History of North Omaha, Nebraska
Encyclopedia
The history of North Omaha, Nebraska
includes wildcat banks, ethnic enclave
s, race riot
s and social change
spanning over 200 years. With a recorded history
that pre-dates the rest of the city, North Omaha has roots back to 1812 with the founding of Fort Lisa. It includes the Mormon settlement of Cutler's Park
and Winter Quarters
in 1846, a lynching before the turn of the century, the thriving 24th Street community of the 1920s, the bustling development of the African-American community through the 1950s, a series of riots in the 1960s, and redevelopment in the late 20th and early 21st century.
and Sioux
nations were the first to occupy the area around Carter Lake
. After a short period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when they were the most powerful Indians on the Great Plains
, the Omaha
nation settled in the vicinity of present-day East Omaha. After a smallpox
epidemic killed much of its population, and encroaching American settlement further reduced their historic way of life, the Omaha sold their lands and moved to their present reservation to the north in Thurston County, Nebraska
in 1856.
along the Missouri River
. Fort Lisa was built by famed fur trapper Manuel Lisa
, a founder of the St. Louis, Missouri Fur Company (later known as the Missouri Fur Company). It was an important fur trading post for securing initial American investment in the Louisiana Territory
. Cabanné's Trading Post belonged to John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company
, which competed with many traders for the patronage of local Native American tribes. The American Fur Company later bought out Fontenelle's Post
, originally founded by the Missouri Fur Company
. Fontenelle's Post became the start of Bellevue
, the first town in Nebraska.
to Salt Lake City, Utah
. Although the Mormons had permission from the US government to occupy land temporarily, Native American tribes argued about whether they should pay a fee or taxes. The Mormons had been putting up hay for the winter from the grasslands.
The disagreement between the Oto and Omaha over the Mormons' use of the land persuaded the pioneers to move that fall three miles (5 km) east to a bluff by the Missouri River where the Oto did not demand a tax. There they created a settlement called the Winter Quarters
. Here the Mormons built shelters for the winter: 800 cabins and sod huts. The settlement included a store, bank and town square, and by the spring a gristmill, which became called Florence Mill. The town effectively ceased to exist in 1848, after the entire population had continued their trek west.
In 1854 James C. Mitchell bought the site and founded Florence
, which was incorporated two years later. The town was an important stocking point for settlers heading west on the California Trail
. The early town included banks, a post office, a large mill, several bars, and other important businesses. Today the Bank of Florence
is recognized as the oldest building in Omaha. Brigham Young
was believed to have helped build the Florence Mill
. Annexed by Omaha in 1917, the community is at the far north end of North Omaha.
South of Florence was a town founded in 1856 for speculators from New York. The Town of Saratoga was located in the proximity of North 24th Street and Ames Avenue. Its economy relied on its connection to the Saratoga Bend on the Missouri River
, less than one mile (1.6 km) away. At its peak the town had its own post office, a hotel and several businesses, including its own brewery, along with more than 60 homes. For a few years, it was regarded as being larger than either of its neighboring towns of Omaha City or Florence.
In between Saratoga and Florence was a wide, smooth plain. In the mid-1850s a large group of Irish immigrants built dugouts and sod house
s in this area, which other settlers derisively labeled "Gophertown." Residents of Florence and Gophertown skirmished violently in 1856; however, no major change resulted. The Irish became well-established in Omaha, building economic and political power before the waves of European immigrants and black migrants arrived at the end of the 19th century. Many created an ethnic enclave
in Sheelytown in South Omaha, near work at the stockyards and meatpacking plants.
Scriptown
was an area of North Omaha bound by 16th street on the east, 24th on the west, and Lake Street to the north. It was originally plat
ted in 1855 to provide land to Nebraska Territory
legislators who voted for Nebraska statehood. Consequently, the area was developed quickly, and included a number of prominent homes. From its development following the Scriptown platting, North Omaha was the dominion of a mixed European immigrant community that mingled extensively with the African-American community that grew after the turn of the century. The Jewish community in the area was rich, with several synagogues the provided social and cultural activities. The B'nai Jacob Synagogue was located at North 25th and Nicholas Streets; the B'nai Israel Synagogue was at North 18th and Chicago Streets; and the Adass Yeshuren Synagogue was at North 25th and Seward Streets. There are several Jewish cemeteries in the area as well.
Other early communities in the area included Casey's Row, an early community of housing for African-American families, most of whose men were employed as porters at the Union Pacific railyards to the east. Squatter's Row
was another residential area, located between North 11th and North 13th Streets, from Nicholas to Locust Streets, behind the Storz Brewery. For more than 75 years this area was inhabited solely by squatters.
The rest of the area comprising modern-day North Omaha developed in spurts. The Near North Side
, closest to downtown, developed quickly in this period with many homes for working-class
European immigrant and African American families.
Early businesses and housing were propelled by the introduction of a horse-driven street railroad in the 1870s, and electrical streetcar lines operated in North Omaha until 1955. Many early businesses in North Omaha were established by Jewish immigrants, who became part of the larger community of successful business people
who built downtown Omaha.
In 1875 the Omaha Driving Park
Association purchased a parcel of land located between Laird and Boyd Streets, and 16th to 20th Streets for horse racing
, specifically, trotters. A fair association leased it, added some features, and held the Douglas County Fair and the Nebraska State Fair
there for many years. The park fell into disuse by 1899; there is a report that this area was re-opened as Sunset Driving Park in 1904.
During this period early Omaha banker Herman Kountze
owned a large parcel of land in North Omaha, which he platted as a subdivision called Kountze Place
. On May 17, 1883, Buffalo Bill
founded his famous Wild West, Rocky Mountain and Prairie Exhibition in that area, making its first appearance at the aforementioned Omaha Driving Park. More than 8,000 people attended the first exhibition at a location near 18th and Sprague Streets. Buffalo Bill's Wild West show later returned to North Omaha for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition
in 1898. Held in conjunction with the Expo, the Indian Congress
drew more than 500 American Indians
representing 35 tribes to the area, as well.
Kountze Place developed after the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, with developments including large homes and several mansions built around the Expo's only remnant, Kountze Park. Lake Nakoma, now known as Carter Lake, was a hotbed of local sporting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lake and surrounding park featured sailing
events, rowing
clubs, Bungalow City, and the Omaha Gun Club. Miller Park
was an early site for golfing and boating
, and Kountze Park featured several outdoor activities, as well.
Also in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many European Jewish immigrants became involved in the Progressive and socialist movements. Some later became labor organizers in the meatpacking industry, which after two efforts, finally organized in the late 1930s and early 40s.
Catholic parishes grew extensively with new Irish and German immigrant families. The importance of several arterial streets was confirmed in a prominent business journal in 1890, that noted, "North Sixteenth, Cuming and North Twenty-fourth streets on the north and northwest are... prominent business streets, radiating from the commercial center into the resident portions of the city." Activities in North Omaha, particularly the locating of the Nebraska State Fair at the Omaha Driving Park, led to the formation of the civic and business association Ak-Sar-Ben
in 1895.
neighborhood. The tornado-like activity destroyed the original Immanuel Hospital and closed North Omaha's Franklin School. The most significant weather-related event to hit Omaha was the Easter Sunday tornado of 1913 that destroyed many of the area's businesses and neighborhoods. It cut a path of destruction through the city that was seven miles (11 km) long and a quarter of a mile wide. In the city as a whole, 140 people died and 400 were injured. Twenty-three hundred people were homeless; with 800 houses destroyed and 2000 damaged.
