Historic Omaha

HISTORIC OMAHA 

An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County 

by Bob Reilly, Hugh Reilly & Pegeen Reilly 

A Publication of the Douglas County Historical Society

Thank you for your interest in this HPNbooks publication. For more information about other 

HPNbooks publications, or information about producing your own book with us, please visit www.hpnbooks.com.


An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County 

by Bob Reilly, Hugh Reilly & Pegeen Reilly 

Published by the Douglas County Historical Society 

Historical Publishing Network 

A division of Lammert Incorporated 

San Antonio, Texas

✧ 

The school bus and students at District 29’s 

end-of-school picnic in 1921. 

COURTESY OF THE DOUGLAS COUNTY HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

First Edition 

Copyright © 2003 Historical Publishing Network 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing from 

the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Historical Publishing Network, 11555 Galm Road, Suite 100, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (210) 688-9006. 

ISBN: 1-893619-30-3 

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2003112571 

Historic Omaha: An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County 

authors: Bob Reilly, Hugh Reilly, and Pegeen Reilly 

photography editor: Don Snoddy 

editorial assistants: Elizabeth Rea, Betty Davis, Barry Combs, and Orville Menard, Ph.D. 

contributing writers for “Sharing the Heritage”: Pegeen Reilly, Hugh Reilly, and Stan Struble 

cover artist: Vic Donahue 

Historical Publishing Network 

president: Ron Lammert 

vice president: Barry Black 

project manager: Wynn Buck 

director of operations: Charles A. Newton III 

administration: Angela Lake and Donna M. Mata 

book sales: Dee Steidle 

graphic production: Colin Hart and Mike Reaves 

PRINTED IN CANADA 


2

CONTENTS 

4 FOREWORD 

6 CHAPTER I the thunderstick men, prehistory to 1853 

14 CHAPTER II the town of Omaha City, 1854 to 1900 

40 CHAPTER III the huddled masses move west, 1901 to 1941 

66 CHAPTER IV war & peace, 1942 to 1975 

80 CHAPTER V winding up the century, 1976 to the present 

92 EPILOGUE 

93 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

96 SHARING THE HERITAGE 

185 INDEX 

191 SPONSORS 

192 ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

✧ 

Square dancers swing wide under the 

Omaha Centennial birthday cake in 

July 1954. 



CONTENTS 

3

FOREWORD 


4 

This volume is a family project, involving my son Hugh, and daughter, Pegeen. Both of them were born in 

Douglas County. I’m the immigrant, arriving in Omaha from Massachusetts in 1941, spending the next nine years 

in the military or college, then returning to Nebraska for good in 1950. For the three of us, my wife, and the rest of 

the family, this has been home. 

The most challenging part of this project for us has been condensing the history of this region to thirty thousand 

words. That’s about one word for every fifteen and a half Douglas County residents, or 150 words for each year this 

text covers. Obviously, some topics receive less attention than they may deserve or may not appear at all. But this 

book does provide a panoramic look at the development of this county, using words, pictures and profiles of the 

people and institutions that helped create this chronicle. Some of these individuals and institutions are included in 

the text; others will be found in the Profiles section that helps complete the picture. 

One more caveat: Omaha not only registers the majority population in Douglas County, it also figures in most of 

the key events over the past 150 years. Still, we tried to include the significant contributions of other communities 

when they occurred. And, to atone from some likely omissions, I drove Douglas County one spring afternoon, taking 

in the other principal towns. Swinging northwest from Omaha and circling back through the southern reaches of 

Nebraska’s largest metropolis takes a few hours, if you don’t linger too long in each neighborhood. In the travel 

process you leave the Missouri River to your east and strike the meandering Platte to the west, crossing en route the 

Elkhorn, Papio, and smaller streams. 

What this journey conveys is how proximate are the buildings of Omaha’s urban landscape to the farmlands that 

influence the city’s economy. 

Irvington, originally named Papio, derives its present designation—so one story goes—from a town along the 

Hudson in New York. More residential than industrial, to our children, Irvington will always be the place we took 

them for homemade ice cream on a summer evening. 

Back on Highway 36, you’re greeted by the stands of sentinel windbreak trees, rural mailboxes, undulating hills, 

an occasional silo and signs for deer crossings. The highway skirts the north edge of Lake Cunningham, billowing 

today in a strong wind and devoid of watercraft. One of the many man-made lakes in the county, this one takes its 

name from a former Omaha mayor and congressman. 

Platted in 1887 and named for a town in Vermont, Bennington, with a population of about eight hundred, has 

won its share of awards, including a designation as “Tree City U.S.A.” in 1989 by the Arbor Day Foundation. Its 

athletic teams perform well, often against larger communities. When the telephone company tested its automated 

dialing system, Bennington hosted the pilot program. A railroad town originally settled by German immigrants, the 

present population is more diverse, with many making the daily commute to Omaha for work. 

A large sign proclaims Bennington as the “HOME OF THE BADGERS,” and the residential area is a combination 

of Victorian architecture, prefab dwellings and new structures. The fire department building also houses the town 

library. Keno Cabana advertises itself as the best food in town. A new development, Bennington Park, attracts those 

who want the advantages of a large city but covet the charm of a small town. 

A few miles west lies Elk City. It was originally called Elkhorn City, but confusion with the larger town of Elkhorn, 

especially in postal matters, convinced them to abandon the “horn” suffix. The past is everywhere evident here, the 

future less certain. The land is still being worked and some attractive houses line the road. They flank a vacant 

general store that resembles a movie set. The Ponderosa Bar, quiet today, and nearby Rawhide Creek remind you of 

the heyday of television westerns. 

Just down the road, Highway 36 abruptly junctions with Highway 275, with the Platte just beyond and Saunders 

County on the far side. An old railroad station called Mercer appears on State maps and, further south, a small 

airstrip calls itself Warner. 

A new stretch of highway takes you into Valley with tracks interposed between the main road and the town. One 

of my daughters lived here once, her husband a member of their small police force. Valmont Industries was born 

there, introducing center pivot irrigation to the world. Light poles and other products followed, replacing the town’s 

earlier reliance on gravel pits and stockyards. There are senior citizen facilities along with a fine park and swimming

pool. The town has endured floods and tornadoes, lost and rebuilt theaters and churches. Its official population of 

around two thousand is augmented by relatively recent residential developments at Ginger Cove and Ginger Woods. 

Not far away, King Lake offers recreational opportunities along with other nearby campgrounds bordering the 

Platte. The unincorporated community of Venice, once planned as a replica of its Italian namesake, sits rather lonely, 

its waterways incomplete and its anticipated growth curtailed. 

Another town born of the railroad is Waterloo, christened after the Napoleonic battle site in Belgium. Once the 

world’s largest producer of vine and seed corn, the town is still dominated by huge seed plants—Golden Harvest and 

J.C. Robinson. Noted as the birthplace of many inventions, ranging from horse collar fasteners and shotguns to 

tractors and coin counters, it claims to have had more celebrity visitors than any Nebraska town of comparable size. 

Before he was president, Franklin D. Roosevelt came here, and Carrie Nation toured the place in 1908. Its 

population of less than five hundred is proud of its eating places, like Farmer Brown’s, El Bee’s, Haar’s, Hank’s, and 

the Depot Lounge. Also notable are the unique wrought iron street signs and the attractive United Methodist Church. 

Its history includes everything from floods to train wrecks, a few nineteenth century shootings, and even a staged 

contest between a bobcat and a bulldog. 

Once called Chicago, then Douglas, the town of Elkhorn, with a population of around fifteen hundred, sits west 

of Omaha and, thanks in part to its location, continues to grow. In the year 2000 census, Elkhorn topped all 

Nebraska cities with a per capita income figure of $67,234. A senior high school was built here in 1980 on the 

former Roberts Dairy Farm, and Metropolitan Community College placed a campus here. Mount Michael Abbey and 

High School, a Benedictine establishment founded in 1956, is located north of town. 

Ta-Ha-Zouka Park, adopting the Indian word for an “elk’s horn,” features ample play area, tennis courts, and a 

World War II tank with the muzzle pointed east. Perhaps this firing position was intended to prevent the spread of 

Omaha to its borders. If so, the tactics have been ineffective. Housing developments proliferate, and the connection 

to Nebraska’s largest city is palpable. Still, Elkhorn vigorously maintains its small town independence. Bernie’s Bar 

and Grill welcomes diners while the Circle B Bar and Restaurant displays a large sign proclaiming: “CONGRATS 

SARA B. – U.N.O. GRAD. YEAH BABY!” The place has attitude. 

So does Ralston, a town surrounded by Omaha on three sides and Sarpy County on the other. Unlike nearby 

Millard, which was annexed by Omaha, Ralston survives the encirclement, with signs everywhere identifying the 

Bank of Ralston, Ralston Community Theatre, Ralston Keno Lounge, Ralston Schools, Ralston Spaghetti Works and 

a host of other local institutions, many of them bracketing Eighty-fourth Street. Ralston’s population doubled in the 

last forty years, to more than six thousand residents, and its high school teams, the Rams, once poor sisters to their 

Omaha rivals, now hold their own. A Lakeview Commercial Park uniquely combines business establishments and 

elderly housing. 

Although Girls and Boys Town appears in some detail later in this text, it should be mentioned that they also show 

up on this circular route and that they maintain their own post office and elect a mayor and other officials from 

among the student body of young men and women. 

Many towns and villages in Douglas County, like Millard, have been consumed by Omaha. Some names on old 

maps, like Seymour and Lane, were really just station stops, but Benson and Florence, now neighborhoods in 

Omaha, were once thriving communities on their own. 

As recently as fifty years ago, driving this route would have revealed a very different picture, with the city limits 

of Omaha located east of Seventy-second Street, far fewer paved roads, no interstate highway system, and suburban 

areas much smaller and more isolated. Of all the Douglas County towns we visited, only Waterloo’s population has 

remained somewhat static. Bennington and Valley have almost doubled, while Elkhorn has tripled in size, and 

Ralston has quadrupled. 

But the rivers still define the county boundaries, and the people continue to exhibit the character influenced by 

the land and those ancestors who tamed the land. 

Bob Reilly 

Omaha, Nebraska 

2003 

FOREWORD 

5


6

CHAPTER I 

T HE T HUNDERSTICK M EN 

P REHISTORY TO 1853 

Geography often drives history. Soil and water dictate locations, determine population and 

influence prosperity. In Douglas County, it was the rivers that not only acted as our borders, but 

also helped to shape our past. 

Douglas County is bordered by the Missouri, the Platte, and the Elkhorn Rivers and laced by 

their smaller tributaries. It’s part of the Dissected Till Plains, a seventy-mile-wide strip of eastern 

Nebraska, where the effects of the Ice Age glaciers are still evident. The climate is variable, with 

more annual rainfall than Nebraska’s western counties. 

Colorful wildflowers grow naturally among the oaks, cottonwoods, and sycamores, and where 

mastodons and horned gophers once foraged, now there are less deadly species. The many streams 

harbor carp and catfish, and the area plays seasonal host to migrating birds. 

As elsewhere in America, the Indians were here first. 

Like so many who followed, Douglas County’s first settlers came from the north and east. An 

unnamed people, they traveled up and down eastern Nebraska rivers to hunt and trade eight 

thousand years ago. During a three-thousand-year drought, from 5000 to 2000 B.C., they 

disappeared without a trace. 

The next inhabitants of Douglas County, called the Woodlands Culture people, settled along 

Ponca Creek around 2000 B.C. They practiced a primitive agriculture, built houses of reeds, and 

hunted with bows and arrows. They lived along the streams and rivers of Douglas County until 

they, too, vanished around 800 A.D. 

Anthropologists have named the third group of immigrants from the east Nebraska Culture 

people. Archeological evidence points to a sophisticated farming culture that planted corn, beans, 

melons, pumpkins, and sunflowers. They were skilled in the use of medicinal herbs and made a 

kind of sugar from the sap of box elder trees. 

