History of Omaha, Nebraska - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The history of 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...

began before the settlement of the city, with speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa

Council Bluffs, Iowa

Council Bluffs, known until 1852 as Kanesville, Iowathe historic starting point of the Mormon Trail and eventual northernmost anchor town of the other emigrant trailsis a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River across...

staking land across 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...

illegally as early as the 1840s. Before it was legal to claim land in Indian Country

Indian Country

Indian country is a term used to describe the many self-governing Native American communities throughout the United States. This usage is reflected in many places, both legal and colloquial...

, William D. Brown

William D. Brown

William D. Brown was the first pioneer to envision building a city where Omaha, Nebraska sits today. Many historians attribute Brown to be the founder of Omaha, although this has been disputed since the late nineteenth century. Alfred D...

was operating the Lone Tree Ferry

Lone Tree Ferry

The Lone Tree Ferry, later known as the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company, was the crossing of the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska, US, that was established in 1850 by William D. Brown...

to bring settlers from Council Bluffs

Council Bluffs, Iowa

to Omaha. A treaty with the Omaha Tribe allowed the creation of the 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...

, and Omaha City was founded on July 4, 1854. With early settlement came claim jumpers and squatters, and the formation of a vigilante

Vigilante

A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....

law group called the Omaha Claim Club

Omaha Claim Club

The Omaha Claim Club, also called the Omaha Township Claim Association and the Omaha Land Company, was organized in 1854 for the purpose of "encouraging the building of a city" and protecting members' claims in the area platted for Omaha City in the Nebraska Territory. At its peak the club included...

, which was one of many claim club

Claim club

Claim clubs, also called Actual Settlers' Associations or Squatters' Clubs, were a nineteenth century phenomenon in the American West. Usually operating within a confined local jurisdiction, these pseudo-governmental entities sought to regulate land sales in places where there was little or no...

s across the Midwest. During this period many of the city's founding fathers

Founding figures of Omaha, Nebraska

The following people were founding figures of Omaha, Nebraska. Their period of influence ranges from 1853 through 1900. Many in this group were members of the Old Settlers' Association and/or the Omaha Claim Club...

received lots in 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...

, which was made possible by the actions of the Omaha Claim Club. The club's violent actions led to the U.S. Supreme Court trial, Baker v. Morton
Baker v. Morton
Baker v. Morton, , was the first "serious" court case to come out of Omaha, Nebraska Territory, prior to statehood. In the trial a claim jumper fought against local land barons to stake out a homestead in the area that was to become the city of Omaha...

, which led to the end of the organization.

Surrounded by small towns and cities that competed for business from the hinterland

Hinterland

The hinterland is the land or district behind a coast or the shoreline of a river. Specifically, by the doctrine of the hinterland, the word is applied to the inland region lying behind a port, claimed by the state that owns the coast. The area from which products are delivered to a port for...

's farmers, the city suffered a major setback in the Panic of 1857

Panic of 1857

The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Indeed, because of the interconnectedness of the world economy by the time of the 1850s, the financial crisis which began in the autumn of 1857 was...

. Despite this, Omaha quickly emerged as the largest city in Nebraska. After losing the Nebraska State Capitol

Nebraska State Capitol

The Nebraska State Capitol, located in Lincoln, Nebraska, is the house of the Nebraska Legislature and houses other offices of the government of the U.S. state of Nebraska....

to Lincoln

Lincoln, Nebraska

The City of Lincoln is the capital and the second-most populous city of the US state of Nebraska. Lincoln is also the county seat of Lancaster County and the home of the University of Nebraska. Lincoln's 2010 Census population was 258,379....

in 1867, many business leaders rallied and created the Jobbers Canyon

Jobbers Canyon Historic District

Jobbers Canyon Historic District was a large industrial and warehouse area comprising 24 buildings located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, USA. It was roughly bound by Farnam Street on the north, South Eighth Street on the east, Jackson Street on the south, and South Tenth Street on the west...

in downtown Omaha to outfit farmers in 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....

, South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...

, Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

and further west. Their entrepreneurial success allowed them to build mansions in 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...

and the Old Gold Coast

Old Gold Coast

Old Gold Coast is the name of a historic district in south Omaha, Nebraska. With South 10th Street as the central artery, the area was home to neighborhoods such as Little Italy and Forest Hill. The area is referred to as "old" because it was replaced in prominence in the late 19th century when a...

neighborhoods.

With the development of the Omaha Stockyards and neighboring packinghouses in the 1870s, several workers' housing areas, including Sheelytown, developed in South Omaha. Its growth happened so quickly that the town was nicknamed the "Magic City". The latter part of the 19th century also saw the formation of several fraternal organizations, including the formation of Knights of Aksarben. City leaders rallied for the creation of 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. During the Expo, famous madames Anna Wilson and Ada Everleigh were making a good living from the crowds. At the same time, Boss Tom Dennison

Tom Dennison (political boss)

Tom Dennison, aka Pickhandle, Old Grey Wolf, was the early-20th century political boss of Omaha, Nebraska. A politically savvy, culturally astute gambler, Dennison was in charge of the city's wide crime rings, including prostitution, gambling and bootlegging in the 1920s...

compounded the city's vices in the notorious Sporting District, with the full support of eight-term mayor "Cowboy" James Dahlman

James Dahlman

James Charles Dahlman , also known as Jim Dahlman, Cowboy Jim and Mayor Jim, was elected to eight terms as mayor of Omaha, Nebraska, serving the city for 20 years over a 23-year-period. A German-American and an agnostic, Dahlman grew up in a ranching area and started working as a Texas cowboy...

. Many of these early pioneers are buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery. City leaders created Omaha University in 1908.

With reform administrations in the 1930s and 40s, the city became a meatpacking powerhouse. Several regional beer

Beer

Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...

breweries developed, including Metz

Metz Brewery

The Metz Brothers Brewing Company was among the first brewers in the U.S. state of Nebraska, having been established in the city of Omaha in 1859. It was among the earliest manufacturers in the city. After originally opening as the McCumbe Brewery, the facility was sold several times until brothers...

, Storz and Krug

Krug Brewery

The Fred Krug Brewery was located at 2435 Deer Park Boulevard in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1859, Krug Brewery was the first brewery in the city. Krug was one of the "Big 4" brewers located in Omaha, which also included the Storz, Willow Springs and Metz breweries...

companies. The city's southern suburb

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...

became home to the Strategic Air Command

Strategic Air Command

The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...

in the late 1940s; in 1950 the Rosenblatt Stadium in South Omaha became home to the College World Series

College World Series

The College World Series or CWS is an annual baseball tournament held in Omaha, Nebraska that is the culmination of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, which determines the NCAA Division I college baseball champion. The eight teams are split into two, four-team, double-elimination brackets,...

. Labor unrest in the 1930s resulted in organizing of the meatpacking plants by the CIO-FCW, which built an interracial partnership and achieved real gains for the workers for some decades.

After WWII, blacks in Omaha as in other parts of the nation began to press harder for civil rights. Veterans believed they deserved full rights after fighting for the nation. Some organizations had already been formed, but they became more active, leading into the city's Civil Rights movement

Civil rights movement in Omaha, Nebraska

The Civil rights movement in Omaha, Nebraska has roots that extend back until at least 1912. With a history of racial tension that starts before the founding of the city, Omaha has been the home of numerous overt efforts related to securing civil rights for African Americans since at least the...

.

Suburbanization and highway expansion led to white flight

White flight

White flight has been a term that originated in the United States, starting in the mid-20th century, and applied to the large-scale migration of whites of various European ancestries from racially mixed urban regions to more racially homogeneous suburban or exurban regions. It was first seen as...

to newer housing and development of middle and upper class areas in West Omaha from the 1950s through the 1970s. The historically ethnically diverse areas of North and South Omaha became more concentrated by economics, race and class. These workers suffered dramatic job losses during industrial restructuring that increased rapidly in the 1960s, and poverty became more widespread.

White contact with Native Americans

Omaha's location near the confluence of the Missouri River

Missouri River

and Platte River

Platte River

The Platte River is a major river in the state of Nebraska and is about long. Measured to its farthest source via its tributary the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which in turn is a tributary of the Mississippi River which flows to...

has long made the location a key point of transfer for both people and goods. Since the 17th century, the Pawnee, Otoe

Otoe tribe

The Otoe or Oto are a Native American people. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the related Iowa and Missouri tribes.-History:...

, 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...

, and Ioway all variously occupied the land that became Omaha. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries when they were the most powerful Indians along the stretch of the Missouri River

Missouri River

north of the Platte, 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 moved on the western edge of present-day Bellevue, Nebraska

Bellevue, Nebraska

.

Prior to European-American establishment of the city, numerous Indian

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...

tribes had inhabited the area, including the Pawnee, Otoe

Otoe tribe

The Otoe or Oto are a Native American people. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the related Iowa and Missouri tribes.-History:...

, 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...

, the Missouri and Ioway. They had developed a semi-nomadic lifestyle necessary for survival 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 Pawnee and Otoe tribes had inhabited the region for hundreds of years by the time the Siouan-language Omaha tribe had arrived from the lower Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

valley in the early 18th century. Translated, the word "Omaha" (actually U-Mo'n-Ho'n) means "Dwellers on the Bluff". Usually the word is translated "against the current" but in those cases without quoting any source.

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"...

outbreak, and suffering cultural degradation, disease, the elimination of the buffalo

American Bison

The American bison , also commonly known as the American buffalo, is a North American species of bison that once roamed the grasslands of North America in massive herds...