In the 1913 Easter Sunday Tornado, the Idlewild Pool Hall at 2307 North 24th Street was the scene of the greatest loss of life. The owner, C. W. Dillard, and 13 customers were killed as they tried to take shelter on the south side of the pool hall’s basement. The victims were crushed by falling debris or overcome by smoke from fires begun when wood stoves used for heating overturned. North 24th Street was laid waste. The victims were removed to the Webster Telephone Exchange Building
. The building was a central headquarters as the community recovered. Operators went to work despite the building missing all of its windows.
Starting with the development of the Minne Lusa
neighborhood, in the 1910s the area near Florence
became home to an almost exclusively Danish immigrant community
. With a variety of churches and social clubs
, the neighborhood was the cultural center
for many of North Omaha's working class and middle-class whites. The North Omaha Business Men's Association made numerous contributions to Omaha commerce, culture, and education. The group was responsible for developing a new athletic field at Omaha University in 1928.
Recruited for jobs by the meatpacking industry, African American migrants doubled their population in Omaha between 1910 and 1920, with a population among western cities second only to Los Angeles. By the late 19th century, the community already had three churches, which contributed much to its life. The African-American community culture in North Omaha developed a musical legacy of blues and jazz through the 1950s. In 1938 Mildred Brown
and her husband founded the Omaha Star
newspaper, since 1945 the only black paper in the state. Brown kept it going by herself for more than 40 years until her death in 1989. Since her death, her niece took it over.
In the 1930s and 40s, the black community together with white labor organizing partners worked against the segregated
practices of the meatpacking plants. Through their organizing the interracial United Packinghouse Workers of America
, part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
(CIO), they began to win concessions from management. The UPWA was integrated and progressive, also supporting integration of public facilities in Omaha, and the larger Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
From the early 1930s through the 1950s, the Reed Ice Cream
Company operated 63 small "ice cream bungalows" that distributed their ice cream across Omaha, including dozens in this neighborhood. One of the bungalows was located 620 N. 40th Street. Founded in 1929 by Claude Reed, the company plant was located at 3106 N 24th Street. The company sold ice cream in Omaha and Council Bluffs, with a volume of up to 22,000 cones a day. By 1955 there were a few commercial buildings along Ames Avenue and North 30th Street. Two businesses along North 30th Street included the Wax Paper Products Company and the Independent Biscuit Company.
Restructuring of the railroad and meatpacking industries resulted in massive job losses, more than 10,000, for working class people in Omaha. Changes started to affect the neighborhood in the late 1960s. Families who remained became more poor and the area became predominately black. Demographics have continued to change, but the city's improving economy has allowed reinvestment in the community. Other businesses in North Omaha included the Vercruysse Dairy, located on the southwest corner of North 52nd Street and Ames Avenue, the Omaha Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and the J.F. Smith Brickyard located on North 30th Street.
Other historically significant businesses included the Storz Brewery, which was located at the corners of Sherman Avenue (also called 16th Street) and Clark Street and finished in 1894. The Storz Brewery was 600 feet (182.9 m) tall and had a capacity of 150,000 barrels a year, making it one of the largest breweries in the region. The entire facility occupied more than 15 buildings with red-tiled floors and walls, burnished stainless steel and copper fixtures. The Minne Lusa Theater
was a one-screen neighborhood movie house that opened in the mid 1930s along North 30th Street that seated 400.
In the 1940s, North Omaha was the home to the African-American players of the Omaha Rockets independent baseball
team. The team played exhibition games against Negro League teams from across the U.S. It had several important players.
In 1947 a total of 15,000 people worked in the meatpacking industry in Omaha.
By 1957, fully half the city's workforce worked in the meatpacking industry. In the 1950s, the United Packinghouse Workers used their economic and political strength to demand that Omaha's bars, restaurants, and other establishments halt segregationist restrictions. As the packing industry changed in the 1960s and moved operations closer to the meat producers, Omaha lost 10,000 jobs. This meant a loss of political power as well for African Americans and other working class people. Although new meat packers have opened some new operations in Omaha, unionization has dropped sharply in the two decades after 1980, and African Americans have gained few of the new jobs.
on North 18th and Izard Streets.
West Central-Cathedral Landmark Heritage District developed around the Academy of the Sacred Heart
, opened in 1882, and St. Cecilia Cathedral
. This primarily residential district, the heart of which lies along both sides of North 38th Street, is the northern portion of what is known as the Gold Coast
.
The area of far North Omaha from Ames Avenue north was not commonly acknowledged as an incorporated part of the city until after World War II, when a housing boom filled in many communities throughout the area
North Omaha was the site of several federal housing projects, first built in the 1930s as no-cost or low-cost housing for working class families, often of Eastern European descent. Because of job losses and population changes in the city, by the late 1960s the projects in North Omaha were inhabited almost entirely by poor and low-income
African Americans.
Because of problems with crime, maintenance and segregation, as well as changing ideas about housing, in the early 2000s, the city tore down these facilities, including the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects. They replaced them with other public housing schemes featuring mixed-income and uses, with more community amenities.
by banks in decisions about loans supported such restrictions and limited reinvestment in North Omaha. The federal government's effort to insure mortgage lending led to racial discrimination in awards of loans. Such restrictions were ruled illegal in 1940.
Boyd and Taylor Streets and North 30th Street between Manderson and Bedford are reported to have developed in the 1920s. Harry Buford was a well-to-do member of North Omaha's African-American community with a large home built in 1929 at 1804 North 30th Street. According to one report, "The location of the family home on the west side of North 30th Street indicated the status of the Buford family in Omaha during a period of racial segregation." These types of differentiations according to socioeconomic and racial boundaries were prevalent throughout the North Omaha area, as in other communities across the country.
In an effort to improve working class housing in North Omaha during the Depression, in the 1930s the Federal government built the Logan-Fontenelle projects, which housed up to 2100 people in 556 apartments. The development was similar to a project of public housing on the South Side of Omaha. Every street was landscaped with trees. The project was named after a leader of the Omaha nation.
Originally the housing was intended to be temporary, for working people with families. It was a significant improvement over housing then available to them. With later losses of jobs in Omaha, more people who were unemployed lived in the projects. Logan Fontenelle became heavily segregated as well and suffered from a concentration of poor families with difficulties.
. However, in the first few decades of the new century, increasing numbers of immigrants and migrants, and competition for jobs and housing, prompted eruptions of racial violence. Many African Americans had first been recruited by the meatpacking industry as strikebreakers, which raised resentment against them by working class ethnic immigrants and their descendants.
In 1919, after Red Summer, a time of racial riots in several major industrial cities, a mostly ethnic immigrant white mob from South Omaha terrorized the city's African-American population. They began by dragging Will Brown
from his jail cell. He was beaten and lynched. After the mob was done with Brown's corpse, they attacked property and other African Americans in Omaha. Their efforts were thwarted, however, by the arrival of soldiers from Fort Omaha
who created a boundary around African-American neighborhoods to protect them. The commander also stationed troops in South Omaha to prevent any more mobs from forming.
Riots, including arson and significant property damage, skirmishes with local police, and a bombing in the mid- to late-20th century were demonstrations of other racial tensions. The area continues to be somewhat racially charged, as it remains largely composed of poor African-American constituents, and violent crime is still higher than in other areas of the city. However, it has not experienced any major race incidents since 1993.