Skilled artisans, they made pottery and tools to help with their farming and food gathering. 

They domesticated huge, wild dogs to serve as their pack animals. They lived in small groups of 

50 to 100 along the ridges of Douglas County’s river valleys in wood and earthen lodges. Like those 

who came before, around 1450 they also disappeared. Scientists speculate they were the victims of 

another drought or were wiped out by a more warlike people. 

It was three hundred years before another group settled in Douglas County. They were a Siouan 

tribe who had wandered east, perhaps from the Appalachian Mountains. Reaching the Mississippi 

by 1500, they continued north and west up the Missouri River fighting other tribes along the way. 

They named themselves Omaha—“upstream people”—and by 1702 they had reached the Big Sioux 

River in what is now western Iowa. There they found two other tribes, the Oto and the Iowa, 

already settled. 

By now, other forces were also at work. The encroachment of European settlers, the Spanish 

from the south and west, the French from the north and the English from the east, had tightened 

a noose around the eastern plains tribes, forcing other, more powerful, peoples into their 

territories. Chief among these newcomers were the Dakota and Sioux. 

Unlike the other tribes in the area, the coming of the horse had made the Sioux totally nomadic. 

Their fierce raids soon forced the Oto and the Iowa westward across the Missouri River and 

into what are now Washington and Douglas Counties. In the late 1780s, numbering around 

three thousand, the Omaha also crossed the river, stopping on its western bank to build a 

large village. 

✧ 

Jean-Pierre Cabanne’s fur trading post on 

the Missouri River near the mouth of 

Ponca Creek, north of Florence. Cabanne 

founded the post in 1820 and remained 

there until 1833. 



CHAPTER I 

7

✧ 

Meriwether Lewis. 

PORTRAIT BY CHARLES WILLSON PEALE. 


8 

Around this time, a new war chief, named 

Blackbird, had emerged among the Omaha. He 

had a reputation for ruthlessness and was even 

accused of using arsenic and other poisons, 

given to him by white traders, to destroy those 

who opposed him. To supply the fur traders 

and trappers, the Omaha needed more 

extensive hunting grounds. Under Blackbird’s 

leadership, the Omaha forced the Iowa back 

across the Missouri and the Oto south of the 

Platte River. However, their triumph was shortlived. 

The Sioux were still coming and would 

not be stopped by the Missouri River. 

Others were also coming. The French, 

represented by the Mallet brothers, explorers 

and traders, had reached the Platte and passed 

through eastern Nebraska in 1739. Though 

there are no existing records, it is possible 

Spanish expeditions visited the area in the 

1760s. In 1800, the Spanish ceded 

“Louisiana” to Napoleon Bonaparte and, in 

1803, he in turn sold it to the new country 

called the United States. 

The same year that Spain ceded “Louisiana” 

to Napoleon, the Omaha fell victim to a 

smallpox plague. Almost two-thirds of the 

tribe perished, including Blackbird, their selfappointed 

chief. Terrible changes were coming 

for the tribes of the Missouri River. 

The spearhead of that change was forming 

on the wharfs of St. Louis in the winter and 

spring of 1804. On May 14, 1804, 

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, sent by 

President Thomas Jefferson, embarked upon 

their historic journey into the newly 

purchased territory of “Louisiana.” There were 

forty-five men in their party. Two pirogues 

escorted their fifty-five-foot long keelboat, 

and two horses traveled the riverbank. 

If there was enough wind, the keelboat 

could sail. Usually it crawled north and west 

along the Missouri by a backbreaking 

combination of paddling and poling. In some 

spots, it was even pulled upriver by men 

hauling ropes. In this tortuous fashion, by 

July 27, the company had reached the borders 

of present-day Douglas County. 

To this party of eastern woodsmen, the vistas 

were spectacular. Described by frontiersmen as 

a place where you can see the wind coming out 

of next week, the broad expanse of the prairie 

must have seemed limitless to men used to 

heavily forested hills and valleys. 

Shortly after entering present-day Douglas 

County, as the expedition passed a large sandbar, 

they spied some “curious mounds” along the 

western shore of the Missouri. Clark went on 

shore to examine them and found the mounds to 

be “of Different height, Shape & Size, Some 

Composed of sand, some of earth and sand, the 

highest next to the river all of which covered 

about 200 acres of land, in a circular form.” 

Arthur Sorenson and other historians 

believe these mounds were in an area bordered 

by Eleventh Street on the west, Farnam Street 

on the south, and the curve of the Missouri in 

the east and north. Clark thought they were 

the ancient remains of an Oto village, but

some historians believe it is more likely they 

were burial or habitation mounds of a 

prehistoric people, or natural formations. 

They camped that night in present-day NP 

Dodge Park, north of the Interstate I-80 

Bridge. They did not linger long as Clark 

found “the Musquitos so thick & troublesome 

that it was disagreeable and painful to 

Continue a moment still.” 

Lewis and Clark’s stay in Douglas County was 

brief, but it was to have lasting consequences. 

Just north of Douglas County, near present-day 

Fort Calhoun, Washington County, Nebraska, 

was a place the explorers christened “Council 

Bluff.” It was there the expedition met with the 

representatives of the Otos and Missouris. A 

treaty was signed and promises of undying 

friendship were made. Clark proposed the site 

for a trading post and fort, and in the early 

1820s, Fort Atkinson, at the time the 

westernmost fort in the country, was built there. 

Lewis and Clark’s expedition not only 

answered many questions about the 

geography and inhabitants of this western 

wilderness, it revealed the enormous natural 

resources now available, especially in furs. 

Commercial fur trading companies were soon 

established. Their activities would dominate 

Douglas County for the next forty years. 

The first company arrived in 1808. 

Founded by Manuel Lisa, it operated a trading 

post in the area for many years. Through 

many and varied partnerships, Lisa attempted 

to create a fur company that could fully 

explore and exploit the vast riches of the 

Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately, the War of 

1812 made trade on the upper Missouri 

impossible due to conflict with British traders 

and their allies, so Lisa established a large 

trading post on the border of Douglas County. 

In 1814, Lisa was appointed a sub-agent of 

all the Missouri tribes above the Kansas River. 

He solidified this arrangement by marrying 

Mitain, the daughter of one of the principal 

chiefs of the Omaha. When the war ended, 

trade along the river revived and flourished. 

Keelboats traveled up and down the river and 

Lisa’s post became a favorite meeting place. In 

1818, he formed a partnership with Jean- 

Pierre Cabanne and several other prominent 

St. Louis merchants. It did not last long, 

falling victim to internal squabbling, and was 

dissolved in June 1819. 

In September of that year, the first 

steamship to navigate the Missouri arrived 

in Douglas County. It was called the Western 

Engineer and had been designed to carry 

the eleven hundred troops of Major Stephen 

Long and Colonel Henry Atkinson all the way 

to the Rocky Mountains. Unfortunately, the 

army engineers had not reckoned with the 

thick Missouri River silt that clogged her 

boilers and the ship was forced to abandon 

her journey. The troops spent a miserable 

winter at the “Engineers Cantonment” just 

north of Douglas County. The next spring 

they headed west along the Platte River to the 

“Shining Mountains.” 

✧ 

WIlliam Clark. 

PORTRAIT BY CHARLES WILLSON PEALE. 

CHAPTER I 

9

✧ 

The steamboat Yellowstone heads up the 

Missouri River in this sketch by Karl 

Bodmer. Bodmer was an artist who traveled 

with Prince Maximilian von Wied in 1833. 

COURTESY OF THE JOSLYN ART MUSEUM. 


10 

In 1820, Manuel Lisa died. His former 

partner, Jean-Pierre Cabanne, formed a new 

organization that became known, simply, as 

“The French Company.” Almost fifty years 

old, Cabanne left his wife and eleven children 

to establish a new trading post on the 

northern borders of Douglas County along 

Ponca Creek. Soon another trading post was 

established just one hundred yards west of 

Cabanne’s. It was a substantial post built 

of stone, operated by Joseph Renville, who 

represented the British-owned Columbia 

Fur Company. 

Even further south another trading post 

was being built. Located between present-day 

Ninth and Tenth Streets and Dodge and 

Capitol Streets, it was described by the 

famous Jesuit missionary priest Father Pierre 

De Smet, as having been built by a “noted 

trader” T. B. Roye. De Smet stated that Roye 

ran the post from 1825 to 1828. In a letter to 

a friend, De Smet wrote that Roye “…may be 

the first white man, who built the first cabin, 

on the beautiful plateau where now stands the 

flourishing city of Omaha.” 

The best information on those early years 

of Douglas County comes from letters 

Cabanne wrote to friends and family. He 

wrote of hunting, fishing, and boat racing. He 

wrote of the dinners and dances given by the 

officers of nearby Fort Atkinson until that 

post was closed in 1827. He also wrote of how 

he and the other independent traders were 

forced to sell out to John Jacob Astor’s 

American Fur Company after 1826. 

By the 1830s, it was becoming harder and 

harder for Cabanne to acquire good quality 

furs. Some of his difficulties resulted from his 

refusal to supply alcohol to the Indians like so 

many other traders. In 1832, upset that 

another trader had successfully smuggled 

some whiskey past government checkpoints, 

Cabanne ordered one of his employees, Peter 

Sarpy, to seize all two hundred gallons of his 

rival’s whiskey. The government decided 

Cabanne had exceeded his authority and 

ordered him and Sarpy to leave the area. 

The boat that brought Cabanne’s 

replacement also brought two other 

distinguished visitors. Prince Alexander 

Philip Maximilian von Wied was a German 

prince on a two-year tour of America. A 

young Swiss painter, Karl Bodmer, traveled 

with Maximilian. Maximilian kept a detailed 

diary, and Bodmer produced hundreds of 

paintings and sketches, many of which can be 

viewed at Omaha’s Joslyn Art Museum. The 

combination of Maximilian’s words and 

Bodmer’s paintings provide a vivid picture of 

Douglas County in the early 1830s.

On May 4, 1833, Maximilian and Bodmer 

visited an area that some sources say was 

located near Hummel Park. Maximilian 

described the area: 

We had all around us beautiful low prairie 

hills, before which was alluvial land, thrown up 

by the river, covered with fine grass. The river 

had risen an inch during the night. The noise 

and smoke of our steamer frightened all living 

creatures…The chain of hills on the left bank 

was picturesquely covered with green, young 

forests of varying form. In its clay banks, 

thousands of swallows had their nests and we 

soon saw in front of the green bushes the white 

buildings of Mr. Cabanne’s trading post, which 

we saluted with some guns, and then landed. 

A little more than a year after Cabanne left, 

Astor sold the trading post. Within a few more 

years, it was abandoned. Most of the activity 

along the river was now concentrated at 

Bellevue. In 1832 an Indian agency was 

established in Bellevue, and many tribes, 

including the Omaha, used it as a refuge from 

attacks by the Sioux. Bellevue originally was part 

of Douglas County. It wasn’t until 1857, when 

Sarpy County was carved out of Douglas County, 

that Bellevue became the seat of the new county. 

Lucien Fontenelle made his start at Fort 

Atkinson, but it was Bellevue that became his 

permanent home. Fontenelle married the 

daughter of the prominent Omaha chief, Big 

Elk, and it was at Fort Atkinson that their first 

child, Shongaska (“White Horse” or Logan), 

was born. After Fort Atkinson was abandoned 

in 1827, the Fontenelles moved south to 

Bellevue. It was in Bellevue that Logan 

Fontenelle learned to live in two worlds. 

The Fontenelles were some of the first 

people that Father Pierre De Smet met when 

he first entered Douglas County history in 

1838. He established a mission on the Iowa 

side of the Missouri River, but frequently 

visited the Douglas County area. De Smet 

became the godfather to Logan Fontenelle. He 

remained a strong friend of the family, 

returning from one of his many journeys just 

in time to give the last rites to Lucien 

Fontenelle, who died of cholera in 1842. 

The following year, Logan Fontenelle married 

a young Omaha woman named New Moon. 

