The Bemis Park Landmark Heritage District is located in north Omaha

Omaha

Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...

, Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

. Situated from Cuming Street to Hawthorne Avenue, Glenwood Avenue to 33rd Street, Bemis Park was annexed into Omaha in 1887, and developed from 1889-1922. The district was designated an Omaha Landmark in 1983.

History

George Bemis's Bemis Land Company platted this exclusive subdivision in 1889. His namesake park was part of Omaha's parks and boulevard system, and the neighborhood's tree-lined streets were the first in Omaha to be laid out according to topography rather than the grid pattern used throughout the rest of the city.

The Bemis Park Landmark Heritage District is notable for its mix of late nineteenth and early twentieth century homes. Architecture in Bemis Park includes Queen Anne, Arts and Crafts

Arts and Crafts movement

Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

 and Neo-Classical style buildings as well as vernacular structures. The district includes a park donated to the city by the subdivision’s developer George Bemis and designed as a part of the then developing Omaha parks and boulevard system.

The neighborhood was devastated by the Easter Day Tornado

Omaha Easter Sunday Tornado (1913)

The Omaha Easter Sunday Tornado struck Omaha, Nebraska at approximately 6:00 p.m. on 23 March 1913. A massive tornado-producing storm ripped its way through Nebraska, and through the thriving city of Omaha...

 of 1913. According to one report, "This beautiful section of Omaha had been completely ruined. The pretty homes that adorned the graceful winding driveways were beyond redemption. The trees had been broken off short at the base, and many of them were even uprooted. One great home had been turned turtle onto the roof of the house adjoining it on the east."

In the 1940s, Bemis Park was home to workers from the new Mutual of Omaha

Mutual of Omaha

Mutual of Omaha is a Fortune 500 mutual insurance and financial services company based in Omaha, Nebraska. The company was founded in 1909 as Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association.- History :...

 headquarters, teachers at the nearby Tech High School

Technical High School (Omaha, Nebraska)

Technical High School was a public high school that was located at 3215 Cuming Street in Omaha, Nebraska. Opened in 1923, the school was said to be the largest high school west of Chicago. It was the largest in the Omaha area before it was closed in 1984...

, or employees of the Methodist Hospital.

According to the City of Omaha, the proposed Bemis Park Residential Historic District is eligible for 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...

.

Historic properties

Historic properties in Bemis Park in alphabetical order
Name	Address	Built	Notes
George Payne House	3602 Lincoln Boulevard	1908	Dutch Colonial Revival architecture
Zabriskie House	3524 Hawthorne Avenue	1889	Considered one of the finest Queen Anne style houses in Omaha.

External links

• Period photos of Bemis Park from the 1913 tornado.
• Story of the 1913 tornado's effect on Bemis Park.