-style houses located at N 38th Street and Glenwood Avenue. Craftsman and Craftsman-style bungalows were also popular in more affluent areas. According to one report, "many neighborhoods generally consist of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century vernacular
and period revival style houses, commercial, educational, and religious resources, and concentrations of post-World War II housing and public housing."
Due to its exceptionally diverse
history, particularly in respect to the rest of Nebraska
, North Omaha is home to numerous historical and modern landmarks, listed on the Registered Historic Places within its boundaries.
. North Omaha was the location of at least four street car lines that ran along 16th, 20th, 24th and 30th Streets, north and south from downtown Omaha.
There were several railroad tracks
in North Omaha, including those along Sorenson Parkway and parallel to 24th Street. The Webster Street Depot was located at 15th and Webster Streets, and the Florence Depot
was on North 30th Street in Florence
.
From at least before 1926, Nebraska Highway 5 used to run down N. 20th Street, jogging east on Ohio Street, and then along 16th. By 1931 this was replaced by N. 30th Street, which was designated as US 73
. In 1984 US 73 was replaced by US 75
, which maintains its position along N. 30th Street today. Between 1978 and 1980 a new freeway was built from I-480 north to Lake St, called I-580. This status was revoked when the State of Nebraska refused to upgrade the roadway to Interstate specifications, and the roadway is currently called the North Omaha Freeway.
became the Headquarters for the Department of the Platte, covering territory that stretched from the Missouri River into Montana and from Canada to Texas. It was a supply fort, rather than a defense fort, that provided assistance for the Indian Wars
, World War I, and World War II. Fort Omaha is best known for its role in the 1879 landmark trial of Ponca chief Standing Bear
. Originally known as Omaha Barracks, the frame buildings of the post surrounded and faced a rectangular parade ground. On the level ground on the east side were the post headquarters, guardhouse, bakery, storehouses and sutlers store. Ten single-story barracks were constructed to accommodate an equal number of companies, ten being the number of companies which then comprised a regiment. Five of the barracks were on the north end of the parade ground and the other five on the south end. The hospital was built northwest of the north barracks. Most of these buildings still stand at the intersections of 30th and Fort Streets.
The Fort Omaha Balloon School was the first such military school in America, and was located in North Omaha. After the United States entered the war on April 6, 1917, operations increased to the extent that a sub-post was needed to accommodate men and the maneuvering balloons. "Florence Field," about a mile north of the fort, consisting of 119 acre (0.48157634 km²), was acquired for this purpose.
The troops at Fort Omaha were responsible for restoring order to the city after the Omaha Race Riot of 1919
.
, especially by the Jewish American and African-American communities. They worked together in labor organizing, succeeding with the Meatpacking Union in the 1930s and 1940s.
Starting in the 1920s the community was home to both national and local organizations seeking equal rights
for African Americans, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) and the Urban League. The De Porres Club met there starting in the late 1940s. During the 1960s popular locations in North Omaha for community activists to gather included the Fair Deal Cafe on 24th Street and Goodwin’s Spencer Street Barbershop at 3116 N. 24th Street, where young Ernie Chambers
was a barber. The movement continues to be represented by Senator Chambers, and continues in the community today.
North Omaha has been the birthplace and home of many figures of national and local import. They include Malcolm X
; Whitney Young
, an important civil rights
leader; the storied Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers
, and author Tillie Olsen
.
Singer Wynonie Harris
, saxophonist Preston Love
and Buddy Miles
all have called North Omaha home. Businesswoman Cathy Hughes
is from North Omaha. The community has also had several sports stars, including baseball player Bob Gibson
, football player Johnny Rodgers
, actress Gabrielle Union
, actor John Beasley
, Houston Texans running back
Ahman Green
, and basketball player
Bob Boozer
.
North Omaha, Nebraska
North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the east, as defined by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Omaha...
includes wildcat banks, ethnic enclave
Ethnic enclave
An ethnic enclave is an ethnic community which retains some cultural distinction from a larger, surrounding area, it may be a neighborhood, an area or an administrative division based on ethnic groups. Sometimes an entire city may have such a feel. Usually the enclave revolves around businesses...
s, race riot
Race riot
A race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which race is a key factor. A phenomenon frequently confused with the concept of 'race riot' is sectarian violence, which involves public mass violence or conflict over non-racial factors.-United States:The term had entered the...
s and social change
Social change
Social change refers to an alteration in the social order of a society. It may refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by dialectical or evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic...
spanning over 200 years. With a recorded history
Recorded history
Recorded history is the period in history of the world after prehistory. It has been written down using language, or recorded using other means of communication. It starts around the 4th millennium BC, with the invention of writing.-Historical accounts:...
that pre-dates the rest of the city, North Omaha has roots back to 1812 with the founding of Fort Lisa. It includes the Mormon settlement of Cutler's Park
Cutler's Park
Cutler's Park was briefly the headquarter camp of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints established by 2500 members as they were making their way westward to the Rocky Mountains...
and Winter Quarters
Winter Quarters, Nebraska
Winter Quarters was an encampment formed by approximately 2,500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they waited during the winter of 1846–47 for better conditions for their trek westward. It followed a preliminary tent settlement some 3½ miles west at Cutler's Park. The...
in 1846, a lynching before the turn of the century, the thriving 24th Street community of the 1920s, the bustling development of the African-American community through the 1950s, a series of riots in the 1960s, and redevelopment in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Pre-European contact
Bands from the Pawnee, OtoeOtoe
Otoe may refer to*Otoe tribe, a Native American people*Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, a federally recognized tribe in Oklahoma*Otoe, Nebraska*Otoe County, Nebraska...
and Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
nations were the first to occupy the area around Carter Lake
Carter Lake
Carter Lake may refer the following places:* The city of Carter Lake, Iowa* Carter Lake , a reservoir near Loveland, Colorado* Carter Lake , an oxbow lake on the Iowa-Nebraska border that gives the city of Carter Lake its name...
. After a short period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when they were the most powerful Indians on the Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
, the Omaha
Omaha (tribe)
The Omaha are a federally recognized Native American nation which lives on the Omaha Reservation in northeastern Nebraska and western Iowa, United States...
nation settled in the vicinity of present-day East Omaha. After a smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
epidemic killed much of its population, and encroaching American settlement further reduced their historic way of life, the Omaha sold their lands and moved to their present reservation to the north in Thurston County, Nebraska
Thurston County, Nebraska
-History:Varying cultures of indigenous peoples lived along the rivers for thousands of years before European encounter.Thurston County was organized by European Americans in 1889 from land that had been divided between Dakota and Burt counties since the dissolution of Blackbird County in 1879. It...
in 1856.
Mid-19th century
The first settlements in North Omaha were the 1812 Fort Lisa located near Hummel Park and the 1823 Cabanné's Trading PostCabanne's Trading Post
Cabanne's Trading Post was established in 1822 by the American Fur Company as Fort Robidoux near present-day Dodge Park in North Omaha, Nebraska. It was named for influential fur trapper Joseph Robidoux...
along the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
. Fort Lisa was built by famed fur trapper Manuel Lisa
Manuel Lisa
Manuel Lisa, also known as Manuel de Lisa , was a Spanish-American fur trader, explorer, and United States Indian agent. He was among the founders in St. Louis of the Missouri Fur Company, an early fur trading company...