, and continued property loss, in 1856 the Omaha sold the last of their claims and relocated to their present reservation

Indian reservation

An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...

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...

European settlement

On July 21, 1804, the Lewis and Clark Expedition

Lewis and Clark Expedition

The Lewis and Clark Expedition, or ″Corps of Discovery Expedition" was the first transcontinental expedition to the Pacific Coast by the United States. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by two Virginia-born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio Valley, Meriwether Lewis and William...

passed by the riverbanks that would later become the city of Omaha. On July 22 the Corps of Discovery established a camp near present-day Bellevue

Bellevue, Nebraska

for five nights, naming it "Camp White Catfish." On the 27th, William Clark and Reuben Fields investigated mysterious earthen mounds close to where 8th and Douglas Streets and the Heartland of America Park

Heartland of America Park

The Heartland of America Park is a public park located at 800 Douglas Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska USA. The park is situated between Interstate 80 and the Missouri River, and is adjacent to Gene Leahy Mall and the Old Market and connects to Lewis & Clark Landing.-History:The area where the...

are today in Downtown Omaha

Downtown Omaha

Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, and is located in Omaha, Nebraska. The boundaries are 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and the centerline of Leavenworth Street on the south to the centerline...

. That night they camped in an area that is Eppley Airfield

Eppley Airfield

Eppley Airfield is a medium hub primary airport located three miles northeast of the central business district of Omaha, a city in Douglas County, Nebraska, United States. It is the largest airport in the state of Nebraska...

today. The expedition stopped at a point about 20 miles (30 km) north of present-day Omaha, at which point they first met with the Otoe. They had a council meeting with members of the tribal leadership on the west side of the Missouri River. The first recorded instance of a black person

Black people

The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...

in the Omaha area was "York

York (Lewis and Clark)

York was an African American slave best known for his participation with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. As William Clark's slave, he performed hard manual labor without pay, but participated as a full member of the expedition. Like many other expedition members, his ultimate fate is unclear...

", an enslaved African American who accompanied William Clark on the Expedition.

The Astor Expedition

Astor Expedition

The Astor Expedition of 1810-1812 was the next overland expedition from St. Louis, Missouri to the mouth of the Columbia River after the Corps of Discovery, led by Lewis and Clark.-History:...

came through in 1811. Stephen Long passed through the Omaha area in 1819 on his Platte River Expedition. A decade later, adventurers and fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

rs were frequenting the region, trading at Fort Lisa, built by 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...

in 1806; Fort Atkinson

Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)

Fort Atkinson was the first United States Army post to be established west of the Missouri River in the unorganized region of the Louisiana Purchase of the United States. Located just east of present-day Fort Calhoun, Nebraska, the fort was erected in 1819 and abandoned in 1827...

, built in 1819 as a military outpost adjacent to the location of the earlier council meeting; and Cabanne's Trading Post

Cabanne'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...

, built by the 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...

in 1822.

In 1825 a fur trader named J.B. Royce built a stockade and trading post on a plateau near the present-day block formed by Dodge Street and Capitol Avenue, Ninth and Tenth Streets. That establishment was abandoned and decayed within the next 20 years.

In the 1840s the Mormons

Mormons

The Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, a religion started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. A vast majority of Mormons are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while a minority are members of other independent churches....

built a town called 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...

in the area before resuming their westward migration on the Mormon Trail

Mormon Trail

The Mormon Trail or Mormon Pioneer Trail is the 1,300 mile route that members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled from 1846 to 1868...

.

In 1854 Logan Fontenelle

Logan Fontenelle

Logan Fontenelle , also known as Shon-ga-ska , was a trader of French and Omaha ancestry, who served for years as an interpreter to the US Indian agent at the Bellevue Agency in Nebraska...

and the Omaha Tribe sold the majority of their tribal land, four million acres (16,000 km²), to the United States for less than 22 cents an acre. This allowed the settlement of Nebraska Territory

Nebraska Territory

and the founding of Omaha City. That year the formation of the Territory in the Kansas-Nebraska Act

Kansas-Nebraska Act

The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement, and had the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing settlers in those territories to determine through Popular Sovereignty if they would allow slavery within...

was based on the condition that it remain slave-free

History of slavery in Nebraska

The history of slavery in Nebraska is generally seen as short and limited. The issue was contentious for the legislature between the creation of the Nebraska Territory in 1854 and the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861. However, there was apparently a particular acceptance of African...

Pioneer Omaha: 1853 to 1867

Further information: Pioneer history of Omaha (category)

In 1853 William D. Brown

William D. Brown

operated the Lone Tree Ferry

Lone Tree Ferry

to shuttle California Gold Rush

California Gold Rush

The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...

prospectors and Oregon Trail

Oregon Trail

The Oregon Trail is a historic east-west wagon route that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon and locations in between.After 1840 steam-powered riverboats and steamboats traversing up and down the Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri rivers sped settlement and development in the flat...

settlers across the river between Kanesville, Iowa and the Nebraska Territory

Nebraska Territory

. The Lone Tree Ferry eventually became the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company. "Omaha City" was organized by the owners of the Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Company to lure the proposed transcontinental railroad

First Transcontinental Railroad

The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...

to Council Bluffs

Council Bluffs, Iowa

. Alfred D. Jones

Alfred D. Jones

Alfred D. Jones was a lawyer, surveyor and politician in the 1900s in the Midwestern United States. In 1846 he platted Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and in 1854 he platted Omaha, Nebraska...

, Omaha City's first postmaster

Postmaster

A postmaster is the head of an individual post office. Postmistress is not used anymore in the United States, as the "master" component of the word refers to a person of authority and has no gender quality...

, 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 the town site early in 1854, months after the Kansas-Nebraska Act

Kansas-Nebraska Act

created the Nebraska Territory

Nebraska Territory

. The first black person in Omaha

African Americans in Omaha, Nebraska

African Americans in Omaha, Nebraska are central to the development and growth of the 43rd largest city in the United States. The first free black settler in the city arrived in 1854, the year the city was incorporated....

arrived in 1854.

While the city was young, there were no formal police

Police

The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...

or sheriff

Sheriff

A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....

, or at least one with any significant authority. Compensating for the absence of the law, many early Omaha pioneers formed a claim club

Claim club

to create and enforce a legal system to their advantage. The Omaha Claim Club

Omaha Claim Club

took authority over many areas of the new city, generally focused on land

Real property

In English Common Law, real property, real estate, realty, or immovable property is any subset of land that has been legally defined and the improvements to it made by human efforts: any buildings, machinery, wells, dams, ponds, mines, canals, roads, various property rights, and so forth...

-related issues. In the 1860s, ten years after the city's formation, early citizens also created the Old Settlers' Association

Old Settlers' Association

The Old Settlers' Association was founded in 1866 by a group of men in Omaha, Nebraska. Membership in the organization was exclusive to settlers who were in the city before 1858. Omaha was founded in 1854...

to record the early history of the settlement.

Aside from Omaha, other early settlements and towns in the area include 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...

founded in 1806; Fort Lisa founded 1806; Culter's Park, founded 1846; Bellevue

Bellevue, Nebraska

, settled in 1804 and founded 1853; East Omaha

East Omaha, Nebraska

East Omaha is a geographically designated community located in Omaha, Nebraska. Located three miles from downtown Omaha, East Omaha is the site of Eppley Airfield, Omaha’s main airport, and Carter Lake...

, founded 185?; and Saratoga

Saratoga, Nebraska Territory

Saratoga Springs, Nebraska Territory, or Saratoga, was a boom and bust town founded in 1856 that throve for several years. During its short period of influence the town grew quickly, outpacing other local settlements in the area including Omaha and Florence, and briefly considered as a candidate...

, founded 1857. The town of 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...

was platted by James C. Mitchell

James C. Mitchell (settler)

James C. Mitchell was the founder of the town of Florence in the Nebraska Territory in 1854.-Biography:Born in Pangborn, Pennsylvania, Mitchell ran away from home at the age of fifteen to become a seaman. By age eighteen, he was captain of a ship which sailed between New York City and Liverpool,...

in 1854 and founded in 1855.

The first minister in Omaha was Moses F. Shinn

Moses F. Shinn

Moses Franklin Shinn was a pioneer Methodist Episcopal Church minister in Omaha, Nebraska. Aside from founding Omaha's first cemetery, called Prospect Hill, he was also renowned for renouncing his Methodist affiliation in Keokuk, Iowa in order to remain a member of the Freemasons...

, a Methodist Episcopal Church

Methodist Episcopal Church

The Methodist Episcopal Church, sometimes referred to as the M.E. Church, was a development of the first expression of Methodism in the United States. It officially began at the Baltimore Christmas Conference in 1784, with Francis Asbury and Thomas Coke as the first bishops. Through a series of...

leader from Council Bluffs. Most of Omaha's early pioneers, including Nebraska Territory

Nebraska Territory

politicians, 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 ...

and the early African-American community, were buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery in North Omaha. Starting in 1887 Douglas County

Douglas County, Nebraska

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 463,585 people, 182,194 households, and 115,146 families residing in the county. The population density was 1,401 people per square mile . There were 192,672 housing units at an average density of 582 per square mile...

officials started recording the burials of poor

Poor

Poor is an adjective related to a state of poverty, low quality or pity.People with the surname Poor:* Charles Henry Poor, a US Navy officer* Charles Lane Poor, an astronomer* Edward Erie Poor, a vice president of the National Park Bank...

people and people without a known identity in Potter's Field

Potter's Field (Omaha)

The Potters Field Cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska is located on a plot of land at 5000 Young Street near the intersections of Young Street and Mormon Bridge Road. Like all Potter's Fields, it was used to bury poor people or people with no known identity from across the Omaha area...