✧ 

The old mill at Florence was originally 

built in 1846-47 by the early Mormon 

immigrants at Winter Quarters. The 

water-powered mill supplied both flour 

and lumber. 



CHAPTER I 

11

✧ 

The Missouri River near Omaha: Some 

things never change, or so it seems. 




12 

He and his wife built a new home and he 

settled into work as an interpreter for the 

United States government. Believing that the 

Omaha and other tribes must adapt to the 

white man’s ways, Logan worked to ensure 

that the interests of the tribes were protected 

as much as possible. 

Fontenelle had been an interpreter for only a 

short time when, in December 1844, Congress 

first considered a bill to create a new territory 

west of the Missouri. It was to be called 

Nebraska Territory. Controversy over the slavery 

question caused the bill to be shelved, but it was 

a sign that the nation’s eyes were turning west 

across the “wide Missouri.” No longer would it 

be considered exclusively “Indian country.” No 

longer were visitors limited to solitary traders, 

explorers or missionaries. Now, large groups 

were looking west. 

The first large group to arrive called itself 

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, 

but is known to history as the Mormons. Led 

by Brigham Young, this group of five thousand 

men, women, and children entered Nebraska 

in Spring 1846. Ferried across the river from 

Iowa, the bedraggled group asked for some 

time to catch their breath and regain their 

strength. The Omaha agreed to let them settle 

temporarily in return for their help in 

protecting the tribe from raids by the Sioux. 

Within a few months, the Mormons had 

moved north, to an area of Omaha now known 

as Florence, where they set up their “Winter 

Quarters.” This fortified town contained more 

than five hundred log houses, nearly a 

hundred sod houses, a tabernacle, workshops 

of various kinds, and a mill to grind corn and 

wheat. Some of the original pillars, crudely 

carved by hand and darkened by the grime of 

decades, still stand in the old mill in Florence. 

For the Mormons, that first year in Douglas 

County was harsh. Hundreds died from 

cold, starvation, and disease. The cemetery 

filled with the tiny graves of children too 

weak to last the winter. With the warmer 

weather came more problems. The Mormons 

planted rows of corn on three to four 

thousand acres that once had been prime 

hunting grounds for the Omaha, and the 

Mormons’ cows seemed to be intent on eating 

up what little grassland remained. 

Faced with trying to find a way to replace 

the wild game that had fled, the Omaha 

helped themselves to Mormon cattle that 

strayed. This incensed the Mormons, who 

couldn’t understand why the Indians would 

repay their protection with “thievery.” The 

Omaha chiefs pointed out that the Mormons’ 

protection extended only a few miles outside 

of Winter Quarters, which forced the Omaha 

to stay close to the town. In addition, because 

of the Mormons’ destruction of their hunting 

grounds, most of the game had left, and they 

had to feed their children something. 

The federal government backed the Omaha, 

and the impasse was not solved until 1848, 

when Brigham Young returned from Utah 

Territory saying he had found a new home for 

his people near the Great Salt Lake. Thousands 

left immediately, and the others retreated across 

the river to the settlement of “Kanesville,” now 

known as Council Bluffs, to help prepare new 

converts for the journey west. Winter Quarters 

was abandoned, and all that remained were 

hundreds of graves and the old mill. 

In 1849, gold was discovered at Sutter’s 

Mill in California and bands of “’49ers” headed 

west to make their fortunes. The Mormon trail 

became a popular route for these miners, but 

not all of them continued westward. Some 

noticed how tall the native grasses grew and 

wondered why corn and wheat would not 

prosper just as well. They saw this land was 

not “the Great American Desert” described by 

earlier explorers and began to think of 

building permanent settlements. 

In 1853, a group of resolute men from 

Kanesville sent Hadley Johnson to Washington 

as a delegate from the non-existent “provisional 

government of Nebraska Territory.” Traders 

from Bellevue, businessmen newly established 

at the site of the abandoned Winter Quarters, 

and even some of the local Indians, all 

clamored for territorial status. For a nation 

embroiled in the great argument on slavery, the 

status of the “Nebraska Territory” became a 

rallying cause. The South demanded that the 

new territory permit slavery and the North 

demanded that it be prohibited. The solution 

that was eventually reached would have 

profound consequences not only on Douglas 

County, but also on the nation as a whole.

CHAPTER I 

13


14

CHAPTER II 

T HE T OWN OF O MAHA C ITY 

1854 TO 1900 

In 1954, Omaha and Douglas County commemorated the centennial of Nebraska’s territorial 

designation, and the founding of Omaha City and Douglas County. The event was celebrated with 

parades, pageants, festive dinners, concerts, and various media events. In Turner Park, east of 

Mutual of Omaha, planners erected a theater-in-the-round topped by a giant, simulated, birthday 

cake displaying one hundred electric candles. Every night that summer, visiting performers and 

local ethnic groups entertained audiences. That anniversary, in its exuberance and diversity, 

acknowledged what the region had been and what it had become. 

A century before only a handful of squatters greeted the news of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, 

which made all of this possible. 

That piece of legislation was designed to placate both proponents and opponents of slavery. It 

balanced the creation of Kansas Territory, which was presumed to favor slavery, with that of 

Nebraska, assumed to be a free territory. The bill was bitterly debated in Congress, further dividing 

the country, and had as many political and economic facets as it did philosophical differences. Both 

sides on the slavery issue contested pre-Civil War “Bleeding Kansas.” While to the north, Nebraska 

emerged more quietly—and more slowly—than its southern neighbor. 

There had been movement across the Missouri by Mormons and Iowans for several years and, 

even after the departure of Brigham Young and his followers, Florence experienced a brief 

resurgence, and some predicted it would become the major community along the river. That 

distinction, however, fell to Omaha. 

Settlement began in a small way, encouraged and aided by William D. Brown of Council Bluffs 

who owned and managed the Lone Tree Ferry, the manually operated flatboat that traversed the 

river. A year before Nebraska Territory was established, Brown had convinced a dozen Iowa friends 

that westward expansion and the promising geography of that area would guarantee success to 

those that established residency on the west bank of the Missouri. 

While Brown’s friends planned their migration, other far-sighted citizens of Council Bluffs made 

the crossing and established claims. They included men like A. D. Jones and Thomas and William 

Allen. However, the area’s Indian agent ordered these men and other squatters back to Iowa 

because Native American titles were still in force. In February 1854, a council was held with the 

Otos, Missouris, and Omahas at Bellevue. The resultant treaty opened up the new region and on 

May 30, 1854, the signing of the Kansas-Nebraska Act made settlement official. 

Douglas County’s original newspaper, the Omaha Arrow, printed its first edition in July 1854. 

Historian John Myers wrote that publisher and editor, Joe Ellis Johnson “…set up his Omaha office, 

not under a tree but on the stump of one. His desk was a beaver hat, as he began composing an 

editorial in praise of this ‘highly favored and beautiful territory upon which we have now 

established a regular weekly newspaper.’” Like so many other frontier newspapers, land companies 

hoping to attract settlers to their land sites created the Arrow. It was published by Brown’s Ferry 

Company, which also operated a river crossing and speculated on land. 

According to Myers, “The Arrow was singing the praises of the little shack town (Omaha) as if 

it were a glamorous metropolis. Unlike many of the boomer papers, the Arrow was more prophetic 

as Omaha prospered, while the other town sites failed to live up to their advance promotion.” 

The enterprising ferry company also encouraged other businesses. A brickyard was established, 

and the first log cabin was built. Surveyors laid out the future city in 322 blocks, each of them 264 

feet square. Streets were platted at 100 feet wide, except for Capitol Avenue, which was 20 

✧ 

A sketch of the 1846 Mormon settlement 

called Winter Quarters on the site of 

present-day Florence. 



CHAPTER II 

15

✧ 

Above: Logan Fontenelle, grandson of 

Omaha Chief Big Elk, signed the treaty that 

ceded to the United States about four 

million acres of land for less than twenty 

cents an acre and established the Omaha 

Reservation in Thurston County. This treaty 

cleared the way for establishment of the 

Nebraska Territory in July 1854. 

COURTESY OF THE JOSLYN ART MUSEUM. 

Below: Jesse Lowe served as the first mayor 

of Omaha from 1857 to 1858. 



Bottom, right: A sketch of the first territorial 

capitol of Nebraska, on Ninth Street 

between Farnam and Douglas, built in 

January 1855, by the ferry company. The 

legislature met on the second floor of the 

33-by-75-foot building. 



feet wider. Parks were staked out and 

applications for land parcels began to appear. 

As it did in so many other areas, Brown’s 

Ferry Company also supplied the name for 

the new community, adopting the name of the 

nearest Indian tribe, the Omaha. The name 

has been variously interpreted as “upstream 

people” or “above all others on a stream,” as 

well as various other translations. 

The ferry company’s newspaper, the Arrow, 

was quickly involved in Nebraska’s first 

editorial war, when its editor, Joe Ellis 

Johnson, championed Omaha’s claim to be 

the territorial capital of Nebraska in direct 

competition with the editor of Bellevue’s 

Nebraska Palladium. Despite the fact that 

Bellevue was the more established town, 

Omaha was chosen as territorial capital in 

1854. Omaha remained the capital until 

Nebraska became a state in 1867, and the 

capital was transferred to Lincoln. 

The Arrow was short-lived. Its last issue 

was published in December 1854, and it 

wouldn’t be until 1860 that a daily newspaper 

would appear in Omaha. Johnson, a Mormon 

with two wives, moved to Wood River, 

Nebraska, and later to Utah due to strong 

feelings in Nebraska against polygamy. Several 

other Omaha newspapers, notably the 

Republican, the Bee, and the World, which, in 

1889, would combine with the Herald to form 

today’s Omaha World-Herald, would follow 

the Arrow. 

Brown’s Ferry Company also wisely created 

an “Omaha Township Claim Association,” 

providing a judge, clerk, and recorder. Instead 

of the 160 acres allowed by law, the 

association doubled that number, arguing that 

this would deter Easterners from moving in 

and tying up large sections of the Territory. As 

a political suspicion, this attitude died hard. 

Despite the claims association, or perhaps 

because of its sometimes-generous allocation, 

disputes were inevitable. People were hired to 

preempt land parcels and there was even a 

mobile wagon-house that squatters employed 

as a proof of improvements. Some eviction 

fights were public enough to attract ferryloads 

of spectators. A luckless Irishman named 

Callahan had the temerity to file on the claim 


16

of Acting Governor Thomas B. Cuming. This 

claim jumper was repeatedly dunked in the icy 

Missouri River until he agreed to give up his 

claim. Other interlopers had the skull and 

crossbones scrawled on their cabin doors, 

warning them to leave. A pair of horse thieves 

was hanged north of Florence. Justice was swift 

but not always evenly applied. 

In the meantime, the first inhabitants of 

this land were still a presence and, outside of 

the narrowly defined city limits, the prairie 

remained home to buffalo herds and Native 

American hunters. Intertribal warfare also 

continued, with the Sioux a constant threat to 

smaller, more peaceful, tribes like the Omaha. 

Logan Fontenelle continued to lead the 

Omaha tribe. While more frequently in Bellevue 

or at the newly created Omaha reservation, 

Fontenelle was well known to the early settlers 

of Omaha and was often employed as interpreter 

by military and political officials. This popular 

young man bridged the gap between his French 

father and Omaha mother, sometimes riding 

wildly to the hunt, sometimes dressed in white 

man’s clothing attending a parley. 

In June 1855 he became separated from 

his tribal hunting party. He was surrounded 

by a Sioux war band, said to include the 

young warrior Crazy Horse on his first 

raid, and Fontenelle was killed by his 

traditional enemies. His name lives on in 

Omaha in the names of streets, parks, schools, 

and a remarkable urban forest. 

There were only twenty buildings in Omaha 

the year Fontenelle died, but both the 

structures and the population were rapidly 

increasing. In 1857 the Third Territorial 

✧ 

Above: The Herndon House hotel was built 

on the northeast corner of Ninth and 

Farnam in 1856 by Dr. George Miller. This 

building later became headquarters for 

Union Pacific Railroad. 