, a founder of the St. Louis, Missouri Fur Company (later known as the Missouri Fur Company). It was an important fur trading post for securing initial American investment in the Louisiana Territory
Louisiana Territory
The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805 until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed to Missouri Territory...
. Cabanné's Trading Post belonged to John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company
American Fur Company
The American Fur Company was founded by John Jacob Astor in 1808. The company grew to monopolize the fur trade in the United States by 1830, and became one of the largest businesses in the country. The company was one the first great trusts in American business...
, which competed with many traders for the patronage of local Native American tribes. The American Fur Company later bought out Fontenelle's Post
Fontenelle's Post
Fontenelle's Post, first known as Pilcher's Post, and the site of the later city of Bellevue, was built in 1822 in the Nebraska Territory by Joshua Pilcher, then president of the Missouri Fur Company. Located on the Missouri River, it developed as one of the first European-American settlements in...
, originally founded by the Missouri Fur Company
Missouri Fur Company
The Missouri Fur Company was one of the earliest fur trading companies in St. Louis, Missouri. Dissolved and reorganized several times, it operated under various names from 1809 until its final dissolution in 1830. It was created by a group of fur traders and merchants from St...
. Fontenelle's Post became the start of Bellevue
Bellevue, Nebraska
Bellevue is a city in Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 50,137 at the 2010 census. Eight miles south of Omaha, Bellevue is part of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. Originally settled in the 1830s, It was the first state capitol. Bellevue was incorporated in...
, the first town in Nebraska.
Early towns
Founded in August 1846, Cutler's Park was an early tent settlement for pioneers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were on their way from NauvooNauvoo, Illinois
Nauvoo is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States. Although the population was just 1,063 at the 2000 census, and despite being difficult to reach due to its location in a remote corner of Illinois, Nauvoo attracts large numbers of visitors for its historic importance and its...
to Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
. Although the Mormons had permission from the US government to occupy land temporarily, Native American tribes argued about whether they should pay a fee or taxes. The Mormons had been putting up hay for the winter from the grasslands.
The disagreement between the Oto and Omaha over the Mormons' use of the land persuaded the pioneers to move that fall three miles (5 km) east to a bluff by the Missouri River where the Oto did not demand a tax. There they created a settlement called the Winter Quarters
Winter Quarters, Nebraska
Winter Quarters was an encampment formed by approximately 2,500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they waited during the winter of 1846–47 for better conditions for their trek westward. It followed a preliminary tent settlement some 3½ miles west at Cutler's Park. The...
. Here the Mormons built shelters for the winter: 800 cabins and sod huts. The settlement included a store, bank and town square, and by the spring a gristmill, which became called Florence Mill. The town effectively ceased to exist in 1848, after the entire population had continued their trek west.
In 1854 James C. Mitchell bought the site and founded Florence
Florence, Nebraska
Florence is a neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska on the city's north end and originally one of the oldest cities in Nebraska. It was incorporated by the Nebraska Territorial Legislature on March 10, 1857. The site of Winter Quarters for Mormon migrants traveling west, it has the oldest cemetery for...
, which was incorporated two years later. The town was an important stocking point for settlers heading west on the California Trail
California Trail
The California Trail was an emigrant trail of about across the western half of the North American continent from Missouri River towns to what is now the state of California...
. The early town included banks, a post office, a large mill, several bars, and other important businesses. Today the Bank of Florence
Bank of Florence
The Bank of Florence was an early wildcat bank located at 8502 North 30th Street in Florence, Nebraska Territory. After originally opening in the 1850s, it closed and reopened in 1904. Today the building that housed the bank is the Bank of Florence Museum...
is recognized as the oldest building in Omaha. Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
was believed to have helped build the Florence Mill
Florence Mill (Omaha, Nebraska)
Florence Mill, also known as the Weber Mill, is located at 9102 North 30th Street near the 30th Street exit on Interstate 680 in the Florence community in North Omaha, Nebraska. It was built in 1846 and operated into the 1960s. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Weber Mill...
. Annexed by Omaha in 1917, the community is at the far north end of North Omaha.
South of Florence was a town founded in 1856 for speculators from New York. The Town of Saratoga was located in the proximity of North 24th Street and Ames Avenue. Its economy relied on its connection to the Saratoga Bend on the Missouri River
Missouri River
The Missouri River flows through the central United States, and is a tributary of the Mississippi River. It is the longest river in North America and drains the third largest area, though only the thirteenth largest by discharge. The Missouri's watershed encompasses most of the American Great...
, less than one mile (1.6 km) away. At its peak the town had its own post office, a hotel and several businesses, including its own brewery, along with more than 60 homes. For a few years, it was regarded as being larger than either of its neighboring towns of Omaha City or Florence.
In between Saratoga and Florence was a wide, smooth plain. In the mid-1850s a large group of Irish immigrants built dugouts and sod house
Sod house
The sod house or "soddy" was a corollary to the log cabin during frontier settlement of Canada and the United States. The prairie lacked standard building materials such as wood or stone; however, sod from thickly-rooted prairie grass was abundant...
s in this area, which other settlers derisively labeled "Gophertown." Residents of Florence and Gophertown skirmished violently in 1856; however, no major change resulted. The Irish became well-established in Omaha, building economic and political power before the waves of European immigrants and black migrants arrived at the end of the 19th century. Many created an ethnic enclave
Ethnic enclave
An ethnic enclave is an ethnic community which retains some cultural distinction from a larger, surrounding area, it may be a neighborhood, an area or an administrative division based on ethnic groups. Sometimes an entire city may have such a feel. Usually the enclave revolves around businesses...
in Sheelytown in South Omaha, near work at the stockyards and meatpacking plants.
Scriptown
Scriptown
Scriptown was the name of the first subdivision in the history of Omaha, which at the time was located in Nebraska Territory. It was called "Scriptown" because scrip was used as payment, similar to how a company would pay employees when regular money was unavailable...
was an area of North Omaha bound by 16th street on the east, 24th on the west, and Lake Street to the north. It was originally plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....
ted in 1855 to provide land to Nebraska Territory
Nebraska Territory
The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebraska Territory was created by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854...
legislators who voted for Nebraska statehood. Consequently, the area was developed quickly, and included a number of prominent homes. From its development following the Scriptown platting, North Omaha was the dominion of a mixed European immigrant community that mingled extensively with the African-American community that grew after the turn of the century. The Jewish community in the area was rich, with several synagogues the provided social and cultural activities. The B'nai Jacob Synagogue was located at North 25th and Nicholas Streets; the B'nai Israel Synagogue was at North 18th and Chicago Streets; and the Adass Yeshuren Synagogue was at North 25th and Seward Streets. There are several Jewish cemeteries in the area as well.
Other early communities in the area included Casey's Row, an early community of housing for African-American families, most of whose men were employed as porters at the Union Pacific railyards to the east. Squatter's Row
Squatter's Row
Squatter's Row was a historic neighborhood in the downtown area of Omaha, Nebraska. It was an area between North 11th and North 13th Streets, from Nicholas to Locust Streets, behind the Storz Brewery. For more than 75 years this area was inhabited solely by squatters...
was another residential area, located between North 11th and North 13th Streets, from Nicholas to Locust Streets, behind the Storz Brewery. For more than 75 years this area was inhabited solely by squatters.