. Located in far North Omaha, today Potter's Field is maintained by Forest Lawn Cemetery, which is located nearby. There is speculation that Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

pioneers were buried there in the 1850s, as well.

The Nebraska State Capitol was moved from Omaha in 1867.

Nebraska Territory Capitol

Late in 1854 Omaha was chosen as the territorial capital for Nebraska. In 1855 during a land grab a group of businessmen formed the Omaha Land Company and platted Scriptown

Scriptown

to reward Nebraska Territory

Nebraska Territory

legislators for their votes for statehood. After Baker v. Morton
Baker v. Morton
Baker v. Morton, , was the first "serious" court case to come out of Omaha, Nebraska Territory, prior to statehood. In the trial a claim jumper fought against local land barons to stake out a homestead in the area that was to become the city of Omaha...

in 1857, this type of land baron-like behavior was made illegal; by that time lots had been developed and Scriptown quickly became part of several neighborhoods, including Gifford Park

Gifford Park

Gifford Park is a historic neighborhood in midtown Omaha, Nebraska. It is roughly bounded by the North Freeway on the east, North 38th Street on the west, Dodge Street on the south and Cuming Street on the north. Its namesake park was added to the City parks network in 1916...

, Prospect Hill and the Near North Side

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...

.
The small city suffered greatly in the economic Panic of 1857

Panic of 1857

; however, the presence of the capital is credited for keeping the town alive. For several years Omaha enjoyed its status as the capitol of the Nebraska Territory

Nebraska Territory

, although not without contention. In January, 1858 a group of representatives illegally moved the Nebraska Territorial Legislature

Nebraska Territorial Legislature

The Nebraska Territorial Legislature was held from January 16, 1855 until 1865 in Omaha City, Nebraska Territory.- Slavery :In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Nebraska Territory, overturning the Missouri Compromise by allowing legislatures of the Nebraska and Kansas territories to...

to Florence

Florence, Nebraska

following a violent outburst at the State Capitol in Omaha. After repeatedly being dogged out of voting on the removal of the Capitol from Omaha, a skirmish pitted representatives from Nebraska City

Nebraska City, Nebraska

Nebraska City is a city in Otoe County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 7,228 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Otoe County...

, Florence, and other communities to convene outside of Omaha. Despite having a majority of members present for the vote to remove the Capitol and all agreeing, the "Florence Legislature" did not succeed in swaying the Nebraska Territory

Nebraska Territory

governor, and the Capitol remained in Omaha until 1867 when Nebraska gained statehood

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

. When Omaha eventually lost the capital to Lincoln

Lincoln, Nebraska

in 1867, the city was by then strong enough to maintain economic growth

Economic growth

In economics, economic growth is defined as the increasing capacity of the economy to satisfy the wants of goods and services of the members of society. Economic growth is enabled by increases in productivity, which lowers the inputs for a given amount of output. Lowered costs increase demand...

for a period of time.

Business

While Council Bluffs was chosen as the eastern terminus of the United States' first transcontinental railroad

First Transcontinental Railroad

in 1862 with the passage of the Pacific Railway Act

Pacific Railway Acts

The Pacific Railroad Acts were a series of acts of Congress that promoted the construction of the transcontinental railroad in the United States through authorizing the issuance of government bonds and the grants of land to railroad companies. The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 was the original act...

, construction on the railroad began west from Omaha to avoid the difficulties of constructing a bridge across the Missouri River

Missouri River

. This ensured that Omaha would become a major transportation center for the entire country in the years to come.

The Omaha Cable Tramway Company

Omaha Cable Tramway Company

The Cable Tramway Company of Omaha, Nebraska started in 1884 and ended in 1895. was the only cable car line ever built in Omaha, and had only four lines of tracks in operation.-History:...

was the only cable car

Cable car

A cable car is any of a variety of transportation systems relying on cables to pull vehicles along or lower them at a steady rate, or a vehicle on these systems.-Aerial lift:Aerial lifts where the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable:...

company that operated in Omaha. Founded in 1884, it operated cars until 1894.

1868 to 1899

Towns founded during this period include Benson

Benson, Nebraska

Benson is a historic neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. Now a pocket within North Omaha, Benson Place was originally platted in 1887 and was annexed into the City of Omaha in 1917.-History:...

, founded 1887, Chalco

Chalco, Nebraska

Chalco is a census-designated place in northern Sarpy County, Nebraska, United States, directly south of and adjacent to Omaha. The population was 10,736 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Chalco is located at ....

, founded ?; Dundee

Dundee, Nebraska

The Dundee-Happy Hollow Historic District is located west of Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. It covers the area between Leavenworth Street on the south, Hamilton Street on the north, Happy Hollow Boulevard on the west, and 46th Street on the east. The "heart" of Dundee is located at 50th and Underwood...

, founded 1880; Elkhorn

Elkhorn, Nebraska

Elkhorn was a city in Douglas County, Nebraska, United States and is a present-day neighborhood on the western edge of Omaha. The population was 6,062 at the 2000 census and was estimated by the Census Bureau at 8,192 in 2005...

, founded 1865; Papillion

Papillion, Nebraska

Papillion is a city in Sarpy County in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is a suburb to the southwest of neighboring Omaha, and is the county seat of Sarpy County. The population of Papillion was 18,894 at the 2010 census. In 2009, Papillion was named the #3 best place to live in the United States by...

, founded 1870; Ralston

Ralston, Nebraska

Ralston is a city in Douglas County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 6,314 at the 2000 census. Ralston is geographically surrounded by Omaha, Nebraska but is a separate city. Since Ralston's population is below 10,000, state law technically allows for Omaha to forcibly annex Ralston...

, founded 1888; South Omaha

South Omaha, Nebraska

South Omaha, Nebraska is a former city and current district of Omaha, Nebraska. During its initial development phase the town's nickname was "The Magic City" because of the seemingly overnight growth due to the rapid development of the Union Stockyards. Annexed by the City of Omaha in 1915, the...

, founded 1886, and; Millard

Millard, Nebraska

Millard is a former town and current neighborhood in southwest Omaha, Nebraska; the original downtown area is near 132nd St. and L St. After lengthy legal fights, the city of Millard was annexed by the city of Omaha in 1971...

, which was founded in 1871.

In 1856 the Omaha Claim Club

Omaha Claim Club

donated two lots for the congregation to build a church, and soon after Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Episcopalians and Roman Catholics followed. Catholics dedicated St. Philomena's Cathedral in 1856, and the entire Creighton family, including Edward

Edward Creighton

Edward Creighton was a prominent pioneer businessman in early Omaha, Nebraska. The brother of John A. Creighton, the Creightons were responsible for founding many institutions that were central to the growth and development of Omaha...

, his wife Mary, and his brother John

John A. Creighton

Count John A. Creighton was a pioneer businessman and philanthropist in Omaha, Nebraska who founded Creighton University...

greatly supported the Catholic Church. Pioneer banker Augustus Kountze

Augustus Kountze

Augustus Kountze was a pioneer banker, politician, philanthropist and railroad supporter in Omaha, Nebraska, Kountze, Texas and New York City...

called for and financially supported the founding of the first Lutheran church west of the Missouri River

Missouri River

, which was then called Immanuel Lutheran Church

Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church

Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church is located at 2650 Farnam Street in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. Organized on December 5, 1858 as Immanuel's Evangelical Lutheran Church, the church is thought to be the first Lutheran congregation organized west of the Missouri River...

and was located downtown. It was renamed after Kountze's father in the 1880s. In 1871 Omaha's Jewish community

Jews and Judaism in Omaha, Nebraska

The history of the Jews in Omaha, Nebraska goes back to the mid-1850s.The Jewish community in Omaha, Nebraska has made significant cultural, economic and social contributions to the city. The first Jewish settlers came to the city shortly after it was founded in 1856. The most numerous Jewish...

bought land to create its first cemetery.

In 1879 the trial of Standing Bear v. Crook was held at Fort Omaha

Fort Omaha

. During the trial General Crook testified on behalf of Standing Bear

Standing Bear

Standing Bear was a Ponca Native American chief who successfully argued in U.S...

, leading the court to recognize American Indians

Native Americans in the United States

as persons. This was the first time this occurred in a U.S. Federal Court

United States federal courts

The United States federal courts make up the judiciary branch of federal government of the United States organized under the United States Constitution and laws of the federal government.-Categories:...

.

In the 1880s, Omaha was said to be the fastest-growing city in the United States. After Irish-born James E. Boyd founded the first packing operation in Omaha

Boyd's Packing House (Omaha, Nebraska)

Boyd's Packing House was the first packing house in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded by Irish-born James Boyd in 1872, the plant processed pork initially. The plant was destroyed by fire January 18, 1880, and was rebuilt much larger. Boyd sold his plant in 1882....

in the 1870s, thousands of immigrants from central and southern Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

came to Omaha to work in the Union Stockyards

Union Stockyards (Omaha)

The Union Stockyards of Omaha, Nebraska were founded in 1883 in South Omaha by the Union Stock Yards Company of Omaha. A fierce rival of Chicago's Union Stock Yards, the Omaha Union Stockyards were third in the nation for production by 1890. In 1947 they were second to Chicago in the world...

and slaughterhouse

Slaughterhouse

A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...

s of South Omaha. They created Omaha's original ethnic neighborhoods, with names such as Sheelytown, Greek Town, Little Italy, Little Bohemia

Little Bohemia (Omaha, Nebraska)

Little Bohemia, or Bohemian Town, is a historic neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. Starting in the 1880s, Czech immigrants settled in this highly concentrated area, also called "Praha" or "Bohemian Town", bounded by South 10th Street on the east, South 16th Street on the west, Pierce Street on the...

and Little Poland. Other neighborhoods founded during this period included Bemis Park, Country Club, Dog Hollow and Field Club. The Near North Side

Near North Side (Omaha, Nebraska)

also developed greatly during this period, with high concentrations of Jews and Germans, and the first groups of African Americans.