Below: Florence was founded in 1854 on the 

site of the Mormon Winter Quarters of 

1846-47. J. S. Paul’s mercantile is shown 

here in 1899. 



CHAPTER II 

17

✧ 

Above: A view of Omaha from south of town 

about 1870. The hilltop is just south of 

Pacific Street. The territorial capitol is at 

the far left. 



Below: The Omaha riverfront looking north 

from South Eleventh Street about 1870. 

Herndon House hotel is in the upper right. 



Legislature approved the incorporation of the 

“town of Omaha City” and, that same year, 

Omaha’s first city council meeting was held. 

Unfortunately, the high hopes engendered by 

these occurrences were about to suffer a 

devastating blow. 

In October 1857 a bank “panic” swept 

Omaha and all but a few banks were forced to 

close their doors. Newly rich speculators saw 

their fortunes vanish overnight. The city 

settled into despondency and actually lost 

population in the years 1858 and 1859. It 

wasn’t until 1861 that the city began to 

prosper again. Despite the hard times, the 

territorial capitol building was completed in 

1858. However, the competition for the 

territory’s seat would continue, pitting against 

each other those people living north and south 

of the Platte River. 

However, it was another river, the Missouri, 

which had the most influence on Omaha’s 

growth. Beginning with Lewis and Clark’s 

expedition, it remained an important link 

between the rest of the United States and the 

territory of Nebraska. In the 1850s, river traffic 

boomed along the Missouri River. Huge 

quantities of goods and freight were unloaded 

on the Omaha mud flats for transfer to wagons 

heading west. At the height of the river trade, 

steamboats arrived daily. During 1859 alone, 

some 268 steamboats docked at Omaha. The 

steamboat remained an important part of 

Omaha’s transportation scene until the 1870s. 

The steamboats didn’t bring just goods and 

freight; they brought people as well. The 

influence of these arriving settlers, who brought 

their own talents, skills and political views to 

their new home, had a profound effect on the 


18

culture and politics of the area. They hailed 

from Germany, Scandinavia, Central Europe, 

the British Isles, and the eastern United States. 

Among the early immigrants to Omaha were 

many Irish. Some were post-Famine settlers, 

seeking a new, less uncertain, life. Others 

adopted military careers, or helped construct 

roads or buildings, or, later on, served as laborers 

on the transcontinental railroad. On pioneer 

storefronts we read the names of Kennedy, 

Megeath, Buckley, Sheehy, Egan, Hogan, and 

many other Gaelic surnames. But the most 

prominent and influential of the immigrant Irish 

families were the Creightons, whose roots were 

in Ireland’s County Monaghan. 

Bridget and James Creighton trekked from 

Ireland to Philadelphia to Ohio, with James 

supplementing his farm income by work on 

the nation’s turnpike. The couple had nine 

children, including Edward, who, like his 

father, began his working career as a cartboy on 

the primitive highways. Later, Edward went 

into the freighting business for himself, hauling 

a variety of loads across the Midwest and 

Southeast. His father died at age sixty, and his 

widowed mother passed away in 1854, the 

year Omaha became a reality. 

Two years later, Edward headed for the new 

territory, accompanied by his brothers, Joseph 

and John, and their cousin, James. They found 

a town of about six hundred citizens, an 

unimpressive collection of structures, and 

streets either choked with dust or oozing with 

mud. But something in the town appealed to 

them, and they decided to stay. 

Edward married his Ohio sweetheart, Mary 

Lucretia Wareham, and brought her back to 

Omaha. He soon landed a job helping to 

construct the telegraph line linking Omaha 

with St. Joseph, Missouri. Joe Ellis Johnson, 

former editor of the Omaha Arrow, now 

writing for the Wood River, Nebraska, paper, 

the Huntsman Echo, described the event in a 

September 1860 newspaper column: 

Whoop! Hurrah! The pole—wire—the 

telegraph—the lightning! The first are up, the 

second stretched, the third playing on the line 

between St. Joe and Omaha: and the people of 

Omaha are exulting in the enjoyment of direct 

communication with the balance of the earth 

and mankind…. Thoughts that breathe and 

words that burn will glide along the wires 

with lightning rapidity. 

In addition to connecting Omaha with the 

outside world, for Creighton, it was also good 

training for the bigger job that lay ahead. 

By now, war between the South and the 

North seemed inevitable. Abraham Lincoln 

and Stephen Douglas had debated the 

slavery question, and John Brown’s brief 

insurrection had reached its grim conclusion 

with his execution. 

✧ 

Top: Henry Latey’s bakery and ice cream 

store on the southwest corner of Twelfth and 

Douglas about 1872. Latey advertised ice 

cream daily as well as fresh strawberries 

and oysters in season. 



Above: The Pioneer Block between Eleventh 

and Twelfth Streets on Farnam, about 1872. 

It was the strip mall of its day. 



CHAPTER II 

19

✧ 

Above: Perhaps the parking garage of its 

day, Roy Young’s Howard Street Livery 

Stable, 1314 Howard Street, bought, sold, 

and boarded horses. 



Below: A. J. Simpson opened a carriage 

factory in Omaha in 1868 at 1409 Dodge 

Street. He stayed in business until 1909, 

when the “horseless carriage” eliminated the 

need for horsedrawn carriages. 



The nation was even more concerned with 

transportation and communication, seeking to 

control the western states, especially 

California. The Pony Express, despite its 

romantic legends, lasted only eighteen months 

(from 1860 to 1861), and its route brought it 

south of Omaha and Douglas County, reaching 

the Platte near Fort Kearny (now Kearney). 

The red or green Butterfield stagecoaches, 

initially drawn by a quartet of mules, traversed 

even further south. Both systems were 

financial disasters. 

In Washington, talk again turned to 

stringing a telegraph line from Nebraska 

Territory to the West Coast. While the prospect 

appealed to government representatives, they 

considered it impossible to manage the vast 

plains, formidable mountain chains, and the 

hostile tribes. Approval was denied. 

To demonstrate how wrong these officials 

were, Edward Creighton set off alone to survey 

the route and convince federal skeptics. He 

lost a horse and some gear in the ice-choked 

Platte but pushed on to Denver, then by 

stagecoach to Salt Lake City, and by horse and 

mule across the stormy Sierra Nevada range. 

When he arrived in Carson City, five hundred 

miles later, Creighton was snow-blind, and the 

wind had virtually peeled the skin from his 

face. His recovery was swift, and he eventually 

made it to Sacramento, proving the trip was 

difficult but feasible. Congress anted up the 

$400,000 required to construct the transcontinental 

telegraph. Creighton and his crew, 

which included John and James, had the task 

of building the longest segment, from Omaha 

to Salt Lake City, where the Overland 

Telegraph Company workers, who had the 

roughest terrain to cover, heading east from 

California, would meet them. 

On the Fourth of July, 1861, Creighton 

himself set the first pole in Douglas County. 

By this time Fort Sumter had fallen, and speed 

was even more essential. 

The daily log of Creighton’s Pacific Telegraph 

Company (later incorporated into Western 

Union) reads like fiction. There were, of course, 

the ordinary tasks—digging holes, hauling 

timber, installing poles, stringing the “singing 

wire.” Some days they covered as much as 12 

miles, setting some 250 poles. But there were 

many interruptions, ranging from savage rain 

and flash floods, prairie fires, and equipment 

breakdowns. Creighton neutralized the curious 

Sioux, demonstrating the speed at which 

messages could be sent. On October 17, 1861, 

Creighton’s men arrived in Salt Lake City, a full 

week ahead of their counterparts building east. 

Behind them stood twenty-five thousand poles 

and a functioning relay of wires. 

Creighton wasn’t through with Western 

Union. He once served as the company’s 

general manager and, through the use of 

constant patrols, he kept the lines free of 

Indian raids. He also returned to the 

freighting business, partnering again with his 

brother John and cousin James, and operating 

out of Omaha, and he is credited with starting 


20

the area’s association with the cattle industry. 

He also held posts with the Omaha and 

Northwestern Railroad, built several Omaha 

buildings, and was president of the city’s First 

National Bank. He was at the bank one 

morning in 1874 when a stroke felled him. He 

died two days later. 

The greatest of the Creighton legacies was, 

of course, the university that bears their name. 

Acting on an oft-stated wish of her deceased 

husband, Mary Lucretia, who lived for only 

two years after her husband’s death, provided 

in her will for the institution that later the 

Jesuits and their lay faculty and staff would 

turn into one of the Midwest’s premier 

educational establishments. While its outreach 

embraces students, male and female, from 

across the country, it has always had a strong 

impact on Douglas County. 

While Edward Creighton was building his 

telegraph and freighting businesses, the Civil 

War was raging in the southern part of the 

United States. The population of Douglas 

County had passed two thousand people, and 

many of its citizens felt compelled to join the 

Union Army. Volunteers were requested to form 

a “Home Guard” to protect the city from 

potential Indian attacks and even a rumored raid 

by Quantrill’s bushwhackers from Missouri. 

The First Nebraska Volunteers were 

commanded by Colonel John B. Thayer from 

Omaha and contained many Douglas County 

residents among its soldiers. One young man, 

Thomas E. Keen from Company H, wrote to 

his sister about fighting in the battle of Shiloh: 

During the battle, I never once thought of 

danger to myself, but a kind of wild 

excitement seized me and my comrades and 

we would rush forward with a yell amongst 

the storm of leaden hail as though we were 

immortal and could not be killed or hurt and 

our regiment never gave back once… 

Other battalions, including the First 

Battalion of the Second Regiment of Nebraska 

Volunteers and the Curtis Horse, were 

✧ 

Top, left: Ezra Millard, founder of Millard, 

Nebraska. Arriving in Omaha in 1856, 

Millard became a successful banker, cablerailway 

investor, hotel builder, member of 

the territorial council in 1860, and mayor 

of Omaha in 1869. 



Top, right: Episcopal Bishop 

Robert Clarkson. 



Below: Julius Meyer emigrated from Prussia 

in 1867 and settled in Omaha. Between 

1869 and 1880 he operated an Indian 

museum and tobacco shop. He was also an 

accomplished musician. He died in 1909. 



CHAPTER II 

21

✧ 

Right: Council Bluffs and Nebraska ferry 

P. F. Geisse at the foot of Pacific Street 

about 1870. Passengers and freight were 

ferried across the river until the railroad 

bridge was completed in 1872. 

COURTESY OF THE OMAHA PUBLIC LIBRARY COLLECTIONS. 

Below: The ferries Irene, N. D. Munson, 

P. F. Geisse, and H. C. Nutt tied up at the 

foot of Izard Street about 1871. 

COURTESY OF THE OMAHA PUBLIC LIBRARY COLLECTIONS. 

mustered into duty at Omaha and were often in 

the thick of battle, but didn’t always receive 

their proper recognition. Keen wrote to his 

sister that, “…we are a lone regiment being the 

only men from so far west and the states of 

Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio are so filled with 

notices of their own troops that they never 

think of Nebraska and as we have nobody to 

‘puff’ us, we have to keep still….” In 1868, 

Sherman Barracks appeared; this was renamed 

Omaha Barracks in 1869, and eventually 

became Fort Omaha in 1878. With Sherman 

Barracks the military began a presence in the 

Omaha area that remains strong even today 

with nearby Offutt Air Force Base, now home 

to the United States Strategic Command 

Headquarters (STRATCOM). 

While some of Nebraska’s sons were busy 

on the front lines in places like Shiloh, big 

things were also happening back home in 

Douglas County. Without question, the most 

important factor in deciding the future 

prominence of Omaha was the town’s selection 

as the eastern terminus of the transcontinental 

railroad. Actually, both Omaha and Council 

Bluffs were accorded this distinction, but since 

it wasn’t until 1872 that a bridge across the 

Missouri connected the two cities, Omaha 

became the prime beneficiary. 