Late 19th century
Near North Side (Omaha, Nebraska)
The Near North Side of Omaha, Nebraska is the neighborhood immediately north of downtown. It forms the nucleus of the city's African-American community, and its name is often synonymous with the entire North Omaha area...
, closest to downtown, developed quickly in this period with many homes for working-class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
European immigrant and African American families.
Early businesses and housing were propelled by the introduction of a horse-driven street railroad in the 1870s, and electrical streetcar lines operated in North Omaha until 1955. Many early businesses in North Omaha were established by Jewish immigrants, who became part of the larger community of successful business people
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
who built downtown Omaha.
In 1875 the Omaha Driving Park
Omaha Driving Park
The Omaha Driving Park, later called Sunset Driving Park, was located in North Omaha, Nebraska, USA. It was an important recreational and sports venue in the history of Omaha.- History :...
Association purchased a parcel of land located between Laird and Boyd Streets, and 16th to 20th Streets for horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
, specifically, trotters. A fair association leased it, added some features, and held the Douglas County Fair and the Nebraska State Fair
Nebraska State Fair
The Nebraska State Fair is a state fair held annually in Grand Island. It is an approximately ten-day event; since the early 1990s, the fair ends on Labor Day. Prior to 2010, the fair was held in Lincoln, Nebraska.-History:...
there for many years. The park fell into disuse by 1899; there is a report that this area was re-opened as Sunset Driving Park in 1904.
During this period early Omaha banker Herman Kountze
Herman Kountze
Herman Kountze was a powerful and influential pioneer banker in Omaha, Nebraska in the late 19th century. After organizing the Kountze Brothers Bank in 1857 as the second bank in Omaha, Herman and his brothers Augustus, Charles and Luther changed the charter in 1863, opening the First National...
owned a large parcel of land in North Omaha, which he platted as a subdivision called Kountze Place
Kountze Place
The Kountze Place neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska is a historically significant community on the city's north end. Today the neighborhood is home to several buildings and homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located between North 16th Avenue on the east to North 30th...
. On May 17, 1883, Buffalo Bill
Buffalo Bill
William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...
founded his famous Wild West, Rocky Mountain and Prairie Exhibition in that area, making its first appearance at the aforementioned Omaha Driving Park. More than 8,000 people attended the first exhibition at a location near 18th and Sprague Streets. Buffalo Bill's Wild West show later returned to North Omaha for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition
Trans-Mississippi Exposition
The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition was a world's fair held in Omaha, Nebraska from June 1 to November 1 of 1898. Its goal was to showcase the development of the entire West, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coast. The Indian Congress was held concurrently...
in 1898. Held in conjunction with the Expo, the Indian Congress
Indian Congress
The Indian Congress occurred from August 4 to October 31, 1898 in Omaha, Nebraska, in conjunction with the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition. Occurring within a decade of the end of the Indian Wars, the Indian Congress was the largest gathering of American Indian tribes of its kind to that...
drew more than 500 American Indians
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
representing 35 tribes to the area, as well.
Kountze Place developed after the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, with developments including large homes and several mansions built around the Expo's only remnant, Kountze Park. Lake Nakoma, now known as Carter Lake, was a hotbed of local sporting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lake and surrounding park featured sailing
Sailing
Sailing is the propulsion of a vehicle and the control of its movement with large foils called sails. By changing the rigging, rudder, and sometimes the keel or centre board, a sailor manages the force of the wind on the sails in order to move the boat relative to its surrounding medium and...
events, rowing
Watercraft rowing
Watercraft rowing is the act of propelling a boat using the motion of oars in the water. The difference between paddling and rowing is that with rowing the oars have a mechanical connection with the boat whereas with paddling the paddles are hand-held with no mechanical connection.This article...
clubs, Bungalow City, and the Omaha Gun Club. Miller Park
Miller Park (Omaha, Nebraska)
The Miller Park neighborhood in North Omaha, Nebraska is a historically significant community housing a historic district and several notable historic places. It is located between Sorenson Parkway on the south and Redick Avenue on the north, Florence Boulevard on the east and 30th Street on the west...
was an early site for golfing and boating
Boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or water skiing...
, and Kountze Park featured several outdoor activities, as well.
Also in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many European Jewish immigrants became involved in the Progressive and socialist movements. Some later became labor organizers in the meatpacking industry, which after two efforts, finally organized in the late 1930s and early 40s.
Catholic parishes grew extensively with new Irish and German immigrant families. The importance of several arterial streets was confirmed in a prominent business journal in 1890, that noted, "North Sixteenth, Cuming and North Twenty-fourth streets on the north and northwest are... prominent business streets, radiating from the commercial center into the resident portions of the city." Activities in North Omaha, particularly the locating of the Nebraska State Fair at the Omaha Driving Park, led to the formation of the civic and business association Ak-Sar-Ben
Ak-Sar-Ben
Ak-Sar-Ben, or Aksarben, was an indoor arena and horse racing complex in Omaha, Nebraska. Built to fund the civic and philanthropic activities of the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben, the thoroughbred race track was built in 1920 and the Coliseum was built in 1929...
in 1895.
20th century
North Omaha has suffered in severe Plains weather. In 1902 a major early spring storm demolished a lot of the neighborhood in the Monmouth ParkMonmouth Park School
Monmouth Park School is a former public school located at 4508 North 33rd Street in North Omaha, Nebraska. The building is considered a significant example of the Second Renaissance Revival style. It is also important as the work of Thomas Kimball, considered by many to be Nebraska's finest architect...
neighborhood. The tornado-like activity destroyed the original Immanuel Hospital and closed North Omaha's Franklin School. The most significant weather-related event to hit Omaha was the Easter Sunday tornado of 1913 that destroyed many of the area's businesses and neighborhoods. It cut a path of destruction through the city that was seven miles (11 km) long and a quarter of a mile wide. In the city as a whole, 140 people died and 400 were injured. Twenty-three hundred people were homeless; with 800 houses destroyed and 2000 damaged.
In the 1913 Easter Sunday Tornado, the Idlewild Pool Hall at 2307 North 24th Street was the scene of the greatest loss of life. The owner, C. W. Dillard, and 13 customers were killed as they tried to take shelter on the south side of the pool hall’s basement. The victims were crushed by falling debris or overcome by smoke from fires begun when wood stoves used for heating overturned. North 24th Street was laid waste. The victims were removed to the Webster Telephone Exchange Building
Webster Telephone Exchange Building
The Webster Telephone Exchange Building is located at 2213 Lake Street in North Omaha, Nebraska. It was designed by the well-known Omaha architect Thomas R. Kimball. After the Easter Sunday Tornado of 1913, the building was used as the center of recovery operations...
. The building was a central headquarters as the community recovered. Operators went to work despite the building missing all of its windows.
Starting with the development of the Minne Lusa
Minne Lusa
The Minne Lusa neighborhood is located in North Omaha, Nebraska between Vane Street and Read Street on the north and Redick Avenue on the south; North 24th Street on the east and North 30th Street on the west...
neighborhood, in the 1910s the area near Florence
Florence, Nebraska
Florence is a neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska on the city's north end and originally one of the oldest cities in Nebraska. It was incorporated by the Nebraska Territorial Legislature on March 10, 1857. The site of Winter Quarters for Mormon migrants traveling west, it has the oldest cemetery for...
became home to an almost exclusively Danish immigrant community
Danes in Omaha, Nebraska
The Danish people in Omaha, Nebraska were a predominant ethnic group in the city in the 1920s, and were notable for that compared to other cities across the United States...