Omaha's growth was accelerated in the 1880s by the rapid development of the Union Stockyards

Union Stockyards (Omaha)

and the meat packing industry

Meat packing industry

The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock...

in South Omaha

South Omaha, Nebraska

. The "Big Four" packers during this time were Armour

Armour Packing Plant (Omaha, Nebraska)

The Armour Packing Plant was a division of Armour and Company located at South 29th and Q Streets in South Omaha, Nebraska. The plant opened in 1897 and closed in 1968. The plant included several buildings, including a remarkable red brick administrative building, and a large, tall wall which...

, Wilson

Wilson Packing Plant (Omaha, Nebraska)

The Wilson Packing Plant was a division of the Wilson and Company meatpacking company located near South 27th and Y Streets in South Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in the 1890s, it closed in 1976. It occupied the area bounded by Washington Street, South 27th Street, W Street and South 30th Street...

, Cudahy

Cudahy Packing Plant (Omaha, Nebraska)

The Cudahy Packing Plant was a division of the Cudahy Packing Company located at South 36th and O Streets in South Omaha, Nebraska. The plant was opened in 1885 and closed in 1967. The plant included more than 20 buildings that were one to six stories tall, covering five square blocks...

, and Swift

Swift Packing Plant (Omaha, Nebraska)

The Swift Packing Plant was a division of Swift and Company located at South 27th and Q Streets in South Omaha, Nebraska. The plant was opened in 1887 and closed in 1969. It covered approximately eight square blocks and consisted of several brick and stone buildings, and was located in proximity to...

. There were several breweries established throughout the city during this period. The "Big Four" breweries in Omaha were the Storz, Krug

Krug Brewery

, Willow Springs and Metz

Metz Brewery

breweries.

Culture in Omaha grew extensively during this era. With the increase in population, many social, fraternal and advocacy organizations formed in Omaha in the late 19th century. The city's premier newspapers, the Omaha Bee
Omaha Bee
The Omaha Bee was a pioneer newspaper in Omaha, Nebraska founded on May 8, 1871, by Edward Rosewater, a Bohemian Jewish immigrant who supported abolition and fought in the Union Army. The Bee was regarded as a Republican newspaper, and early on featured Rosewater's opinions...

and the Omaha World-Herald
Omaha World-Herald
The Omaha World-Herald, based in Omaha, Nebraska, is the primary daily newspaper of Nebraska, as well as portions of southwest Iowa. For decades it circulated daily throughout Nebraska, and in parts of Kansas, South Dakota, Missouri, Colorado and Wyoming. In 2008, distribution was reduced to the...

, were founded in 1874 and 1885, respectively. Omaha was the location of the 1892 convention that formed the Populist Party, with its aptly titled Omaha Platform
Omaha Platform
The Omaha Platform was the party program adopted at the formative convention of the Populist Party held in Omaha, Nebraska on July 4 1892.-Significance of the Omaha Platform:The platform preamble was written by Ignatius L. Donnelly...

written by "radical farmers" from throughout the Midwest.

In 1894 the Ladies Axillary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians

Ancient Order of Hibernians

The Ancient Order of Hibernians is an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. Members must be Catholic and either Irish born or of Irish descent. Its largest membership is now in the United States, where it was founded in New York City in 1836...

, a nationalistic Irish-Catholic

Irish Catholic

Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...

fraternal organization

Fraternal and service organizations

A "fraternal organization" or "fraternity" is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. Please list college fraternities and sororities at List of social fraternities and sororities.-International:...

, was founded in Omaha. That year the city was also the site of the first African-American fair held in the United States. The following year the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben

Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben

The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben Foundation, , is a 501 civic and philanthropic organization in Omaha, Nebraska.-History:The organization was formed in 1895 in an attempt to keep the Nebraska State Fair in Omaha after receiving an ultimatum to provide entertainment "other than saloons, gambling houses and...

, a civic and philanthropic organization, was founded.

The Trans-Mississippi Exposition

Trans-Mississippi Exposition

was held in North Omaha

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...

from June 1 to November 1, 1898. The exposition drew more than 2 million visitors. It required the construction of attractions spanning 100 city blocks, including a shipworthy lagoon, bridges and magnificent (though temporary) buildings constructed of plaster and horsehair. The Exposition also featured a number of sideshows, including 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...

's Wild West Show and the Everleigh House. Run by Ada and Minna Everleigh, the house continued operating until 1900, when the two women moved to Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.

This period also saw the rise of formal crime in Omaha that presaged the arrival of Tom Dennison

Tom Dennison (political boss)

. The Sporting District was an area in downtown Omaha where many of the city's vice activities happened, including gambling, prostitution and grafting. Anna Wilson

Anna Wilson (madam)

Anna Wilson was a pioneer madam in Omaha, Nebraska. When she died she bequeathed her life savings to the City of Omaha, along with her 25-room mansion brothel, which was used as a hospital...

was an early madam who got her start in Omaha. She eventually opened a 25-room mansion brothel

Brothel

Brothels are business establishments where patrons can engage in sexual activities with prostitutes. Brothels are known under a variety of names, including bordello, cathouse, knocking shop, whorehouse, strumpet house, sporting house, house of ill repute, house of prostitution, and bawdy house...

at Ninth and Douglas Streets. She was the longtime romantic partner of Dan Allen

Dan Allen (gambler)

Dan Allen was an pioneer gambler in Omaha, Nebraska. He had great influence throughout the young city and was the long-time companion of Anna Wilson, the city's foremost madam for almost 40 years. Allen was influential throughout early Omaha.-About:Allen was born in New York and lived in Peoria,...

, a well-known and successful riverboat gambler in Omaha. The 1900 kidnaping of Edward Cudahy, Jr.

Edward Cudahy, Jr.

Edward Aloysius Cudahy, Jr. , also known as Eddie Cudahy, was kidnapped on December 18, 1900 in Omaha, Nebraska. Edward Cudahy, Sr. was the wealthy owner of the Cudahy Packing Company, which helped build the Omaha Stockyards to world renown through the 1950s. The kidnapping caused a national uproar...

in the Old Gold Coast

Old Gold Coast

neighborhood caused a national uproar. The perpetrator, Pat Crowe

Pat Crowe

Pat Crowe , aka Frank Roberts, was a criminal turned author and lecturer who was implicated in the 1900 kidnapping of Edward Cudahy, Jr. in Omaha. Crowe's criminal notoriety as a bank and train robber and as a kidnapper gained him fame across the United States when he began writing and speaking...

, became a nationally renowned author and lecturer on criminal justice reforms.

1900 to 1941

In the decades before World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Omaha went through a prosperous period marked with rapid development, cultural growth and massive growth of population throughout the city. African Americans were recruited for work by the meatpacking industry and came North in the Great Migration

Great Migration (African American)

The Great Migration was the movement of 6 million blacks out of the Southern United States to the Northeast, Midwest, and West from 1910 to 1970. Some historians differentiate between a Great Migration , numbering about 1.6 million migrants, and a Second Great Migration , in which 5 million or more...

in highest numbers after 1910. This was also the period of highest immigration by Polish workers. A number of new residents established communities throughout the city, older immigrant populations became further assimilated into the city's culture, and growth was accommodated in neighborhoods built to the north and south of Downtown Omaha

Downtown Omaha

. The early 1910s saw the growth of the city's Automobile Row

Automobile Row (Omaha, Nebraska)

Automobile Row was a commercial district in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. Early reports place the location of the strip as extending Eighteenth to Twenty-first Street along Farnam, while contemporary accounts place it from 20th to roughly 26th Street...

along Farnam Street.

The city suffered greatly during the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

. Federal intervention throughout the 1930s was critical for many residents. Work Progress Administration (WPA) and Civilian Conservation Corps

Civilian Conservation Corps

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men from relief families, ages 18–25. A part of the New Deal of President Franklin D...

(CCC) projects employed many men in projects to build infrastructure of parks and community facilities. All of the current city core was surrounded by farms by this period, with buildings such as the Ackerhurst Dairy Barn

Ackerhurst Dairy Barn

The Ackerhurst-Eipperhurst Dairy Barn is located at 15220 Military Road near Bennington, Nebraska. Built in 1935 by Adolf Otte in the Gambrel also known as Dutch Gambrel style, the Barn was designated a "Landmark" by the City of Omaha Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission on March 5, 2002, and...

indicative of that phase.

Sports

Omaha University was founded at the Redick Mansion

Redick Mansion

The Redick Mansion, also known as the Mayne Mansion and Redick Hall, was located at 3612 North 24th Street in North Omaha, Nebraska. It served as the first home of Omaha University, now known as the University of Nebraska at Omaha, from 1909 through 1917...

in the Kountze Place

Kountze Place

neighborhood in 1908, moving to their present campus in 1929. Their football team played on the Saratoga School

Saratoga School

Saratoga Elementary School is located at 2504 Meredith Avenue in the Saratoga neighborhood of North Omaha, Nebraska. Currently housing two major programs to nearly 300 students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade six, the school was originally founded in 1866 and was one of the first public...

field until 1952.