Sometimes the significance of the building of 

what became the Union Pacific Railroad is lost 

on later generations. Children, who grew up on 

westerns where the trains were already in place 

and transporting the good, the bad, and the 

ugly, forget just how crucial it was to build the 

transcontinental railroad. But author Stephen 

Ambrose was impressed enough to assert at the 

beginning of his best-selling book, Nothing Like 

It In The World: 

Next to winning the Civil War and abolishing 

slavery, building the first transcontinental 

railroad, from Omaha, Nebraska, to Sacramento, 

California, was the greatest achievement of the 

American people in the nineteenth century. 

The prospect of a railroad spanning the 

nation had been around for some time. A 

proposal to undertake such a project was 

floated in the 1830s and debated in Congress 

a decade later. Just as with legislators today, 

the arguments began with the enormity of the 

task and the exorbitant cost. But there were 

also other obstacles, including distance, 


22

terrain, and the uncertain threat posed by 

various Indian tribes. 

There were disputes about where the tracks 

should run and where the new rails should 

originate. Several locales along the Missouri 

contended for the terminus site, and, as the 

route migrated west, other voices chimed in. 

Nearly a century later, the same sort of 

parochial squabbles greeted the plotting of our 

interstate system, with towns fearing their 

demise if isolated from the main arteries. 

The 1862 Pacific Railroad Act provided 

impetus for a few ambitious men to speculate on 

the success of the venture. Thomas “Doc” Durant 

was one of the movers and shakers, and he 

recruited George Francis Train as another early 

investor. The 1862 act created a board to oversee 

the construction of the transcontinental line, but 

Durant and Train remained the men of influence. 

From an engineering standpoint, other 

competing communities may have offered a 

more feasible river crossing, but the territorial 

governor, Alvin Saunders, and a delegation of 

powerful Omahans, like Edward Creighton, 

lobbied hard for their city. As a result of their 

efforts, President Abraham Lincoln ultimately 

approved Omaha as the terminus site. 

The plan was similar to that of the earlier 

telegraph line, involving one company, 

Central Pacific, building east from California 

and the other, Union Pacific, starting west 

from Omaha. Originally, the meeting point 

was not specifically determined, and 

financing was arranged in segments. 

Because the Central Pacific got a head start 

and appeared to be garnering both publicity 

and federal attention, leaders of the Union 

Pacific decided to stage an event of their own. 

On December 1, 1863, near the ferry landing 

at Seventh and Davenport Streets, a groundbreaking 

ceremony was enacted, with the 

governor turning the first shovel load of 

bottomland soil. Bands, cannons, and 

fireworks thrilled the crowd of local citizens. 

A year later, Union Pacific still hadn’t laid the 

first rail, although some surveying and 

grading had occurred. It wasn’t until the Civil 

War was concluded that the construction 

began in earnest. 

Generous grants of land were accorded the 

railroad and its investors—nearly five million 

acres in Nebraska alone. Some was right of way; 

some intended as endowment. In 1864, a second 

railway act substantially increased the subsidies 

to the builders, with the government settling for 

a second mortgage on the railroad. Bonds, with a 

face value of $1,000, were issued sixteen to each 

railroad mile. 

By September 1865, only about ten miles 

of track had been laid, but things picked up 

quickly from that point, averaging a mile a 

day. Again, like the experience with the 

telegraph, the crews building west were 

competing with those building east. 

By June 1866 the branch line had covered 

the ninety-one miles to Columbus, Nebraska, 

✧ 

Left: George Francis Train, internationally 

known promoter, organized not only the 

Credit Mobilier of America construction 

company, but also the Credit Foncier of 

America, a company intended to develop 

towns along the Union Pacific. In Omaha, 

Train brought in hundreds of pre-fabricated 

houses to help with the housing shortage 

caused by the beginning of railroad 

construction in 1865. He also built the 

Cozzens Hotel in 1867; 120 rooms were 

ready in ninety days. 



Below: N Street looking west from 

Twenty-fourth Street in South Omaha on 

September 6, 1891. 



CHAPTER II 

23

✧ 

Right: Grenville M. Dodge about 1906, civil 

engineer, responsible for surveying over 

twenty-five thousand miles of 

railroad lines throughout the west, was 

president of six railroads and member of 

the Union Pacific board of directors from 

1870 to 1893. 



Below: Union Pacific headquarters at Ninth 

and Farnam after the 1890 addition to the 

old Herndon House. 




24 

and, just two months later, the Union Pacific 

reached Fort Kearny, almost two hundred miles 

from Omaha. By December 1867, the tracks 

reached to the Wyoming border. The catalyst 

for the improved production was General 

Grenville M. Dodge, a Civil War hero with both 

engineering and railroad experience. Dodge 

was virtually drafted from his military 

responsibilities to undertake this challenge. He 

made things hum. 

While Omaha may be viewed as the 

community benefiting most from the railroad, 

virtually all of Douglas County could be seen 

as sharing in this enterprise. The Union 

Pacific constructed a depot in Valley, 

Nebraska in 1864 and platted a town on the 

18 acres it owned. A similar scenario played 

out the next year for Elkhorn, which 

experienced a few name changes before 

settling on the title we know today. Union 

Pacific land also figured in the establishment 

of Waterloo and Millard. 

Omaha was the delivery point for railroad 

material transported up the Missouri by 

steamboat or ferried across the river. Later the 

railroad would have a major role in creating 

the city’s reputation as a cattle market, 

transporting troops in wartime, carrying coal 

from Wyoming, and even bringing hundreds 

of orphan children from the inner cities of the 

country’s East Coast. 

The hardships connected with the forging 

of the transcontinental railroad have been 

catalogued often, ranging from skirmishes 

with Indians to battles with Mother Nature; 

even the workers, notably the Irish and the 

Chinese, sometimes fought among themselves. 

Remarkably, and against staggering 

odds, the job was completed in record time. 

Even the sometimes-scandalous behavior of 

the principal investors couldn’t seriously slow 

down the work. 

In 1867, with the success of the railroad 

giving it added credibility, Nebraska finally 

achieved the statehood for which it had 

fought for many years. Statehood may 

have been achieved, but an old battle 

flared up brighter than ever. In the 1850s, 

Omaha had become the territorial capital 

over the objections of the more established 

town of Bellevue. The people “south of 

the river” still carried resentments about 

how they had been treated. Now, in 1867, 

they would finally get their revenge. They 

held the majority in the new legislature, 

and they rushed a bill through to move the 

capital to one of four counties south of the 

Platte River. 

Initially the town was to be called “Capitol 

City.” However, people in Omaha thought 

they might discourage some Democratic 

support for the move by renaming the town

✧ 

At one time, banks could print their own 

money. Here are three examples of local 

organizations each backing their own 

currency when Nebraska was a territory. 



after President Lincoln who had been 

unpopular with some Democrats. The capitol 

building was completed in late 1868. In a 

blinding snowstorm in late December 1868, 

the offices of the governor and the secretary of 

state were spirited out of Omaha in the dead 

of night. In the weeks ahead, the other offices 

followed, and soon government buildings 

sprang up all over Lincoln. The people “south 

of the Platte” had triumphed and created a 

city that could rival Omaha. 

The work of the railroad was not 

interrupted by the Nebraska statehood battle. 

In May 1869, the Union Pacific and Central 

Pacific finally linked up at Promontory, Utah, 

some 1,086 miles west of Omaha. That 

famous “Golden Spike” photo features both 

Thomas Durant of the Union Pacific and his 

Central Pacific counterpart, Leland Stanford, 

whose name lives on in Stanford University. 

Early trains didn’t hit the speeds of today’s 

“zephyrs,” making only about twenty-five 

miles per hour, but you could—eventually— 

get to North Platte for about only $10. 

Omaha’s “hub” status insured its industrial 

growth in many categories, even in tough 

CHAPTER II 

25

✧ 

Right: Milk wasn’t the only beverage 

delivered by horse and wagon. Metz 

Brewery, since 1864, the Old 

Reliable, delivered adult beverages to 

local emporiums. 



Below: Creighton University’s St. John’s 

Catholic Church was first established as a 

collegiate church in 1888. To the right of the 

church is the main administration and 

teaching building for the college. Both 

buildings front on California Street near 

Twenty-fourth Street. 



financial times. With railroad land going for 

just $4 to $5 an acre, a heavy promotional 

plan initiated by the railroad helped 

Nebraska’s population advance rapidly. Many 

of the Irish laborers who built the Union 

Pacific put down roots here, often serving in 

the police and fire departments. Other 

European immigrants—the Czechs, the 

Swedes, the Germans, and others—were 

attracted by the agricultural potential. 

Writing in 1871, in his Westward by Rail, 

Scottish author William F. Rae catalogued his 

travels across the new rail line. Of Omaha 

he said: 

Omaha is one of those American cities 

which seem to spring up, flourish, and wax 

great in the twinkling of an eye…certain it is 

that the city’s prospects are bright. 

The Union Pacific chose Omaha as its 

headquarters, a relationship the city still 

enjoys, although a legal battle waged by 

Iowa resulted in Council Bluffs being 

designated as the official eastern terminus. 

And the art-deco style Union Station, 

completed in 1931 at a cost of $3.5 million, 

has been preserved as the Durham Western 

Heritage Museum. It retains echoes of its 


26

transportation past along with diverse 

traveling exhibits ranging from dinosaurs to 

Princess Diana’s gowns and vignettes on 

Douglas County history. 

Following the success of the Union Pacific, 

other rail lines became part of the Nebraska 

scene, notably the Burlington, Northwestern, 

Missouri Pacific, and Rock Island. As 

telemarketers discovered a century later, 

being located in the center of the nation has 

its advantages. By 1870, Omaha’s population 

reached nearly twenty thousand, and the 

police force had gone from one officer to four. 

The city also could boast of some public 

transportation with the advent of the streetrailway 

system in 1869. A pair of horses 

pulled the small cars only a matter of a 

few blocks, but some Omahans were willing 

to pay the ten-cent fare, especially in 

inclement weather. The street-railway system 

began to run into trouble because many 

investors and their friends rode free, and the 

individual cars could accommodate only 

seven people. To help defray costs, owners 

began to accept advertising inside the cars, 

renting space for about $2 a month. By 1870, 

four cars pursued a zigzag route from Ninth 

to Twenty-second Streets and from Jones 

to Cuming. 

Although the next century would witness a 

racial incident considered one of Omaha’s 

darkest hours, one of the city’s landmark 

stands on civil rights occurred in Omaha in 

1879, just nine years after the street-railway 

system came into operation. This was the trial 

of Standing Bear, a chief of the Ponca, a 

peaceful tribe friendly to the white settlers. 

Through an error in the Fort Laramie 

Treaty of 1868, the Sioux were granted land 

that belonged to the Ponca. The government, 

compounding this error, ordered the Ponca 

off their lands in northeastern Nebraska. The 

ensuing forced march, in late Spring 1877, 

was long, cold, and marked by many deaths. 

Even after they finally reached Indian 

Territory in Oklahoma, the deaths continued. 

Nearly a third of the tribe perished. 

Standing Bear lost a brother, a sister, two 

daughters, and a son. Even when the Ponca 

were moved to a site thought to be more 

favorable, the deaths continued. Standing 

Bear lost another son, his oldest. Just before 

he died, Standing Bear’s son asked his father 

to bury him in their homeland, “by the swift 

running water, the Niobrara.” 

Seeking to honor his son’s last wish, 

Standing Bear put the body of his son in a 

✧ 

Left: John L. Webster, a prominent Omaha 

attorney who, along with Andrew J. 

Poppleton, represented Standing Bear and 

his Ponca tribesmen in the famous 1879 

case. Their work opened the door to civil 

rights for Native Americans. 



Below: One of the most famous cases of 

jurisprudence in Omaha was the 1879 trial 

involving Chief Standing Bear, General 

George Crook, Judge Elmer S. Dundy, and 

Andrew Jackson Poppleton, and the 

citizenship rights of Indians. 