. With a variety of churches and social clubs
Social clubs
A social club may refer to a group of people or the place where they meet, generally formed around a common interest, occupation or activity . Note that this article covers only two distinct types of social clubs, the historic gentlemen's clubs and the modern activities clubs...
, the neighborhood was the cultural center
Cultural center
A cultural center or cultural centre is an organization, building or complex that promotes culture and arts. Cultural centers can be neighborhood community arts organizations, private facilities, government-sponsored, or activist-run...
for many of North Omaha's working class and middle-class whites. The North Omaha Business Men's Association made numerous contributions to Omaha commerce, culture, and education. The group was responsible for developing a new athletic field at Omaha University in 1928.
Recruited for jobs by the meatpacking industry, African American migrants doubled their population in Omaha between 1910 and 1920, with a population among western cities second only to Los Angeles. By the late 19th century, the community already had three churches, which contributed much to its life. The African-American community culture in North Omaha developed a musical legacy of blues and jazz through the 1950s. In 1938 Mildred Brown
Mildred Brown
Mildred Brown was an African American journalist, newspaper publisher, and leader in the Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska. Part of the Great Migration, she came from Alabama via Chicago and Des Moines, Iowa...
and her husband founded the Omaha Star
Omaha Star
The Omaha Star is a newspaper founded in 1938 in North Omaha, Nebraska by Mildred Brown and her husband S. Edward Gilbert. Housed in the historic Omaha Star building in the Near North Side neighborhood, today the Omaha Star is the only remaining African-American newspaper in Omaha and the only one...
newspaper, since 1945 the only black paper in the state. Brown kept it going by herself for more than 40 years until her death in 1989. Since her death, her niece took it over.
In the 1930s and 40s, the black community together with white labor organizing partners worked against the segregated
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
practices of the meatpacking plants. Through their organizing the interracial United Packinghouse Workers of America
United Packinghouse Workers of America
The United Packinghouse Workers of America , later the United Packinghouse, Food and Allied Workers, was a labor union that represented workers in the meatpacking industry....
, part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations
Congress of Industrial Organizations
The Congress of Industrial Organizations, or CIO, proposed by John L. Lewis in 1932, was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. The Taft-Hartley Act of 1947 required union leaders to swear that they were not...
(CIO), they began to win concessions from management. The UPWA was integrated and progressive, also supporting integration of public facilities in Omaha, and the larger Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
From the early 1930s through the 1950s, the Reed Ice Cream
Ice cream
Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavours. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are made with other sweeteners...
Company operated 63 small "ice cream bungalows" that distributed their ice cream across Omaha, including dozens in this neighborhood. One of the bungalows was located 620 N. 40th Street. Founded in 1929 by Claude Reed, the company plant was located at 3106 N 24th Street. The company sold ice cream in Omaha and Council Bluffs, with a volume of up to 22,000 cones a day. By 1955 there were a few commercial buildings along Ames Avenue and North 30th Street. Two businesses along North 30th Street included the Wax Paper Products Company and the Independent Biscuit Company.
Restructuring of the railroad and meatpacking industries resulted in massive job losses, more than 10,000, for working class people in Omaha. Changes started to affect the neighborhood in the late 1960s. Families who remained became more poor and the area became predominately black. Demographics have continued to change, but the city's improving economy has allowed reinvestment in the community. Other businesses in North Omaha included the Vercruysse Dairy, located on the southwest corner of North 52nd Street and Ames Avenue, the Omaha Safe Deposit and Trust Company, and the J.F. Smith Brickyard located on North 30th Street.
Other historically significant businesses included the Storz Brewery, which was located at the corners of Sherman Avenue (also called 16th Street) and Clark Street and finished in 1894. The Storz Brewery was 600 feet (182.9 m) tall and had a capacity of 150,000 barrels a year, making it one of the largest breweries in the region. The entire facility occupied more than 15 buildings with red-tiled floors and walls, burnished stainless steel and copper fixtures. The Minne Lusa Theater
Minne Lusa Theater
The Minne Lusa Theater building is located at 6714 North 30th Street in North Omaha, Nebraska. It was a one-screen neighborhood movie house that opened in the mid-1930s that seated approximately 400 patrons. The theater closed sometime in the mid-1950s. Today the building houses Heartland Family...
was a one-screen neighborhood movie house that opened in the mid 1930s along North 30th Street that seated 400.
In the 1940s, North Omaha was the home to the African-American players of the Omaha Rockets independent baseball
Independent baseball
Independent baseball leagues are professional baseball organizations located in the United States and Canada. They are not operated in conjunction with either a Major League Baseball team or an affiliated minor league team. Being independent allows teams to be located close to major-league teams...
team. The team played exhibition games against Negro League teams from across the U.S. It had several important players.
In 1947 a total of 15,000 people worked in the meatpacking industry in Omaha.
By 1957, fully half the city's workforce worked in the meatpacking industry. In the 1950s, the United Packinghouse Workers used their economic and political strength to demand that Omaha's bars, restaurants, and other establishments halt segregationist restrictions. As the packing industry changed in the 1960s and moved operations closer to the meat producers, Omaha lost 10,000 jobs. This meant a loss of political power as well for African Americans and other working class people. Although new meat packers have opened some new operations in Omaha, unionization has dropped sharply in the two decades after 1980, and African Americans have gained few of the new jobs.
Historical residences
North Omaha's earliest homes were built in the Florence area soon after Winter Quarters were disassembled. Its first identification as a distinct bedroom suburb of Omaha occurred in the early 1870s, when professionals who worked in downtown Omaha built their homes a mile north of downtown Omaha,. For many years it was home to several prominent Omaha families, businesses, and organizations, and in 1887 North Omaha was annexed to the city of Omaha. Early north Omaha residential developments were mostly occupied by European immigrants from Ireland and Eastern Europe, as evidenced by the construction of the churches where they worshiped, such as Holy Family ChurchHoly Family Catholic Church (Omaha, Nebraska)
Holy Family Church was built in 1883 at 1715 Izard Street, at the intersections of 18th and Izard Streets in North Omaha, Nebraska. It is the oldest existing Catholic Church in Omaha, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.-History:...
on North 18th and Izard Streets.
West Central-Cathedral Landmark Heritage District developed around the Academy of the Sacred Heart
Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Omaha
Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, located at 3601 Burt Street in the Midtown area of Omaha, Nebraska is an independent, Catholic, college-preparatory high school for girls run by the Religious of the Sacred Heart. The institution previously included a college which was operated from 1908-1968,...
, opened in 1882, and St. Cecilia Cathedral
St. Cecilia Cathedral
St. Cecilia Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha. Located at 701 North 40th Street in the Gold Coast Historic District, the Cathedral was ranked as one of the ten largest in the United States when it was completed in 1959...
. This primarily residential district, the heart of which lies along both sides of North 38th Street, is the northern portion of what is known as the Gold Coast
Gold Coast Historic District (Omaha, Nebraska)
The Gold Coast Historic District is located in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, this historic district covers approximately a 30 block area roughly bounded by 36th, 40th, Jones, and Cuming Streets...
.
The area of far North Omaha from Ames Avenue north was not commonly acknowledged as an incorporated part of the city until after World War II, when a housing boom filled in many communities throughout the area
North Omaha was the site of several federal housing projects, first built in the 1930s as no-cost or low-cost housing for working class families, often of Eastern European descent. Because of job losses and population changes in the city, by the late 1960s the projects in North Omaha were inhabited almost entirely by poor and low-income
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
African Americans.