The Omaha Omahogs was a baseball team

Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...

started in 1900 as part of the new Western League

Western League (defunct minor league)

The Western League is a name given to several circuits in American minor league baseball. Its earliest progenitor, which existed from 1885 to 1899, was the predecessor of the American League...

. Their name changed to the Omaha Indians in 1902. In 1904 the team was fielded as the Omaha Packers, and in 1906 as the Omaha Rourkes. They kept that name until 1921, when the name changed to the Omaha Buffaloes, which stuck until 1928 when it changed to the Omaha Crickets. In 1930 the team changed its name back to the Omaha Packers, and kept that name until 1935, when they moved to Council Bluffs and subsequently folded. A new team called the Omaha Robin Hoods formed in 1936, but moved to Rock Island, Illinois

Rock Island, Illinois

Rock Island is the county seat of Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 40,884 at the 2010 census. Located on the Mississippi River, it is one of the Quad Cities, along with neighboring Moline, East Moline, and the Iowa cities of Davenport and Bettendorf. The Quad Cities...

late in the year. The team reformed shortly thereafter as the Omaha Cardinals

Omaha Cardinals

The Omaha Cardinals was the name of the minor league baseball club based in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, from 1947 through 1959. It played in the Class A Western League through 1954 and in the AAA American Association from 1955-59 as an affiliate of its major league namesake, the St...

, remaining as such for several years.

Greek Town riot

New immigrants jostled for position with those who had arrived earlier and competition for jobs and place was intense. Many immigrant ethnic groups were intensely territorial. In 1909 a mob of 1,000 ethnic white men from South Omaha almost lynched a Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

man for supposedly being involved with a "white

White people

White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...

" woman. After their efforts were thwarted, the mob grew and swarmed into Greek Town, where they destroyed homes, businesses and a school; beat Greek immigrants; and destroyed the area by burning it. No person was indicted for any aspect of the riot.

Easter Sunday Tornado

In 1913 a devastating tornado ripped through Omaha, becoming known as the Easter Sunday tornado. It killed more than 100 people, destroyed hundreds of homes, and cut a long swathe through the city, including the heart of North Omaha's Jewish and African-American commercial district, which suffered the most damage.

Omaha Race Riot

Social tensions simmered in the postwar years, as the nation adjusted to returning veterans, competition for jobs, and fears about labor unrest. After a summer of race riots in numerous industrial cities across the country, Omaha was tense, too. The newspaper had inflamed feelings with sensational stories accusing black men of crimes. The black population increased dramatically from 1910-1920 when they were recruited to work by the stockyards. When many black men worked as strikebreakers, resentment by other working-class, ethnic white men rose against them. The "independent political boss" Tom Dennison was later implicated of contributing to racial tensions in an effort to turn out a reform mayor.

The spark of the Omaha Race Riot of 1919 occurred when a black man

Black Man

Black Man is a 2007 science fiction novel by Richard Morgan. It won the 2008 Arthur C Clarke Award. It was published as Thirteen in North America. It is not part of the Takeshi Kovacs universe by the same author....

named Will Brown was arrested and accused of raping a young white woman from South Omaha. A mob of mostly white ethnic young men marched from South Omaha (rallied and led by a henchman of Dennison's) and converged on the Douglas County Courthouse

Douglas County Courthouse (Omaha)

The present Douglas County Courthouse is located at 1701 Farnam Street in Omaha, Nebraska. Built in 1912, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Notable events at the courthouse include two lynchings and the city's first Civil Rights Era sit-in protest...

, where the jail was. In the evening the crowd grew larger and set the courthouse on fire, forcing police to turn Brown over to them. They lynched him, hanging him from a lamppost on the south side of the courthouse, then dragging his body through the streets and burning it. The mob was mostly European-born immigrants and ethnic European American

European American

A European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...

s. The mayor attempted to intervene and was also hanged; he was saved only by a last-minute rescue by federal agents. The city had to ask for help from Federal troops to quell the disorder, and their arrival was delayed because of a series of communication problems. The commander stationed troops in South Omaha to prevent more mobs from forming, and in North Omaha to protect the blacks.

In 1998 Max Sparber's play about the events was produced by the Blue Barn Theatre

Blue Barn Theatre

The Blue Barn Theatre, located at 614 S 11th Street in Omaha, Nebraska, is a nationally recognized theater.Begun in 1989, the theater was founded by a group of recent graduates from the theater program at Purchase College: Kevin Lawler, Hughston Walkinshaw, and Nils Haaland...

at the Douglas County Courthouse, the site of the riot. It was performed in several other cities as well.

Social and cultural developments

Job's Daughters International, a Masonic youth organization for girls, was founded in Omaha in 1920. Aleph Zadik Aleph

Aleph Zadik Aleph

The Grand Order of the Aleph Zadik Aleph is an international youth-led fraternal organization for Jewish teenagers, founded in 1924 and currently existing as the male wing of BBYO Inc., an independent non-profit organization...

, the men's Order of the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, began in 1923 as a college fraternity

Fraternities and sororities

Fraternities and sororities are fraternal social organizations for undergraduate students. In Latin, the term refers mainly to such organizations at colleges and universities in the United States, although it is also applied to analogous European groups also known as corporations...

.

In 1925 Malcolm X

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...

was born (as Malcolm Little) at 3446 Pinkney Street

Malcolm X House Site

The Malcolm X House Site located at 3448 Pinkney Street in North Omaha, Nebraska, marks the place where Malcolm X first lived with his family. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and is also on the Nebraska list of heritage sites.-History:Malcolm Little was born...

in North Omaha. His minister father moved the family to Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...

when Malcolm was a year old after threats on their lives from the Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...

because of his father's activism.

The Nebraska chapter of the German-American National Alliance (GANA) was founded and led by Valentin J. Peter

Valentin J. Peter

Valentin J. Peter was a Bavarian-born publisher of a German language newspaper called the Omaha Tribüne and the president of the Nebraska chapter of the National German-American Alliance.-About:...

, the publisher and editor of the German language

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

Omaha Tribune in 1907. By the 1920s the organization was working closely with breweries throughout the city to challenge the complete political and social assimilation of German immigrants in Nebraska. During the same period Peter was buying other German language newspapers across the U.S. The GANA folded in the late 1920s; Peter's business, the Interstate Publishing Company, still operates in Omaha today.

Tom Dennison

The reign of Omaha political boss Tom Dennison ended in 1933. For more than thirty-five years, he controlled gambling, drinking, prostitution and other criminal interests throughout Omaha, particularly in his seedy Sporting District. He controlled bootlegging operations in Little Italy through the Prohibition Era. He was closely allied with James Dahlman

James Dahlman

, Omaha's only eight-term mayor. Dennison was implicated in agitation of groups related to the Omaha Race Riot of 1919.

World War II

In 1945 the Enola Gay

Enola Gay

Enola Gay is a Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber, named after Enola Gay Tibbets, mother of the pilot, then-Colonel Paul Tibbets. On August 6, 1945, during the final stages of World War II, it became the first aircraft to drop an atomic bomb as a weapon of war...

and Bockscar

Bockscar

Bockscar, sometimes called Bock's Car or Bocks Car, is the name of the United States Army Air Forces B-29 bomber that dropped the "Fat Man" nuclear weapon over Nagasaki on 9 August 1945, the second atomic weapon used against Japan....

were two of 536 B-29 Superfortress

B-29 Superfortress

The B-29 Superfortress is a four-engine propeller-driven heavy bomber designed by Boeing that was flown primarily by the United States Air Forces in late-World War II and through the Korean War. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft to see service during World War II...

es manufactured at the Glenn L. Martin

Glenn L. Martin Company

The Glenn L. Martin Company was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company that was founded by the aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many important aircraft for the defense of the United States and its allies, especially during World War II and the Cold War...

Aircraft Factory (now Offutt Air Force Base

Offutt Air Force Base

Offutt Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force installation near Omaha, and lies adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S...

) in suburban Bellevue.

That same year a Japanese fire balloon

Fire balloon

A , or Fu-Go, was a weapon launched by Japan during World War II. A hydrogen balloon with a load varying from a incendiary to one antipersonnel bomb and four incendiary devices attached, they were designed as a cheap weapon intended to make use of the jet stream over the Pacific Ocean and wreak...

exploded over Dundee

Dundee, Nebraska

. The incident was part of a large World War II

World War II

campaign by the Japanese military to cause mass chaos in American cities. The story was suppressed by the American military until after the war was over, as no one was hurt in the explosion.

Civil Rights Movement

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...

activism

Activism

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...

in Omaha began in 1912 with the formation of a local chapter of 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...

. It continued through the coming years under the influence of local leaders 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...

, George Wells Parker

George Wells Parker

George Wells Parker was an African American political activist and writer who co-founded the Hamitic League of the World....

and Harry Haywood

Harry Haywood

Harry Haywood was a leading figure in both the Communist Party of the United States and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . He contributed major theory to Marxist thinking on the national question of African Americans in the United States...

. Other organizations formed such as the Citizens Civic Committee for Civil Liberties

Civil liberties

Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...