CHAPTER II 

27

✧ 

Above: A bronze statue of General George 

Crook, commander, Department of the 

Platte, headquartered at Fort Omaha in 

the 1870s. 



Below: The second Douglas County 

Courthouse was completed in 1882 at 

Eighteenth and Farnam. This view of the 

courthouse was taken from the northeast 

corner of the building. 



wagon, and, accompanied by about sixty 

relatives, started north in the month of the 

“Snow Thaws Moon,” or January 1879. Three 

months later, weak and starving, the Ponca 

reached their former home. The survivors 

were met by a Ninth Infantry detachment, 

escorted to Fort Omaha, and imprisoned. 

General George Crook was the commander 

of the Fort and sympathized with the 

difficulties of the Ponca. He was under orders 

to return the Ponca to Oklahoma. Wanting to 

do something for the Indians, he appealed to 

his friend, Thomas Tibbles, an editor for the 

Omaha Herald, and asked him to publicize the 

plight of the Ponca, hoping this would lead to 

a chance to countermand the general 

directives he had been given. 

In a three-hour hearing conducted at Fort 

Omaha, several Ponca leaders provided 

testimony. One of them, Ta-zha-but, spoke 

eloquently of their poverty and their 

hardships. He reminded Crook, Tibbles and 

the others present, “…one Father made us all. 

We have hands, feet, head, and hearts all 

alike. We are also men.” 

When Standing Bear delivered his remarks 

he catalogued the deaths from illness and 

starvation, the miserable conditions in which 

the Ponca lived, and their constant 

humiliation by other tribes from whom they 

had had to beg. With resignation he added: 

I thought God intended us to live, but I 

was mistaken. God intends to give the country 

to the white people, and we are to die. It may 

be well; it may be well. 

He also appealed directly to Crook for help, 

citing their weakness against the power of their 

white conquerors. Crook was moved but was 

unable to ignore the government edict. 

However, Tibble’s campaign was having some 

success. He had recruited a pair of prominent 

Omaha attorneys, John Webster and Andrew 

Poppleton, to represent the Ponca. 

Tibbles and the attorneys, along with local 

pastors, convinced Judge Elmer Dundy to hear 

the case. With Crook’s tacit approval, Dundy 

issued a writ of habeas corpus, requiring Crook 

to show why he was holding these Indians. 

Dundy also wrote a restraining order when 

federal authorities tried to return the Ponca 

south. On April 30, 1879, the trial began. 

Standing Bear, unable to follow the testimony, 

relied on the services of an interpreter. 

The United States district attorney argued 

that the living conditions along the Niobrara 

were poor, that the Sioux constituted a threat, 

that the Ponca had agreed to the move (a 

statement the Ponca disputed), and that they 

had been compensated for the loss of their land. 

Webster and Poppleton picked these arguments 

apart, piece-by-piece, adding that the country’s 

Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed any person 


28

within any state equal protection under the law. 

The case then turned on whether or not an 

Indian could be declared a “person.” 

Tibbles asked Judge Dundy if Standing Bear 

could be allowed to speak to this issue. The 

judge denied this request, granting the chief 

only a brief time on the stand, responding to a 

few questions put to him through his 

interpreter. The trial moved to the closing 

statements, with the prosecution contending the 

Indian had no rights under the Constitution 

since he was not a party to it. 

Webster countered, declaring, “If there is 

no precedent in issuing this writ on behalf of 

the Indian, then, in God’s name, it is high 

time to make one.” Pondering Webster’s 

closing, Dundy allowed Standing Bear to 

address the court. In a translation later 

written by Tibbles, the Ponca chief delivered a 

memorable oration. 

“This hand is not the same color as yours,” 

he told Dundy, “but if I pierce it, I shall feel 

pain. If you pierce your hand, you will also 

feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine 

✧ 

Left: Fort Omaha officers row in 1895. 

The commanding officer’s quarters, always 

known as the General Crook House, is at 

the far right. 



Below: Omaha Guard, gatling gun 

detachment in 1895 included J. A. C. 

Johnson, who would go on to become a wellknown 

attorney in Omaha. 

COURTESY OF DONNA SCHATZ & THE DOUGLAS COUNTY 

HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

CHAPTER II 

29

will be the same color as yours. I am a man. 

The same God made us both.” 

Turning to the courtroom he employed the 

metaphor of his standing by a river in flood, 

accompanied by his wife and children, and 

their climbing a nearby cliff for days to escape 

the raging waters. Finally he spots a passage. 

“But a man bars that passage. He is a 

thousand times more powerful than I. Behind 

him I see soldiers as numerous as the leaves of 

the trees. They will obey that man’s orders. I, 

too, must obey…. If he says I cannot pass, I 

cannot….” 

Turning again to Dundy he concluded, “You 

are that man.” 

Tibbles wrote that the judge openly wept, 

as did many in the courtroom. The verdict 

came a week later, with Dundy announcing 

that, “An Indian is a person within the 

meaning of the law of the United States….” 

Standing Bear was free, and did return to 

Niobrara, but his victory denied him 

permission to enter any other tribal lands, 

including those of the other Ponca still living in 

Oklahoma. In addition, this decision did not 

automatically extend such status to other 

Indians and there would be many years before 

all Indians would truly be treated as “persons” 

under the law. 

It was also during the 1870s that an industry 

that would become synonymous with Omaha 

began to take shape. As a rail center close to 

cattle ranches and feed corn, the city was 

strategically positioned to develop a packing 

industry. The first packinghouses, some built as 

early as 1871, were small. It wasn’t until 

1884 that John McShane, a local businessman 

who later served in Congress, organized 

the Union Stockyards in South Omaha. 

✧ 

Above: Samuel D. Mercer, M.D., came to 

Omaha to practice medicine in 1866 and 

organized the Nebraska State Medical 

Society and the Omaha Medical College. He 

platted the Walnut Hill addition, where his 

large brick house at Fortieth and Cuming 

still stands. 



Right: A young girl gets a closeup look at 

one of the gargoyles for the new city hall on 

October 11, 1891. 




30

✧ 

City fathers felt the need to cut down the 

bluffs on which Omaha was built to give 

easier access to the commercial heart of 

the city. This is the northwest corner of 

Eighteenth and Douglas Streets in July (top) 

and October 1891 (bottom). 



His dynamic leadership soon attracted large 

packinghouses like Cudahy, Swift, and Armour 

through the offer of inexpensive leases and cash 

or stock bonuses. 

At first, the railroads tried to block the 

development of the Omaha stockyards. They 

preferred to route their cattle through Chicago 

and Kansas City and refused to ship livestock 

to Omaha. They underestimated McShane, 

who was a relative of the prominent Creighton 

family and had plenty of political influence of 

his own. Furious at the railroads, he traveled 

to Chicago and met with the traffic manager 

for the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad. 

CHAPTER II 

31

✧ 

Above: P. H. Sharp residence near 

Eighteenth and Douglas Street, 1891. 



Below: Who knows exactly what was 

considered West Omaha in 1890? 

Nevertheless, it had its own drum 

corps, shown here at Fourteenth and 

Capitol Streets. 




32 

He asked the man if he would like the 

Nebraska legislature to pass a bill prohibiting 

the shipment of any Nebraska livestock to 

Chicago. The railroad caved in and renewed 

shipments to Omaha. Other railroads soon 

followed. As a result the meatpacking business 

thrived, and by 1892, it accounted for fully 

two-thirds of Omaha’s economic output. 

In addition to the thriving meatpacking 

industry, Omaha was also gaining a reputation 

as a leader in another area of business. 

German immigrants like Frederick Krug, and 

his rivals Storz and Metz had created an 

industry that was challenging Milwaukee, 

Cincinnati, and St. Louis for “Beer Capital of 

the United States.” Krug began his company 

in a small frame building on Tenth and 

Farnam where he produced eighteen barrels 

of beer a week. By the early 1890s, he had 

taken over the entire block of Twenty-fourth 

and Vinton and was producing more than one 

thousand barrels of beer each week. 

In the 1880s and 1890s, a series of natural 

disasters had a profound effect on Omaha. 

The first occurred in April 1881. It was then 

that the Missouri River, that had been so 

important to Omaha’s success, showed her 

capricious nature. A huge ice “dam” broke 

upriver in South Dakota, releasing millions of 

gallons of muddy water. As the water hurdled 

south, it destroyed every small levee and dam 

in its path. 

The crest arrived in Omaha within a few 

days, and the waters instantly covered the 

Union Pacific shops, the smelting works, and 

the lumberyards near the river. The highwater 

mark was more than twenty feet above 

the normal level. Huge chunks of ice, whole 

trees, and parts of barns and houses floated 

past startled observers. Two men were 

drowned when the floodwaters overturned 

their small boat. After the waters receded, 

great effort was put into raising the level 

of the industrial bottomlands and shoring up 

the riverbanks. 

The next disaster didn’t strike until 1888, 

but it too was unexpected and awesome in its

sheer power. In January 1888, a “Blue 

Norther” came ripping in from the west. A 

bright, clear day transformed into a raging 

blizzard in a matter of hours. Winds of fortytwo 

miles per hour hurled the storm eastward 

and created mountainous snow drifts. The 

temperature dropped from 27 above to 6 

below in a matter of hours. Voices could not 

be heard above the roar of the wind, and 

visibility was reduced to a few feet. “It was 

like trying to see with my face pressed into a 

snowdrift,” said one survivor. People 

disappeared into the maelstrom and found 

buildings only because they bumped into 

them. Two men perished in the drifts less than 

a hundred feet from their houses. Many 

thousands of livestock were lost. 

Farmers had barely recovered from the 

blizzard of 1888 when the drought of the early 

1890s took hold. Even in Douglas County’s 

fertile bottomland, total crop failure became 

the rule rather than the exception. To 

compound the troubles, swarms of locusts also 

made regular visits to the ravaged countryside. 

The farmers of Douglas County had 

suffered not only from natural disasters; they 

believed they had also fallen victim to the 

unscrupulous machinations of the railroads 

and middlemen. There were many other 

farmers all across the country that felt the 

same way, and they clamored for a voice in the 

nation’s political affairs. The various Grange 

organizations and Farmer’s Alliances were 

attracting more and more members. 

In 1892, the Populist Party was launched at 

a convention in Omaha. Some thirteen 

hundred enthusiastic delegates attended the 

Party’s convention. Their platform stated, “We 

meet in the midst of a nation brought to the 

verge of moral, political and material ruin. The 

fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to 

build up colossal fortunes for a few.” They 

nominated James B. Weaver, a former Civil 

War general, as their presidential candidate. 

Weaver was nicknamed “Jumping Jimmy” for 

his ability to switch sides in any argument. He 

won 8.5 percent of the vote in 1892, including 

almost 42 percent in Nebraska. 

The citizens of Omaha and Douglas County 

had more to worry about than politics. They 

had weathered floods, financial panic, 

grasshoppers, drought, strikes, and other 

calamities. Despite all that, the city continued to 

improve and grow. By 1885 its population had 

grown to 61,000; by 1890 it reached 100,000. 

Benson and Dundee were added to suburbia. 

✧ 

A young folks’ outing in the early 1890s. 



CHAPTER II 

33

✧ 

Top, left: One of the first commercial 

theatrical venues in Omaha was Boyd’s 

Opera House on the northeast corner of 

Fifteenth and Farnam, which opened 

October 24, 1881. James E. Boyd, the 

theater’s proprietor, would later become 

governor of Nebraska. 



Top, right: Boyd’s Theater opened in 1870 

at the corner of Fifteenth and Farnam. 

By 1903 it was being operated by a 

franchisee from Kansas City. Each 

production on the bill had a short synopsis 

surrounded by advertising. 




34 

Streets were paved, waterworks installed 

and new buildings, including the city’s first 

real post office, sprang up. Boyd’s Opera 

House opened in 1881 and hosted traveling 

theatrical troupes and musical ensembles. The 

famed Irish wit, Oscar Wilde, played to a 

sold-out audience here on March 21, 1882. 