Because of problems with crime, maintenance and segregation, as well as changing ideas about housing, in the early 2000s, the city tore down these facilities, including the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects. They replaced them with other public housing schemes featuring mixed-income and uses, with more community amenities.
Racism in housing
After the 1919 Omaha Race Riot, landlords began enforcing race-restrictive covenants. Properties for rent and sale were restricted on the basis of race, with the primary intent of keeping North Omaha "black" and the rest of the city "white." RedliningRedlining
Redlining is the practice of denying, or increasing the cost of services such as banking, insurance, access to jobs, access to health care, or even supermarkets to residents in certain, often racially determined, areas. The term "redlining" was coined in the late 1960s by John McKnight, a...
by banks in decisions about loans supported such restrictions and limited reinvestment in North Omaha. The federal government's effort to insure mortgage lending led to racial discrimination in awards of loans. Such restrictions were ruled illegal in 1940.
Boyd and Taylor Streets and North 30th Street between Manderson and Bedford are reported to have developed in the 1920s. Harry Buford was a well-to-do member of North Omaha's African-American community with a large home built in 1929 at 1804 North 30th Street. According to one report, "The location of the family home on the west side of North 30th Street indicated the status of the Buford family in Omaha during a period of racial segregation." These types of differentiations according to socioeconomic and racial boundaries were prevalent throughout the North Omaha area, as in other communities across the country.
In an effort to improve working class housing in North Omaha during the Depression, in the 1930s the Federal government built the Logan-Fontenelle projects, which housed up to 2100 people in 556 apartments. The development was similar to a project of public housing on the South Side of Omaha. Every street was landscaped with trees. The project was named after a leader of the Omaha nation.
Originally the housing was intended to be temporary, for working people with families. It was a significant improvement over housing then available to them. With later losses of jobs in Omaha, more people who were unemployed lived in the projects. Logan Fontenelle became heavily segregated as well and suffered from a concentration of poor families with difficulties.
Racial tension
Omaha's African-American residents were spread throughout the small city from its founding through the 1900s. In 1891 a white mob lynched an African-American man named George SmithJoe Coe
Joe Coe, also known as George Smith, was an African-American laborer who was lynched on October 18, 1891 in Omaha, Nebraska. Overwhelmed by a mob of one thousand at the Douglas County Courthouse, the twelve city police officers stood by without intervening...
. However, in the first few decades of the new century, increasing numbers of immigrants and migrants, and competition for jobs and housing, prompted eruptions of racial violence. Many African Americans had first been recruited by the meatpacking industry as strikebreakers, which raised resentment against them by working class ethnic immigrants and their descendants.
In 1919, after Red Summer, a time of racial riots in several major industrial cities, a mostly ethnic immigrant white mob from South Omaha terrorized the city's African-American population. They began by dragging Will Brown
Omaha Race Riot of 1919
The Omaha Race Riot occurred in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 28–29, 1919. The race riot resulted in the brutal lynching of Will Brown, a black worker; the death of two white men; the attempted hanging of the mayor Edward Parsons Smith; and a public rampage by thousands of whites who set fire to...
from his jail cell. He was beaten and lynched. After the mob was done with Brown's corpse, they attacked property and other African Americans in Omaha. Their efforts were thwarted, however, by the arrival of soldiers from Fort Omaha
Fort Omaha
Fort Omaha, originally known as Sherman Barracks and then Omaha Barracks, is an Indian War-era United States Army supply installation. Located at 5730 North 30th Street, with the entrance at North 30th and Fort Streets in modern-day North Omaha, Nebraska, the facility is primarily occupied by ...
who created a boundary around African-American neighborhoods to protect them. The commander also stationed troops in South Omaha to prevent any more mobs from forming.
Riots, including arson and significant property damage, skirmishes with local police, and a bombing in the mid- to late-20th century were demonstrations of other racial tensions. The area continues to be somewhat racially charged, as it remains largely composed of poor African-American constituents, and violent crime is still higher than in other areas of the city. However, it has not experienced any major race incidents since 1993.
Historical architecture
Early North Omaha buildings and homes were characterized by their modest purposes. An example of such simplicity is located in the four-squareAmerican Foursquare
The American Foursquare or American Four Square is an American house style popular from the mid-1890s to the late 1930s. A reaction to the ornate and mass produced elements of the Victorian and other Revival styles popular throughout the last half of the 19th century, the American Foursquare was...
-style houses located at N 38th Street and Glenwood Avenue. Craftsman and Craftsman-style bungalows were also popular in more affluent areas. According to one report, "many neighborhoods generally consist of late nineteenth and early twentieth-century vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
and period revival style houses, commercial, educational, and religious resources, and concentrations of post-World War II housing and public housing."
Due to its exceptionally diverse
Diverse
Diverse is an American rapper. An underground hip-hop artist, he has received critical acclaim "from knowledgeable heads worldwide".-Career:...
history, particularly in respect to the rest of 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....
, North Omaha is home to numerous historical and modern landmarks, listed on the Registered Historic Places within its boundaries.
Historical transportation
An early horse-drawn coach ran from Florence to Saratoga into Omaha from the 1860s through 1890s. Around that time horse-drawn trolleys replaced these coaches, which were then replaced with electrical street carsTram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
. North Omaha was the location of at least four street car lines that ran along 16th, 20th, 24th and 30th Streets, north and south from downtown Omaha.
There were several railroad tracks
Rail tracks
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers and ballast , plus the underlying subgrade...
in North Omaha, including those along Sorenson Parkway and parallel to 24th Street. The Webster Street Depot was located at 15th and Webster Streets, and the Florence Depot
Florence Depot
The Florence Depot at 9000 North 30th Street in the Florence community of Omaha, Nebraska. Originally built in 1887 at 28th and Grebe in downtown Florence, the Depot closed in 1966...
was on North 30th Street in Florence
Florence, Nebraska
Florence is a neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska on the city's north end and originally one of the oldest cities in Nebraska. It was incorporated by the Nebraska Territorial Legislature on March 10, 1857. The site of Winter Quarters for Mormon migrants traveling west, it has the oldest cemetery for...
.
From at least before 1926, Nebraska Highway 5 used to run down N. 20th Street, jogging east on Ohio Street, and then along 16th. By 1931 this was replaced by N. 30th Street, which was designated as US 73
U.S. Route 73
U.S. Route 73 is a north–south United States highway that runs for 112 miles from northeast Kansas to southeast Nebraska. The highway's southern terminus is Bonner Springs, Kansas at Interstate 70. Its northern terminus is near Dawson, Nebraska at U.S. Highway 75.-Kansas:U.S. Route 73...
. In 1984 US 73 was replaced by US 75
U.S. Route 75
U.S. Route 75 is a north–south U.S. Highway. The highway's northern terminus is in Kittson County, Minnesota, at the Canadian border, where it continues as Manitoba Highway 75 on the other side of a closed border crossing. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 30 and Interstate 45 in Dallas,...
, which maintains its position along N. 30th Street today. Between 1978 and 1980 a new freeway was built from I-480 north to Lake St, called I-580. This status was revoked when the State of Nebraska refused to upgrade the roadway to Interstate specifications, and the roadway is currently called the North Omaha Freeway.