(4CL) and the DePorres Club

DePorres Club

The DePorres Club was an early pioneer organization in the Civil Rights Movement in Omaha, Nebraska, whose "goals and tactics foreshadowed the efforts of civil rights activists throughout the nation in the 1960s." The club was an affiliate of CORE.-History:...

at Creighton University

Creighton University

Creighton University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1878, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The university is accredited by...

in the 1940s. Mainstream organizations including the Urban League of Nebraska

National Urban League

The National Urban League , formerly known as the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, is a nonpartisan civil rights organization based in New York City that advocates on behalf of African Americans and against racial discrimination in the United States. It is the oldest and largest...

also supported the movement, as did the CIO union in the meatpacking plants. Their successes led to the end of redlining

Redlining

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...

and discriminatory neighborhood covenants, as well as the implementation of a school integration

Racial integration

Racial integration, or simply integration includes desegregation . In addition to desegregation, integration includes goals such as leveling barriers to association, creating equal opportunity regardless of race, and the development of a culture that draws on diverse traditions, rather than merely...

plan. In the late 1960s, the student-led Black Association for Nationalism Through Unity

Black Association for Nationalism Through Unity

The Black Association for Nationalism Through Unity, or BANTU, was a youth activism group focused on black power and nationalism in Omaha, Nebraska in the 1960s....

(BANTU) adopted a more militant posture and got into confrontations with police following the shooting of a youth in the housing project.

1950 to 1999

In 1950, the NCAA moved the College World Series

College World Series

(CWS) to Rosenblatt Stadium, (then known as Omaha Municipal Stadium). Started in 1947, the tournament was held at Kalamazoo, Michigan

Kalamazoo, Michigan

The area on which the modern city stands was once home to Native Americans of the Hopewell culture, who migrated into the area sometime before the first millennium. Evidence of their early residency remains in the form of a small mound in downtown's Bronson Park. The Hopewell civilization began to...

in 1947 and 1948, and Wichita, Kansas

Wichita, Kansas

Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...

in 1949. Since 1950 the series has been held annually at the Rosenblatt, despite bids from several cities to move the CWS to another venue.

More than 6,000,000 fans have attended CWS games in Omaha. The City of Omaha has regularly expanded and renovated the stadium to accommodate fans, teams, and media covering the event. ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

televised every game of the event from 1980 through 1987. ESPN started coverage again when the championship series went to a best-of-3 format in 2003. From 1988 through 2002, CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

televised the championship game: a winner-take-all single game.

In 1955 the Omaha Cardinals joined the AAA American Association

American Association (20th century)

The American Association was a minor league baseball league at the Triple-A level of baseball in the United States from to and to . Together with the International League, it contested the Junior World Series which determined the championship team in minor league baseball, at least for the...

, and thrived until the late 1950s. That team folded in 1959. In 1961-62 the Omaha Dodgers

Omaha Dodgers

The Omaha Dodgers were a minor league baseball affiliate, based in Omaha, Nebraska, of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Class AAA American Association in 1961-62. The team was Omaha's second AAA and American Association franchise, succeeding the Omaha Cardinals of 1955-59.The Omaha Dodgers were the...

were the farm team for the Los Angeles Dodgers

Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are a professional baseball team based in Los Angeles, California. The Dodgers are members of Major League Baseball's National League West Division. Established in 1883, the team originated in Brooklyn, New York, where it was known by a number of nicknames before becoming...

. After the city went six years without a professional team, the Omaha Royals

Omaha Royals

The Omaha Storm Chasers are a United States minor league baseball team currently based in the Omaha suburb of Papillion, Nebraska. The team is the Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals major league club and has been a member of the expanded Pacific Coast League since 1998. From 1969 to 1997,...

started in 1969. They have continued since.

By the 1960s, the Omaha Stockyards had become the world's largest livestock processing center. They surpassed Chicago's Union Stock Yards

Union Stock Yards

The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meat packing district in Chicago for over a century starting in 1865. The district was operated by a group of railroad companies that acquired swampland, and turned it to a centralized processing area...

in the late 1950s. Organized labor's hard won gains came undone as the industry restructured in the 1980s and 1990s. Improved truck and boxcar refrigeration capabilities encouraged the slaughtering process to move closer to feedlots. Plants were moved to rural areas and hired non-union labor. All centralized stockyard activity declined and the Omaha Stockyards were closed in 1999. New generations of immigrants are employed in meatpacking; now they are mostly Hispanic from Mexico, and Central and South America.

Weather was severe in 1975. In January, the city was paralyzed by a devastating blizzard

Blizzard

A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...

that dumped Eleven to nineteen inches of snow on the city . In May the city was hit by a tornado. The Omaha Tornado of 1975

Omaha Tornado of 1975

The 1975 Omaha tornado is a violent tornado that hit the Omaha, Nebraska metropolitan area. It was part of a two-day outbreak that struck the Midwest and Southern United States on May 6–7, 1975, ending in the very early hours of May 8 across Louisiana. South Dakota, Iowa, Texas and Mississippi were...

was a F4

Fujita scale

The Fujita scale , or Fujita-Pearson scale, is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation...

tornado

Tornado

A tornado is a violent, dangerous, rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as a twister or a cyclone, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology in a wider...

that ripped through neighborhoods along 72nd Street on May 6, 1975, killing 3 and injuring 133. In terms of damage, it was the most costly tornado in American history to that date, with damage estimates between $250 million and $500 million.

In 1988 Omaha demolished a downtown district of brick warehouses called "Jobbers Canyon", listed in 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...

. The delisting and demolition of Jobbers Canyon made way for the campus headquarters of ConAgra Foods

ConAgra Foods

ConAgra Foods, Inc. is an American packaged foods company. ConAgra's products are available in supermarkets, as well as restaurants and food service establishments. Its headquarters are located in Omaha, Nebraska...

and the city's Heartland of America Park. The loss of the buildings also galvanized citizens to pay more attention to the historic fabric of the city.

2000 to present

On August 20, 2001, Nebraska Methodist Health Systems demolished the Indian Hills Theater

Indian Hills Theater

The Indian Hills Theater in Omaha, Nebraska, USA, was built in 1962 as a movie theater showcasing films in the Cinerama wide-screen format. The theater's screen was the largest of its type in the United States...

, a "super-Cinerama

Cinerama

Cinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...

" movie theater

Movie theater

A movie theater, cinema, movie house, picture theater, film theater is a venue, usually a building, for viewing motion pictures ....

containing the largest indoor screen of its type in the world. The location of the Indian Hills Theater now serves as a parking lot

Parking lot

A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....

.

The downtown area has experienced a resurgence in the late 1990s and early first decade of the 21st century, with several billion dollars of new construction. The new developments include the Qwest Center Omaha

Qwest Center Omaha

CenturyLink Center is an arena and convention center facility in the North Downtown neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. The 1.1 million ft² facility has an 18,300-seat arena, a 194,000-ft² exhibition hall and 62,000 ft² of meeting space....

arena/convention center complex, the Holland Performing Arts Center

Holland Performing Arts Center

The Holland Performing Arts Center is a performing arts facility located on 13th and Douglas Streets in downtown Downtown Omaha, Nebraska, Nebraska in the United States; it opened in October 2005. Designed by Omaha architectural firm HDR, Inc...

, the Gallup University

The Gallup Organization

The Gallup Organization, is primarily a research-based performance-management consulting company. Some of Gallup's key practice areas are - Employee Engagement, Customer Engagement and Well-Being. Gallup has over 40 offices in 27 countries. World headquarters are in Washington, D.C. Operational...

campus, The River City Star
River City Star
The River City Star is a passenger excursion riverboat that sails on the Missouri River in the United States between Omaha, Nebraska, and Council Bluffs, Iowa. The boat is docked at Miller's Landing in the NoDo area of Downtown Omaha and is registered in Nebraska for taxes and alcohol licensing...

riverboat landing, National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

Midwest Region headquarters, new high-rise headquarters towers for First National Bank of Omaha

First National of Nebraska

First National of Nebraska is a privately held, interstate bank holding company based in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. The largest banking subsidiaries are First National Bank of Omaha, First National Bank Colorado, First National Bank Kansas and First National Bank South Dakota. First National of...

and Union Pacific Railroad

Union Pacific Railroad

The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....

and hundreds of condominium

Condominium

A condominium, or condo, is the form of housing tenure and other real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate is individually owned while use of and access to common facilities in the piece such as hallways, heating system, elevators, exterior areas is executed under legal rights...

units. The First National Bank of Omaha tower is the tallest building between Denver

Denver, Colorado

The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...

and Minneapolis

Minneapolis, Minnesota

Minneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...

, surpassing its rival tallest

One Kansas City Place

One Kansas City Place is the tallest building located in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, bounded by 12th Street to the north, Baltimore Avenue to the west, and Main Street to the east...

in Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri

Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...

by one foot.

City historic landmarks

Omaha has designated numerous historic structures and sites as city landmarks, including some that date from before the city's founding. Some sites are also recognized as of national importance and listed 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...

. The site of Fort Lisa and Cabanne's Trading Post

Cabanne's Trading Post

, both located in the city's far northside, were first occupied in the early 19th century. Landmarks from the mid-19th century include Culter's Park, or "Winter Quarters" located in Florence, and Fontenelle's Post

Fontenelle's Post

located south of the city. Downtown has historical plaques marking the first building in Omaha and the first burial. The city has designated numerous landmarks in North Omaha, including the former town of Saratoga

Saratoga, Nebraska Territory

. South Omaha, Dundee

Dundee, Nebraska

and Benson

Benson, Nebraska

Benson is a historic neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. Now a pocket within North Omaha, Benson Place was originally platted in 1887 and was annexed into the City of Omaha in 1917.-History:...

also have numerous historical landmarks. Kountze Park

Kountze Park (Omaha, Nebraska)

Kountze Park is an urban public park located at 1920 Pinkney Street in the Kountze Place neighborhood of North Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States, and is historically significant as the site of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition of 1898.-About:...

was the site of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition

Trans-Mississippi Exposition

Fates of historic sites

The city's oldest historic sites may be Capitol Hill, the site of Central High School

Omaha Central High School

Omaha Central High School, originally known as Omaha High School, was founded in 1859.The current building, located in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska, was designed by John Latenser, Sr. and built between 1900 and 1912...

