William LaBarthe Steele was an important architect of the Prairie School

Prairie School

Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...

 during the early twentieth century. A graduate of the University of Illinois

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

, Steele worked in the office of renowned architect Louis Sullivan

Louis Sullivan

Louis Henri Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism" He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an...

 in Chicago, Illinois 1897–1900. He relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...

 to gain additional experience with three other architectural firms.

He settled in Sioux City, Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

 in 1904 and did most of his work there, later moving to Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha, Nebraska

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...

 in 1929. Over his career he designed over 250 built commercial buildings, churches, synagogues, homes, schools, and government buildings in Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Minnesota.

The Woodbury County Courthouse in Sioux City, Iowa

Sioux City, Iowa

Sioux City is a city in Plymouth and Woodbury counties in the western part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 82,684 in the 2010 census, a decline from 85,013 in the 2000 census, which makes it currently the fourth largest city in the state....

 is considered his masterpiece, and is arguably the premier example of Prairie School

Prairie School

Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...

 aesthetics in the context of a public space. He collaborated with Minneapolis architects George Grant Elmslie

George Grant Elmslie

George Grant Elmslie was an American, though born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Prairie School architect whose work is mostly found in the Midwestern United States...

, who was the principal designer, and William Gray Purcell

William Gray Purcell

William Gray Purcell was a Prairie School architect in the Midwestern United States. He partnered with George Grant Elmslie. The firm of Purcell and Elmslie produced designs for buildings in twenty two states, Australia, and China...

. Like Steele, Purcell had worked briefly for Louis Sullivan, but Elmslie had been Sullivan's chief assistant after Sullivan dismissed Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

 in 1893 until Elmslie departed in 1909 to join Purcell & Elmslie

Purcell & Elmslie

The American progressive architectural practice most widely known as Purcell & Elmslie was the second most commissioned firm of the Prairie School after Frank Lloyd Wright...

. The Courthouse is now a National Historic Landmark

National Historic Landmark

A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

, as is another of Steele's works, the Walthill Hospital (Walthill, Nebraksa, 1912) on the Omaha Indian Reservation, which was later renamed after its founder the Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte Memorial Hospital

Dr. Susan LaFlesche Picotte Memorial Hospital

-External links:*, at Historic American Building Survey*, from a National American Indian Heritage Month feature at the National Park Service...

. Over 20 of his surviving works are on the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

, including the Hartington City Hall and Auditorium

Hartington City Hall and Auditorium

The Hartington City Hall and Auditorium, also known as the Hartington Municipal Building, is a city-owned, brick-clad, 2-story center in Hartington, Nebraska. It was designed between 1921 and 1923 in the Prairie School style by noted architect William L...

(Hartington, Nebraska, 1921-1923).