A soft smile grows on Dominick Naegele’s face when he talks about childhood memories of downtown Sidney, Nebraska and how Hickory Street Square connected most of them.
Riding bicycles with friends to get a slice and a pop at the pizza shop on 10th Avenue, just south of the square. Visiting mom while she made pies, cinnamon rolls and other breakfast fare at a restaurant around the corner. Watching the trains rumble along the north side of Hickory Street on their way through town. Just hanging out in the vicinity of that intersection that has become the city’s traditional site for a summer concert series, Saturday farmer’s markets and annual outdoor holiday events.
Entering his senior year at the College of Engineering, Naegele admitted that his hometown — a historic city in western Nebraska, less than an hour’s drive to both Colorado and Wyoming — seemed much farther away than the six-hour, 375-mile drive from campus to his parents’ house.
“When I came to UNL, I figured there weren’t going to be many more times I was going to be in Sidney except for family gatherings,” Naegele said. “Then, the pizza shop and mom’s restaurant both closed, so when I do go back, I don’t usually think about going down (to the square.)
“I just figured my life was going to move on once I graduate. I guess that wasn’t supposed to happen.”
With graduation looming, it’s a bit of fate or serendipity that Naegele will end his college career by possibly leaving a lasting impact on his hometown. He is among 19 civil engineering senior design capstone students who are working in four teams to provide the foundation of a project to renovate Hickory Street Square and, Sidney city planners hope, rejuvenate the economy of the downtown area and the community.
The goal is renovation of the northern halves of two city blocks — bounded by 9th and 11th avenues on the east and west, Hickory Street on the north, and alleyways just to the south — that form a gathering place for city events. It includes a pair of surface parking lots and covered parking structures that could be removed to help create a venue that could accommodate up to 1,000 people.
It's a special opportunity for engineering students to have a real-world impact by engaging with a Nebraska community on a project that could positively affect generations to come.
Matthew Williamson, assistant professor of practice and senior design capstone advisor in civil and environmental engineering, said the project has been a “win-win-win” for all involved.
“It’s great to have a municipality like Sidney reach out and bring our students in on a project like this,” Williamson said. “They’re getting input from some of the brightest, most energetic young engineers, it gives students the experience of working with real clients before they graduate and start on their career journeys, and it allows the College of Engineering and the university to engage with people in parts of Nebraska that can sometimes feel far removed from our educational presence in Lincoln and Omaha.”
The thought of including undergraduate engineering students in the beginning stage of the redevelopment appealed to Brandy Stone, the City of Sidney’s economic development director. She said the benefits for the students, the university and her community made for a good partnership.
“Everybody gets a little bit of something good out of it,” Stone said. “We’re getting a head start that will move us further along when we bring in a professional firm to finish the plans. In no way am I trying to take away from their business, I love to support our local businesses, but this is a way to pull in the east side to the west side and vice versa.
“And the students get to see beyond their horizons and into the future. Out here (western Nebraska and rural areas), we’re a whole different world with different hurdles to overcome. We look at things one way, and the students see them differently. It's great experience when you get someone else's point of view.”
Stone views the students’ work as a launchpad for Hickory Street Square’s future. She is also hopeful it will be a catalyst for growth in the downtown area.
“I know we're not going to be all the way to the finish line, especially because there's always something else that we'll have to consider later down the road. That’s how these things work,” Stone said. “I look to be halfway there when the students are done with their capstones, crossing my fingers for 60 or 65 percent, and we hand it off to the professional engineers who will take it to the next level.”
“There are endless possibilities for that space, but we have to find a way to interest more people. Downtown Sounds and the Farmer’s Market are great attractions, but we have to consistently look for more when discussing growth. This project will assist those events, and then offer the possibility for other events as well. We have to move forward, and this is a good first step.”
The students took to the project like veteran engineers. A couple of the students even visited Sidney to look around the project site to take photographs and to get a better feel for the work the teams are doing.
Naegele didn’t need to get acquainted with the space. It was woven into the fabric of his youth. That experience, he hopes, has benefitted his team.
“You could say I have a bit of a home-court advantage,” Naegele said with a little laugh.
“All of the teams have thought about putting in a water feature, like a fountain, but weren’t sure about how the winds and weather would affect that. I grew up in Sidney and know all those things. I know what we might have to do to make that fountain work. I know how traffic flows along Highway 30 (a block south of Hickory Street,) and where people like to park for big events on the square.”
The experience of collaborating with the City of Sidney will be beneficial, Naegele said, when he begins working as a transportation engineer for Benesch in Lincoln after graduation.
But the real gratification, he said, will be returning to his hometown years down the road and seeing what Hickory Street Square will become and the impact it is having.
“Sidney is home, even if I live somewhere else and come back to visit,” Naegele said. “But this project is special because I will know there is a part of me that is always there."
