-txIN--------1|title=Sacramento Daily Union 27 May 1875 — California Digital Newspaper Collection|website=cdnc.ucr.edu}} Other sources credit the Nevada State Capitol to Joseph Gosling, a San Francisco architect.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/nevada/nev.htm|title=Nevada State Capitol--Three Historic Nevada Cities: Carson City, Reno and Virginia City--A National Register of Historic Places Travel Itinerary|website=www.nps.gov}}