Historical military presence
In 1878 Fort OmahaFort Omaha
Fort Omaha, originally known as Sherman Barracks and then Omaha Barracks, is an Indian War-era United States Army supply installation. Located at 5730 North 30th Street, with the entrance at North 30th and Fort Streets in modern-day North Omaha, Nebraska, the facility is primarily occupied by ...
became the Headquarters for the Department of the Platte, covering territory that stretched from the Missouri River into Montana and from Canada to Texas. It was a supply fort, rather than a defense fort, that provided assistance for the Indian Wars
Indian Wars
American Indian Wars is the name used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between American settlers or the federal government and the native peoples of North America before and after the American Revolutionary War. The wars resulted from the arrival of European colonizers who...
, World War I, and World War II. Fort Omaha is best known for its role in the 1879 landmark trial of Ponca chief Standing Bear
Standing Bear
Standing Bear was a Ponca Native American chief who successfully argued in U.S...
. Originally known as Omaha Barracks, the frame buildings of the post surrounded and faced a rectangular parade ground. On the level ground on the east side were the post headquarters, guardhouse, bakery, storehouses and sutlers store. Ten single-story barracks were constructed to accommodate an equal number of companies, ten being the number of companies which then comprised a regiment. Five of the barracks were on the north end of the parade ground and the other five on the south end. The hospital was built northwest of the north barracks. Most of these buildings still stand at the intersections of 30th and Fort Streets.
The Fort Omaha Balloon School was the first such military school in America, and was located in North Omaha. After the United States entered the war on April 6, 1917, operations increased to the extent that a sub-post was needed to accommodate men and the maneuvering balloons. "Florence Field," about a mile north of the fort, consisting of 119 acre (0.48157634 km²), was acquired for this purpose.
The troops at Fort Omaha were responsible for restoring order to the city after the Omaha Race Riot of 1919
Omaha Race Riot of 1919
The Omaha Race Riot occurred in Omaha, Nebraska, on September 28–29, 1919. The race riot resulted in the brutal lynching of Will Brown, a black worker; the death of two white men; the attempted hanging of the mayor Edward Parsons Smith; and a public rampage by thousands of whites who set fire to...
.
Libraries
In 1921 the city opened the North Branch Church Library at 25th and Ames. The location has been moved twice since, and the library has been renamed the Charles B. Washington Branch.Political and Civil rights movements in North Omaha
North Omaha ace of political activismActivism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, especially by the Jewish American and African-American communities. They worked together in labor organizing, succeeding with the Meatpacking Union in the 1930s and 1940s.
Starting in the 1920s the community was home to both national and local organizations seeking equal rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
for African Americans, such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP) and the Urban League. The De Porres Club met there starting in the late 1940s. During the 1960s popular locations in North Omaha for community activists to gather included the Fair Deal Cafe on 24th Street and Goodwin’s Spencer Street Barbershop at 3116 N. 24th Street, where young Ernie Chambers
Ernie Chambers
Ernest W. Chambers is a former Nebraska State Senator who represented North Omaha's 11th District in the Nebraska State Legislature. He is also a civil rights activist and is considered by most citizens of Nebraska as the most prominent and outspoken African American leader in the state...
was a barber. The movement continues to be represented by Senator Chambers, and continues in the community today.
Notable figures from North Omaha
Malcolm X
Malcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
; Whitney Young
Whitney Young
Whitney Moore Young Jr. was an American civil rights leader.He spent most of his career working to end employment discrimination in the United States and turning the National Urban League from a relatively passive civil rights organization into one that aggressively fought for equitable access to...
, an important civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
leader; the storied Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers
Ernie Chambers
Ernest W. Chambers is a former Nebraska State Senator who represented North Omaha's 11th District in the Nebraska State Legislature. He is also a civil rights activist and is considered by most citizens of Nebraska as the most prominent and outspoken African American leader in the state...
, and author Tillie Olsen
Tillie Olsen
Tillie Lerner Olsen was an American writer associated with the political turmoil of the 1930s and the first generation of American feminists.-Biography:...
.
Singer Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris , born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. With fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952, Harris is generally considered one of rock and roll's forerunners, influencing Elvis Presley...
, saxophonist Preston Love
Preston Love
Preston Haines Love was a renowned alto saxophonist, bandleader and songwriter from Omaha, Nebraska.-Biography:Preston Love grew up in North Omaha and graduated from North High....
and Buddy Miles
Buddy Miles
George Allen Miles, Jr. , known as Buddy Miles, was an American rock and funk drummer, most known as a founding member of The Electric Flag in 1967, then as a member of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys from 1969 through to January 1970.-Early life:George Allen Miles was born in Omaha, Nebraska on...
all have called North Omaha home. Businesswoman Cathy Hughes
Cathy Hughes
Cathy Hughes, born Catherine Elizabeth Woods in Omaha, Nebraska on April 22, 1947, is an African-American entrepreneur, radio and television personality and business executive. Hughes founded the media company Radio One and later expanded into TV One, the company went public in 1998, making...
is from North Omaha. The community has also had several sports stars, including baseball player Bob Gibson
Bob Gibson
Robert "Bob" Gibson is a retired American professional baseball player. Nicknamed "Hoot" and "Gibby", he was a right-handed pitcher who played his entire 17-year Major League Baseball career with St. Louis Cardinals...
, football player Johnny Rodgers
Johnny Rodgers
Johnny Steven Rodgers is a former American college football player voted the University of Nebraska's "Player of the Century" and the winner of the 1972 Heisman Trophy.-College career:...
, actress Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Monique Union is an American actress and former model. Among her notable roles is as the cheerleader opposite Kirsten Dunst in the film Bring it On. Union starred opposite Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in the blockbuster film Bad Boys II and played a medical doctor in the CBS drama...
, actor John Beasley
John Beasley (actor)
John Beasley is an American actor known for his role as Irv Harper on the TV series Everwood and recurring roles on CSI, Millennium and The Pretender. He also portrayed General Lasseter in The Sum of All Fears and Rev. C. Charles Blackwell in The Apostle. In 1992 he played Jesse Hall's dad in the...
, Houston Texans running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
Ahman Green
Ahman Green
Ahman Rashad Green is a retired American football running back. He is the all-time leading rusher for the Green Bay Packers. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 3rd round of the 1998 NFL Draft...
, and basketball player
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
Bob Boozer
Bob Boozer
Robert Louis "Bob" Boozer is a retired American professional basketball player. Boozer was born and raised in North Omaha, Nebraska and graduated from Tech High in Omaha....
.
See also
- North Omaha, NebraskaNorth Omaha, NebraskaNorth Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the east, as defined by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Omaha...
- Timeline of North Omaha, Nebraska historyTimeline of North Omaha, Nebraska historySignificant events in the history of North Omaha, Nebraska include the Pawnee, Otoe and Sioux nations; the African American community; Irish, Czech, and other European immigrants, and; several other populations. Several important settlements and towns were built in the area, as well as important...
- Landmarks in North Omaha, Nebraska
- Timeline of Racial Tension in Omaha, NebraskaTimeline of racial tension in Omaha, NebraskaThe timeline of racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska lists events in African-American history in Omaha. These included racial violence, but also include many firsts as the African- American community built its institutions. Omaha has been a major industrial city on the edge of what was a rural,...
- List of articles related to North Omaha, Nebraska
External links
- BlackPast.org - A website featuring much history from North Omaha.
- Historical Florence website