Hotels like the Millard and Barker emerged, 

along with a number of banks—the Millard, 

United States, Merchant, and others. Business 

blocks, churches of varying denominations, 

and a central library gave the young city an 

urban look. Still, Omaha had trouble 

convincing easterners of its improved status. 

Too often the lyrics of an 1869 ditty which 

appeared in Harper’s Magazine characterized 

the city to outsiders: 

Hast ever been in Omaha 

Where rolls the dark Missouri down, 

Where four strong horses scarce can draw 

An empty wagon through the town? 

Where sand is blown from every mound 

To fill your eyes and ears and throat 

Where all the steamboats are aground 

And all the houses are afloat? 

This critical poet, John G. Saxe, advised 

readers that, if Omaha ever lay in their way, 

“For God’s sake…go around it!” 

More than a little peeved at this sort of 

doggerel and the reputation it continued to 

provoke, Omaha’s business leaders took a more 

active role in countering such propaganda. A 

Commercial Club (which became the Omaha 

Chamber of Commerce in 1918) was founded 

to unite and promote economic interests, and 

in 1895, the Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben was created 

to foster patriotism and civic pride. 

But the crowning achievement, the 

statement city fathers hoped would entitle 

Omaha to take its rightful place among 

the leading communities of the West, was 

the selection of Nebraska’s largest town as 

the site of the Trans-Mississippi and 

International Exposition. 

Three years earlier, at the 1895 Trans- 

Mississippi Congress, Omaha Bee editor 

and publisher Edward Rosewater successfully 

lobbied for the hometown locale. The Ak- 

Sar-Ben board and other business leaders, who 

were anxious to showcase their city 

and to match their efforts favorably against the 

Chicago exposition of 1893, supported his bid. 

Funds for this extravaganza were solicited 

from Congress, the State of Nebraska, Omaha

and Douglas County, from other states, and 

from six thousand local investors who anted 

up more than a half-million dollars—and got 

it back with dividends. 

Local banker Gurdon Wattles not only 

helped with the financing, he also headed up 

the planning. Omaha’s premier architect, 

Thomas R. Kimball, was paired with Boston 

architect C. Howard Walker, to oversee a team 

of Exposition architects. 

In just over a year, these planners 

converted a 184-acre section in East Omaha 

into a marvelous Disneyesque setting. The site 

was loosely bordered on the north by Taylor, 

by Pinkney to the south, and bracketed 

between Eighteenth and Twenty-fourth 

Streets. The overall color scheme featured 

white buildings with green roofs. 

On June 1, 1898, the Exposition formally 

opened when President McKinley pressed 

a telegraph key in Washington, D.C. that 

triggered the lighting of the illuminated 

buildings. The president did make it to 

Omaha later—just before the five-month- 

✧ 

Above: Ak-Sar-Ben parades began in 

1895. Each year there was a theme for 

the parade, and floats were 

decorated accordingly. 



Below: To meet the increasing demand 

for clean water in the city, a waterworks 

was built at Florence in 1885. Here river 

water, upstream from the city and its 

manufacturing, was processed and piped 

into homes and businesses. 



CHAPTER II 

35

✧ 

Above: Elk City was on its way to prosperity 

when, in 1902, it issued stock for 

construction of a city hall. 



Below: The Trans-Mississippi and 

International Exposition at Omaha in 1898 

was visited by 2.5 million people over its 

five-month life. President William McKinley 

formally opened the Exposition by pressing 

a telegraph key in Washington, D.C. that 

triggered the lighting of the illuminated 

buildings. This view is of the Northwest 

Colonade with gondola in the lagoon. 



long Exposition closed on the last day of 

October 1898. 

Some two-and-a-half million people 

trooped through the Exposition, spending 

over $800,000 in admissions alone. They 

entered through a sixty-foot-high decorated 

arch and faced a diverse array of elaborate but 

temporary buildings, arranged in a “T” shape 

and flanking a thousand-foot-long lagoon. 

There were state buildings from nine states 

(including Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, and 

Illinois) plus exhibits from twenty-two other 

states. Visitors could view the Palaces of 

Agriculture, Fine Arts, Mines, Machinery, 

and Electricity. 

There were exotic areas labeled “Streets of 

Cairo,” featuring Little Egypt, a “hoochy-koochy” 

dancer, and villages recreating Morocco, The 

Philippine Islands, China, Germany, and Africa. 

A scenic railway took you past a continuous 

arcade of attractions and shops. You could 

buy popcorn, cigars, sandwiches, fruit, and 

cider. You could sample midway rides like 

“Shooting the Chute.” You could have your 

photo taken by F. A. Rinehart, the Exposition’s 

official photographer, or spend time at a poultry 

exhibit, dairy, or apiary. A relatively new 

invention, the megaphone, was used to direct the 

crowds to dancing girls or to the periodic 

parades held by groups like the Woodmen of 

the World, founded in 1890. Buffalo Bill’s 

Wild West Show also brought people in, giving 

them a chance to glimpse the famous frontiersman 

themselves. 

But the center piece of the Exposition may 

have been the Indian Congress, featuring 

representatives of nearly three dozen tribes, 

from the Apache to the Sioux, some six 

hundred Native Americans in all. Among the 

chiefs on hand were Red Cloud of the Sioux 

and Geronimo of the Apache, the latter still 

officially a prisoner of the Army. The old 

Apache leader signed autographs for fifty cents 

each or posed for a photo for double that sum. 

At one point, Geronimo wandered away from 

the grounds, got lost in Benson, and sparked 

sensationalist headlines that the “Scourge of 

the Southwest” was on the loose. A more 

inspiring moment occurred when Geronimo, 

parading before General Nelson Miles, who 

had once fought against him, got off his horse, 


36

✧ 

A photograph of the government building in 

Omaha taken from northwest of the bridge 

during the Trans-Mississippi and 

International Exposition in 1898. 



AVIATION PIONEER 

Not every aviation venture in Omaha featured major airlines and bustling terminals. 

In 1926, Omahan Roy Furstenberg created P-M Airways, Inc., using the initials for “Prettiest Mile,” the title given tree-lined Florence 

Boulevard where Furstenberg lived. His fleet of four planes (more were added later) provided rides for adventurous citizens, and P-M 

also offered flying lessons. Originally operating from a dairy field at Sixteenth and Read Streets, the enterprise eventually settled in at 

the new municipal airport. When a severe storm destroyed Furstenberg’s planes and hangars, he bounced back as the president of a 

new operation, Overland Airways. This corporation rebuilt airplane engines and entire planes, supplied parts, and trained both 

mechanics and pilots. 

Furstenberg and his partners also built experimental planes, culminating in the production of the Overland Sport Trainer, a seventyhorsepower 

biplane dubbed the “Sweetheart of the Air.” It sold for $2,895. Orders soon poured in, and Overland was producing three 

“Sweethearts” a week to meet demand. 

Unfortunately, the Great Depression devastated sales, and production ground to a halt in January 1932. 

Furstenberg’s exploits were in the tradition of pioneer airplane builder Glen Curtis, who brought his air show to Omaha in 1910, 

using Omaha’s first airfield, a pasture near Forty-fifth and Military Avenue. Ak-Sar-Ben Field was also used, and the first mail plane 

arrived there in 1919. 

There was a lot up in the air in Omaha before names like United and Eppley became well known. 

CHAPTER II 

37

✧ 

Above: The U.S. Post Office at Sixteenth 

and Dodge was completed in 1890. One of 

only nine such structures built by the federal 

government, this building did not survive 

Omaha’s urban renewal. It was demolished 

to build the Hilton Hotel. 



Below: The Grand Opera House at Fifteenth 

and Capitol was originally erected as the 

Exposition Building in 1885. It was 

destroyed by fire in 1895. 



walked to the reviewing stand and embraced 

his old enemy. 

Attendees gawked at the teepees, wickiups, 

adobe huts, and other tribal dwellings and 

could observe daily tasks like working, 

cooking, eating, and playing of games. The 

Indian Wars were over on the Plains and this 

Congress was intended not only as 

entertainment but also to introduce the public 

to a new image of the people the press had for 

so long called “Savages.” 

The Nebraska City Conservative editorialized 

that this might be the last chance “to see the 

red man in his primitive glory and in his 

various tribal divisions, under correct 

conditions of dwellings, costume, industry, 

and ceremonial.” 

Not even the Spanish-American War 

was able to put a damper on the festivities. 

There was something for everyone. Those 

with more carnal appetites could visit the 

nearby posh bordello established just for the 

Exposition by the famed Everleigh Sisters, 

Minna and Ada. 

And advertisers latched on to the 

Exposition, with the Translucent Fabric 

Company of Quincy, Massachusetts, pointing 

out in print that, at this Trans-Mississippi 

Exposition, “nearly 100,000 square feet of 

TRANSLUCENT FABRIC SKYLIGHTS were 

specified and used exclusively on these 

buildings in preference to all other forms 

of skylights.” 

When it was all over, Omahans felt pretty 

good about themselves and, to a certain 

degree, other Americans realized there was 

something west of the Missouri other than 

dust and desolation. It was a good way to ease 

into the next century. 

Opposite: The Greater America Exposition 

of 1899 rebuilt the Trans-Mississippi 

grounds and focused on colonialism. 




38

CHAPTER II 

39


40

CHAPTER III 

T HE H UDDLED M ASSES M OVE W EST 

1900 TO 1941 

As the twentieth century opened, life expectancy for Americans was less than fifty years, with 

heart disease, flu, and pneumonia the chief causes of death. Flu would cut a path of devastation 

across the Heartland in the first quarter of the century. 

At the turn of the century, the average worker’s wage was less than $13 per week, and even that 

sum would look good before the century was a third over. 

Douglas County citizens started the era in decent financial shape, although few of them exhibited 

great wealth. Still, by today’s standards (and today’s dollars), goods seemed remarkably inexpensive. 

Folks ordering from their 1909 Sears Catalogue had a choice of diamond rings ranging from $10 to 

$100. You could buy a carved oak rocking chair for $3.95 and a brass bed and mattress for under 

$15. An ornate organ sold for less than $50, and the most expensive concert violin was half that. 

Men’s ties were 19¢, and women’s shoes topped out at around $2. 

Among other things, this favorable economy was a further spur to immigration, with Douglas 

County, and especially Omaha, benefiting from the presence of new citizens brought here by 

agricultural opportunities and related industries like the stockyards and packinghouses. 

The state’s population in the first decade of the last century crept past a million, providing 

Nebraska with a ranking as the seventeenth most populous state. Douglas County was slowly 

moving toward a population of two hundred thousand. 

When the Federal Writer’s Project volume on Nebraska was published in 1939, the authors 

noted that while only 115,300 Nebraskans at the time were foreign born, nearly half a million were 

second- or third-generation Americans. Of these, Germans, at 168,000, made up the largest bloc, 

followed by the Czechs and Swedes, each with about fifty thousand citizens. The remaining larger 

segments were made up of Danes, Russians, English, Irish, Polish, and Italians. 

Many of these ethnic groups settled outside the Douglas County area, locating in farming 

communities like Columbus, West Point, Crete, Norfolk, Kearney, and elsewhere. Some created 

their own small towns. 

However, all of these groups were represented in Omaha, where they entered business and the 

professions. South Omaha, which was annexed to Omaha in 1915 along with the Dundee 

neighborhood, was home to many of these nationalities. The Czechs, for example, centered around 

Thirteenth and William Streets, while the Poles generally lived northwest of the stockyards and in 

an area known as Sheely Town. Italians, who worked both for the packinghouses and the railroads, 

settled east of Tenth Street, close to the Missouri bluffs. Most of the town’s dairies were owned by 

Danish immigrants, and the Irish, as they did in other areas, drifted into urban occupations like 

the police and fire departments, along with the major industries. Lithuanians were there in smaller 

numbers before World War II, but their population grew dramatically after that conflict. Jewish 

residents managed a number of businesses on North Sixteenth and Twenty-fourth Streets. German 

influence was varied and widespread. 

African-American newcomers, who came north after the Civil War, settled largely in the cities. 