, where the city's founders held a picnic on July 4, 1854, and Miller's Landing, where the Lone Tree Ferry

Lone Tree Ferry

brought settlers over from Iowa. There is a plaque commemorating Capitol Hill, and Miller's Landing was recently reclaimed and renovated by the city. Prospect Hill Cemetery, where many of the city's founders are buried, stands intact in North Omaha. One of the original parks in the city was Jefferson Square

Jefferson Square (Omaha)

Jefferson Square was the last of three original public parks extant in Omaha, Nebraska. Bounded by North 15th, 16th, Chicago and Cass Streets, the park was dedicated November 25, 1865. It was razed by the city March 18, 1969 to make way for the construction of Interstate 480 in Downtown Omaha...

, bounded by 15th, 16th, Farnam and Douglas Streets. It was the location of the first school and first hot air balloon ride in Omaha, as well as the city's Market House

Market House (Omaha)

The Market House was a fresh produce outlet on Capitol Avenue from North 12th to North 14th Avenues in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Built by the Government of Omaha in 1893 in the city's Jefferson Square, the Market House was demolished in 1913...

, which was razed 20 years after it was built. The park, which was dedicated November 25, 1865, was razed by the city on March 18, 1969.

From the 1950s through the 1980s, Omaha's urban renewal

Urban renewal

Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...

program included demolishing many notable structures. One notable site was the Bee Building

Bee Building

The Bee Building, later called the Peters Trust Building and finally the Insurance Building, was located at 17th and Farnam Streets in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. It was an architectural landmark in early Omaha that was built in 1888 by newspaper editor Edward Rosewater to house his Omaha Bee...

at 17th and Farnam. It was built in 1888 and demolished in 1966, along with the Old City Hall

Old City Hall (Omaha)

The Old City Hall, also known as the Red Castle, located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska was located at the corner of 18th and Farnam Streets. Completed in 1890, the building was demolished 1966 after controversy erupted over landmark preservation in the city...

. The Old Post Office

Old Post Office (Omaha)

The Old Post Office was located at 16th and Dodge Streets in Omaha, Nebraska. Built in 1898, the building was demolished in 1966. During the process of being demolished the building, along with the Old City Hall, became a rallying force for historic preservation in Omaha.-About:The Old Post Office...

at 16th and Dodge Streets was built in 1898 and demolished in 1966. The demolitions of this building and the Old City Hall were highly controversial because of the historical significance of the buildings, serving to catalyze the landmarks preservation movement

Omaha Landmarks

This article covers Landmarks in Omaha, Nebraska designated by the City of Omaha Landmark Heritage Preservation Commission. In addition, it includes structures or buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and those few designated as National Historic Landmarks, indicating their...

in the city. Hotel Fontenelle

Hotel Fontenelle

Hotel Fontenelle was an upscale commercial hotel once located at 1806 Douglas Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Designed by noted architect Thomas Rogers Kimball in the Late Gothic Revival style, it was built in 1914 and demolished in 1983...

was an upscale hotel downtown that was designed by local architect Thomas Rogers Kimball

Thomas Rogers Kimball

Thomas Rogers Kimball was an American architect in Omaha, Nebraska. An architect-in-chief of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha in 1898, he served as national President of the American Institute of Architects from 1918–1920 and from 1919-1932 served on the Nebraska State Capitol...

and built in 1913. After holding it vacant for almost twenty years, owners tore the building down in 1983. Nearby Jobber's Canyon

Jobbers Canyon Historic District

, also located downtown, was a large industrial and warehouse area comprising 24 buildings. In 1989 another controversial demolition occurred when the owners took all 24 buildings down. This represented the loss of the largest nationally registered historic district

Historic district

A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries, historic districts receive legal protection from development....

to date.

The birthplace of Malcolm X

Malcolm X House Site

, located in North Omaha, was torn down in 1965. The Gerald R. Ford birthsite

Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens

The Gerald R. Ford Birthsite and Gardens in Omaha, Nebraska marks the location of the house at 3202 Woolworth Avenue where U.S. President Gerald R. Ford lived for a couple of weeks after his birth in July 1913...

at 3202 Woolworth Avenue was the location of the former president's birth in 1913. The house was demolished after a fire in 1971.

The Metz Brewery

Metz Brewery

brewery was among the first in the Nebraska Territory

Nebraska Territory

, opening in 1856. Its facility lasted in Downtown Omaha

Downtown Omaha

until 1920, when Prohibition forced the company to fold. Willow Springs Distilling Company

Willow Springs Distilling Company

Willow Springs Distilling Company was a brewery located in south Omaha, Nebraska. Part of a national conglomerate, Willow Springs was Nebraska's first distillery, and grew to become the nation’s third largest distillery before the Great Depression...

began brewing in the 1860s and built a major facility near Downtown Omaha in the 1880s. That building was demolished in the 1970s. The company that became the Storz Brewery was founded in Omaha in 1863. Storz built a major brewery along 16th Street in East Omaha with 15 buildings. The majority of them were demolished by the 1990s, with only a few standing still today. In 1894 the Krug Brewery

Krug Brewery

in South Omaha built a brewery that was bought by Falstaff

Falstaff

Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is...

. It was completely demolished by 1996. Frederick Krug

Frederick Krug

Frederick Krug was the German-immigrant founder of the Frederick Krug Brewing Company of Omaha, Nebraska. Krug is often cited as one of the founders of Omaha...

, the founder of the brewery, started Krug Park

Krug Park (Omaha)

Krug Park was an amusement park located at 2936 North 52nd Street in the Benson neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, USA at the turn of the 20th century. In 1930, Krug Park was the site of the worst roller coaster accident in the nation up to that time.- History :Charles Tietz, an early Omaha...

at 2936 North 52nd Street in Benson

Benson, Nebraska

Benson is a historic neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. Now a pocket within North Omaha, Benson Place was originally platted in 1887 and was annexed into the City of Omaha in 1917.-History:...

to advertise and sell his label. In 1930 the worst roller coaster

Roller coaster

The roller coaster is a popular amusement ride developed for amusement parks and modern theme parks. LaMarcus Adna Thompson patented the first coasters on January 20, 1885...

accident in American history up to that point occurred at Krug Park, and 10 years later the park closed. It was redeveloped as a traditional public park in 1955. Another amusement park named Peony Park

Peony Park

Peony Park was an amusement park located at North 78th and Cass Streets in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1919, over the next seventy-five years the park included a pool, beach and waterslide, a ballroom that billed itself as "1 acre under one roof," an open air dance area for 3000 dancers,...

, located at 78th and Cass Streets, was closed and demolished in the 1990s.

In 1938 the federal government built the Logan Fontenelle Housing Project

Logan Fontenelle Housing Project

The Logan Fontenelle Housing Project was a historic public housing site located from 20th to 24th Streets, and from Paul to Seward Streets in the historic Near North Side neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It was built in 1938 by the Public Works Administration for housing working...

to aid low-income working families. Job losses and demographic changes turned them into centers of families' needing welfare. Years of neglect added to problems. With changes in ideas about public housing, the city took down the buildings in 1995. They are redeveloping the area with mixed-income housing and a variety of supporting uses.

The Omaha Stockyards

Union Stockyards (Omaha)

were established in 1883, becoming the world's largest stockyards

Meat packing industry

The meat packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock...

by the late 1950s and together with meatpacking, employing half the city's workers. Soon after, the industry started restructuring and shifting work to rural areas. Huge job losses resulted in the city. After decades of decline, the stockyards were finally closed in 1999. All structures were demolished except for the Livestock Exchange Building

Livestock Exchange Building (Omaha)

The Livestock Exchange Building in Omaha, Nebraska was built in 1926 at 4920 South 30 Street in South Omaha. It was designed as the centerpiece of the Union Stockyards by architect George Prinz and built by Peter Kiewit and Sons in the Romanesque revival and Northern Italian Renaissance Revival...

. Its significance was recognized when it was listed 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...

. The city redeveloped the building in a complex public-private partnership for mixed use, with more than 100 apartments, community and commercial space. The area has become the site of a new campus for the community college. It will also be redeveloped for other commercial, medical and light industrial uses.

The Ak-Sar-Ben 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...

track was built in 1920, and the arena was constructed in 1929. Horse racing ended there in 1995. Everything on the site, including buildings and the grandstands, was demolished by 2005. The Indian Hills Theater

Indian Hills Theater

was an example of late-century architecture in the city that was demolished in recent times. Located at 78th and Dodge Street

Dodge Street

Dodge Street is the main east–west street in Omaha, Nebraska. Numbered as U.S. Route 6, the street starts in Downtown Omaha and connects to West Dodge Road around 78th Street. From there it continues westward through the remainder of Douglas County....

s, it was built in 1962 as the largest and last Super-Cinerama

Cinerama

in the U.S.

Historic neighborhoods of Omaha

Historic neighborhoods in Omaha alphabetical order
Name	Founded	Location	Notes
Bemis Park		North of Cuming between North 34th and Lincoln Boulevard Lincoln Boulevard (Omaha) Lincoln Boulevard in Omaha, Nebraska was built in the early 1890s as part of the city's boulevard system under control of the Board of Park Commissioners...	An upscale development designed to offer local doctors and teachers a nice place to live.
Benson Benson, Nebraska Benson is a historic neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. Now a pocket within North Omaha, Benson Place was originally platted in 1887 and was annexed into the City of Omaha in 1917.-History:...	1887	North-central Omaha near 60th and Maple Streets	Home to Krug Park Krug Park (Omaha) Krug Park was an amusement park located at 2936 North 52nd Street in the Benson neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, USA at the turn of the 20th century. In 1930, Krug Park was the site of the worst roller coaster accident in the nation up to that time.- History :Charles Tietz, an early Omaha... from 1900 to 1930s, which was the location of the nation's worst roller coaster disaster.
Boys Town Boys Town, Nebraska Boys Town is a village in Douglas County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 818 at the 2000 census. Boys Town is a suburb of Omaha.The village of Boys Town was established as the headquarters of the Boys Town organization, also known as "Father Flanagan's Boys' Home", founded by Father...	1917	Near 132nd and Dodge Streets	This incorporated village Village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New... is the famous institution which originally bore the same name.
Brown Park Brown Park Brown Park is located at 5708 South 15th Street in the Brown Park neighborhood of South Omaha, Nebraska. The baseball field at the park is more than 100 years old, and hosted games played by Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and others.- Baseball :...			The neighborhood was once home to much of Omaha's Mexican Mexicans in Omaha, Nebraska Mexicans in Omaha are people living in Omaha, Nebraska, United States who have citizenship or ancestral connections to the country Mexico. They have contributed to the economic, social and cultural well-being of Omaha for more than a century. Mexicans, or Latino people identified incorrectly as... and Czech Czechs in Omaha, Nebraska Czechs in Omaha, Nebraska have made significant contributions to the political, social and cultural development of the city since the first immigrants arrived in 1868.-About:In the 1860s many Czechs, primarily from Bohemia and Moravia, immigrated to Nebraska... communities.
Casey's Row			A small neighborhood of Black porters who worked for the local railroads Railroads in Omaha Railroads in Omaha, Nebraska have been integral to the growth and development of the city, the state of Nebraska, the Western United States and the entire United States... .
Chinatown	1910s	Formerly situated in the vicinity of 12th and Douglas Streets.	Centering on the On Leong Tong based at 111 North 12th, another institution was King Fong's Cantonese at 315 South 16th Street that was opened in 1921 by Gin Ah Chin with elaborate furnishings imported from Hong Kong.
Country Club	1925	50th to 56th Streets, from Corby to Seward Streets	Added to 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... in 2004.
Dog Hollow
Dundee Dundee, Nebraska The Dundee-Happy Hollow Historic District is located west of Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. It covers the area between Leavenworth Street on the south, Hamilton Street on the north, Happy Hollow Boulevard on the west, and 46th Street on the east. The "heart" of Dundee is located at 50th and Underwood...	1880	Near 50th and Dodge Streets.	Annexed Annexation Annexation is the de jure incorporation of some territory into another geo-political entity . Usually, it is implied that the territory and population being annexed is the smaller, more peripheral, and weaker of the two merging entities, barring physical size... by Omaha in 1915, which was fought until 1917.
East Omaha East Omaha, Nebraska East Omaha is a geographically designated community located in Omaha, Nebraska. Located three miles from downtown Omaha, East Omaha is the site of Eppley Airfield, Omaha’s main airport, and Carter Lake...	1854	East of Florence Boulevard Florence Boulevard Florence Boulevard, originally known as the Prettiest Mile in Omaha Boulevard, is a boulevard-type north-south street in the north Omaha, Nebraska. With the start of construction in 1892, Florence Boulevard was the first roadway in Omaha's boulevard system designed by Horace Cleveland... , north of Locust Street, south and west of 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... .	The first annexation to the city in 1854 and home to Omaha's Carter Lake Park.
Field Club
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...	1846		The original 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... predates the city of Omaha. A temple Temple (LDS Church) In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time... of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is now located at Winter Quarters Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple The Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple is the 104th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is located in Florence, now a neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, USA, and formerly an independent city.-About:... .
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...
Old Gold Coast
Gophertown			Before the city of Omaha extended north beyond Lake Street, mostly Irish settlers inhabited an area known as Gophertown, located north of Saratoga and south of Florence.
Greek Town			Located in the heart of South Omaha.
Keystone		N.72nd to N.90th, Maple st to Fort/Military Rd	Keystone Trail starts at Democracy Park in Keystone which runs across the City.
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...	1883		A suburban development for affluent business owners from the city; once reachable only via streetcar.
Little Bohemia Little Bohemia (Omaha, Nebraska) Little Bohemia, or Bohemian Town, is a historic neighborhood in Omaha, Nebraska. Starting in the 1880s, Czech immigrants settled in this highly concentrated area, also called "Praha" or "Bohemian Town", bounded by South 10th Street on the east, South 16th Street on the west, Pierce Street on the...		South of downtown and west of Little Italy	The location of many Czech immigrants in Omaha Czechs in Omaha, Nebraska Czechs in Omaha, Nebraska have made significant contributions to the political, social and cultural development of the city since the first immigrants arrived in 1868.-About:In the 1860s many Czechs, primarily from Bohemia and Moravia, immigrated to Nebraska... in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Little Italy		South of downtown, east of Little Bohemia.	Located next to Little Bohemia.
Little Poland
Midtown
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...	1899		Developed around the turn of the 20th century after losing the opportunity to host the 1898 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... .
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...	1916		Located south of the Minne Lusa Water Works.
Morton Meadows Morton Meadows Morton Meadows is a historic neighborhood located in Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. The neighborhood lies between Center and Leavenworth Streets, from 42nd Street to Saddle Creek, and is sometimes referred to by its central boulevard, Twin Ridge...
Near North Side 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...		Cuming Street on the south, Locust Street on the north, 14th Avenue on the east and the North Freeway North Freeway North Freeway may refer to:North Freeway North Freeway *North Freeway... on the west.	Located immediately north of downtown. It was once a deeply integrated community, with ethnic, racial and socioeconomic mixing. From approximately 1920 through the 1950s, it boasted a booming African American African American African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States... cultural scene.
North Omaha 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...			A racially diverse area north of downtown Omaha with a rich historical History of North Omaha, Nebraska The history of North Omaha, Nebraska includes wildcat banks, ethnic enclaves, race riots 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... social, cultural, economic, architectural Architecture of North Omaha, Nebraska Architecture in Omaha, Nebraska represents a range of cultural influences and social changes occurring from the late 19th century to present.- Background :... , and religious legacy.
Old Market			A district in downtown Omaha that historically housed Omaha's fresh food vendors and warehousing district.
Saratoga	1856		A school, library, and homes once occupied this boom and bust Boom and bust A credit boom-bust cycle is an episode characterized by a sustained increase in several economics indicators followed by a sharp and rapid contraction. Commonly the boom is driven by a rapid expansion of credit to the private sector accompanied with rising prices of commodities and stock market index... town.
Sheelytown		South Omaha	Primarily Irish immigrant neighborhood; Eastern European immigrants also settled there.
South Omaha South Omaha, Nebraska South Omaha, Nebraska is a former city and current district of Omaha, Nebraska. During its initial development phase the town's nickname was "The Magic City" because of the seemingly overnight growth due to the rapid development of the Union Stockyards. Annexed by the City of Omaha in 1915, the...			Formerly a separate city, it was annexed into Omaha in 1915. Area of European immigrant settlement. More recently, area of Hispanic immigrant and descendant settlement.
S. 24th Street South Omaha Main Street Historic District The South Omaha Main Street Historic District is located along South 24th Street between M and O Streets in South Omaha, Nebraska. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989...
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...			An area of lots given away 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 consistently voted to keep Omaha the capitol.
Sporting District			Tom Dennison Tom Dennison (political boss) Tom Dennison, aka Pickhandle, Old Grey Wolf, was the early-20th century political boss of Omaha, Nebraska. A politically savvy, culturally astute gambler, Dennison was in charge of the city's wide crime rings, including prostitution, gambling and bootlegging in the 1920s... used to operate his prostitution Prostitution Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of... , gambling Gambling Gambling is the wagering of money or something of material value on an event with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and/or material goods... and bootlegging Rum-running Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law... operations.
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...			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.

External links

Historic photos
Early Omaha photos
Andreas' History of Nebraska
"Douglas County Historical Society"
Early History of Omaha by former mayor Alfred Sorenson.
"Early Omaha: Gateway to the West" by the Omaha Public Library.
Ford Conservation Center of the Nebraska State Historical Society.
Historic Florence Florence Futures Foundation website.
Mardos Memorial Library featuring Douglas County history.
Old Nebraska News.
"Project OMAHA" at Omaha South High School.
Sarpy County Historical Museum website.
Nebraska State Historical Society website.
Brief History of Omaha, Nebraska

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

White contact with Native Americans

European settlement

Pioneer Omaha: 1853 to 1867

Nebraska Territory Capitol

Business

1868 to 1899

1900 to 1941

Sports

Greek Town riot

Easter Sunday Tornado

Omaha Race Riot

Social and cultural developments

Tom Dennison

World War II

Civil Rights Movement

1950 to 1999

2000 to present

City historic landmarks

Fates of historic sites

Historic neighborhoods of Omaha

See also

External links