Of the twenty-four thousand Black residents of Nebraska in the early years of the last century, at 

least seventy-five percent lived in Omaha. 

Buildings like the German-American Home, Sokol Hall, Jewish Community Center, and places 

like Vennelyst Park echo this influx of new Omahans, as did organizations like the Urban League. 

From its humble beginnings in a single structure in east Omaha, Omaha University, founded in 

1908, would eventually grow into a multi-layered campus north of Elmwood Park, and would 

✧ 

Ak-Sar-Ben’s first street carnival began on 

September 22, 1900. Douglas Street, 

renamed Bohemian Boulevard, was blocked 

off from Seventeenth to Nineteenth for the 

huge Oriental Carnival and Masked 

Parade. St. Mary Magdalene and Omaha 

High School are seen in the upper right. 



CHAPTER III 

41

✧ 

Above: A carload of sheep has just been 

unloaded at the Omaha Union Stockyards 

in this pre-WWI view. 



Below: A postcard of the Carter Lake Club 

House. Carter Lake was formed when the 

Missouri River cut a new channel during a 

flood on July 8, 1877. It remains a popular 

boating and water skiing arena. 



change its title to the University of Nebraska 

at Omaha, following its inclusion as part of 

the state system of higher education. 

Labor organizations also made the scene 

fairly early in the history of Douglas County. 

Union Pacific workers were among the first to 

organize, and their union was strong enough 

in 1877 to avert a local strike at a time when 

railroad workers were out across the nation. In 

Omaha, the worker’s wage demands were met. 

But the situation was different a few years later 

when troops from Fort Omaha, along with the 

state militia, were called in to put down a 

strike by workers at the city’s smelting works, 

the largest such facility in the country. The 

Omaha Central Labor Union emerged from 

these troubled years. 

Perhaps the most significant strikes occurred 

among the packinghouse employees who were 

out in 1894, and again ten years later. The 

Union Pacific shops went on strike in 1902. 

There was a lockout of the building trades in 

1903, and the packinghouse workers in 1904. 

Despite the defeat of these protests, unions grew 

in Omaha right up and through World War I. 

Legislation limiting picketing was passed by the 

state legislature, and, in some firms, prospective 

employees were required to sign a form 

promising not to join a union. Union 

membership ebbed and flowed, diminished by 

the Depression economy, stimulated by some of 

President Franklin Roosevelt’s programs. But the 

unrest continued with strikes by streetcar 

employees and truckers and other groups. 

Organizing became more sophisticated with 

both the CIO and AFL competing for the 

industrialization of various skills and crafts. 

Running parallel to the advance and 

setbacks in the labor movement was the hardto-predict 

course of politics. 

William Jennings Bryan, known as the 

“Great Commoner,” was the first major 


42

✧ 

Left: Hanscom Park and Pavilion 

occupying fifty-eight acres of land donated 

by Andrew Hanscom and James G. Megeath 

in 1872 is the oldest park in Omaha. 

Located at Thirty-second and Woolworth, 

the park features a lake, conservatory, and 

tennis courts. 



presidential candidate to call Nebraska his 

home. He had served two terms in the U.S. 

Congress and been defeated for a bid for the 

U.S. Senate. In 1894, he became editor-inchief 

for the Omaha World-Herald, a position 

he held for two years. He used his position as 

editor to help launch his first presidential bid. 

Between 1865 and 1900, the United States 

had suffered through a deflationary cycle that 

saw prices fall by more than forty-five 

percent. This was especially tough on farmers 

who had to repay loans with dollars that were 

worth far more than the ones they had 

borrowed. Bryan championed currency 

reform. He and his fellow “silverites” insisted 

the government expand the nation’s money 

supply by minting silver as well as gold coin. 

In 1896, as a delegate to the Democratic 

National Convention in Chicago, Bryan was 

given a chance to speak at the convention. He 

made the most of his opportunity. He gave his 

famous “Cross of Gold” speech that was an 

inspiring appeal on behalf of coining silver. 

“Having behind us the producing masses of this 

nation and the world,” he stated. “We will 

answer their demand for a gold standard by 

saying to them: You shall not press down upon 

the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you 

shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold!” 

His speech caused such a sensation that 

after several ballots, his party nominated this 

unknown, thirty-six-year-old politician for 

the presidency. He went on to lose a close 

election to William McKinley. He was 

nominated by the Democrats again in 1900 

and 1908, but was defeated both times. 

Below: William Jennings Bryan, the “Great 

Commoner” and three-time Democratic 

presidential nominee, may have been the 

actual persona for L. Frank Baum’s Wizard 

of Oz. Bryan, a darkhorse, won the 1896 

presidential nomination after making his 

famous “Cross of Gold” speech. 



CHAPTER III 

43

✧ 

Right: “Svea I Amerika. Upt radande damer 

och herrar I Majfesten, Omaha, Nebraska, 

1896. Arrangerad of Musikdirektor Adolf 

Edgren.” Swedish May Day celebration 

dancers in 1896. 



Below: The Swedish Epworth League 

Convention, June 22-26, 1898, in front of 

the Swedish M.E. Church at 515 North 

Eighth Street. 



Bryan’s rise coincided with the rise of the 

populists and the formation of many 

agricultural organizations. In 1903, in an 

attempt to keep more money in their hands and 

give less to the middlemen, Nebraska farmers 

organized the Grain Dealers Association. It was 

a forerunner to the farm co-operatives that 

flourished in later decades. 


44

Like the populists, Bryan’s fortune waxed 

and waned. A lifelong teetotaler, his support 

of Prohibition, combined with his electoral 

defeats caused him to lose influence with 

Nebraska Democrats. In spite of his loss of 

local influence, he remained a figure on the 

national stage until his death in 1925. 

The 1896, the same year that William 

Jennings Bryan gave his famous “Cross of 

Gold” speech, Gurdon W. Wattles purchased 

the Omaha Railway System. Although there 

had been “streetcars” in Omaha since 1869, it 

wasn’t until 1901 that a true system was 

developed. There were many competing 

companies, and most lines ran only short 

distances that just added to the confusion. It 

got so bad that in 1889 the Nebraska 

Legislature passed a bill providing for 

consolidation of the lines. By 1901, five 

years after he had purchased the Omaha 

Railway System, Wattles had combined all 

of the disparate companies into the Omaha 

and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company. 

It had 150 miles of track and more than 

1,500 employees. 

Wattles had hoped to recoup his 

investment by laying track into suburbs 

where he already owned property. He ended 

up being hailed as a community benefactor by 

the thousands of customers who were 

enjoying the vast improvements he made to 

the streetcar system. 

While Bryan was campaigning nationally 

in the first thirty years of the twentieth 

century, Omaha was what a polite society 

referred to as an “open town.” Gambling, 

though illegal, was rampant. Civic unrest, like 

the 1909 “Greek Riot”, added to the city’s 

negative reputation. By 1910, there were 

twenty-six hundred “professional” prostitutes, 

plus numerous “freelancers.” Prohibition 

failed miserably in the river city, with alcohol 

available from many local merchants, 

including some drugstores. The combination 

of liquor and women made Omaha’s “Houses 

✧ 

Left: Nils Turnquist, captain in the South 

Omaha Police Department about 1900. 



Bottom, left: In 1900, Irvington was a 

long ride from Omaha. This photograph of 

the Irvington Hotel was taken by an 

amateur photographer. 



Below: Brewer Fred Krug opened an 

amusement park near Benson. This view 

dates from about 1900. 



CHAPTER III 

45

✧ 

Above: “Cowboy Jim” Dahlman, flamboyant 

mayor and mouthpiece for “Boss” Tom 

Dennison, served for all but three years 

from 1906 until his death in 1930. 



Right: Heavyweight boxing champion Jack 

Dempsey is greeted at the railroad station 

by long-time Omaha Mayor James C. 

Dahlman in 1923. 




46 

of Assignation” highly lucrative, averaging 

$17.5 million annually in collective profits 

between 1905 and 1911. 

During most of this time, Omaha had as its 

mayor James “Cowboy Jim” Dahlman, 

Omaha’s mayor for all but three years from 

1906 until his death in office in 1930. 

Dahlman was a hands-on mayor, rarely 

delegating even the smallest decisions to his 

staff. He would personally speak to a 

constituent with a problem or visit a citizen in 

jail. Frequently, Dahlman pardoned an inmate 

convicted of drunkenness or some other 

“trivial” offense. He once commented, “If it 

was the man alone who paid the penalty for 

the offense, I would let him stay in jail. I 

cannot see a mother and children suffer 

because the husband and father drank a little 

too much.” 

His popularity with the citizens of his 

community was part of the secret to Dahlman’s 

longevity as mayor, a longevity that earned 

him the title, “The Perpetual Mayor of 

Omaha.” The major factor in his long run as 

mayor was the support he enjoyed from 

Omaha’s political “boss,” Tom Dennison. 

Dennison, also known as “The Old Man” came 

to Omaha in 1892 at age thirty-four. This 

nickname changed to “the Old Grey Wolf” in 

1933, during Dennison’s last campaign, when 

his opponents sang “the old grey wolf he ain’t 

what he used to be”, but to his followers, he 

was always The Old Man. As George Leighton 

of Harper’s Bazaar tells it, Dennison showed 

up with $75,000, which he deposited at a 

local bank, telling the banker that $50,000 

was for the banker to use as he chose. 

Within a few years of his arrival in Omaha, 

Dennison had launched an enormously 

successful gambling business and made 

connections with nearly all of the City’s 

powerful elite. Although gambling wasn’t 

actually legal, it was a common sight to see 

Dennison being escorted throughout the town 

by members of Omaha’s police force. The 

gambling houses, which suffered from the 

most frequent and destructive police raids, 

always seemed to be those owned by 

Dennison’s fiercest competitors, while his own 

establishments escaped unscathed. 

Keeping his business interests alive was 

Dennison’s greatest concern, and he showed a

✧ 

Left: An early Dollar Cab stand with call 

box in downtown Omaha in the late 1930s. 



Below: Tom Dennison, the “Boss” of the 

political machine in Omaha from about 

1900 to 1933. He is pictured here with his 

second wife, seventeen-year-old Nevajo 

Truman. His home still stands near 

Seventy-second and Military. 



special genius for the work. When Dahlman 

emerged as an unopposed candidate for the 

Democratic nomination for mayor in 1906, 

Dennison, a lifelong Republican, put the 

considerable weight of Omaha’s Third Ward 

behind Dahlman. Dahlman’s public stance 

opposing Prohibition may have cost him the 

support of William Jennings Bryan, but it 

guaranteed him Dennison’s support. 

No one ever seriously questioned 

Dahlman’s personal integrity, but the mutual 

advantages created by his relationship with 

Dennison were obvious. The two men were 

rarely seen together in public, and no 

concrete evidence ever linked Dahlman to the 

crime and political corruption practiced by 

the Dennison machine. Still, Dennison was a 

staunch Dahlman supporter, and Dahlman 

didn’t interfere with Dennison’s gambling or 

CHAPTER III 

47

✧ 

W. W. Scott took an album of photos after 

the 1913 Easter Tornado struck Douglas 

County. It was the most devastating storm 

in Omaha’s history. In the photo above, we 

see Twenty-fourth Street and Lake. In the 

photo below, the 1913 Easter Tornado 

overturned a streetcar at Forty-eighth and 

Leavenworth. The tornado touched down 

near Ralston and stayed on the ground all 

the way across Omaha. 



other illicit business ventures. Some charged 

that Dahlman was a front man for illegal 

interests, but Dennison didn’t see it that 

way. He declared, “Laws that people don’t 

believe in can’t be enforced if whole armies 

tried it.” Dahlman’s lack of strenuous 

opposition to Dennison’s lawless activities 

may have been no more than pragmatism and 

self-interest. 

Not everyone was happy with the lawless 

state of their city. Frustrated with “politics as 

usual,” in 1912 the citizens of Omaha changed 

from a mayor-council to a “commission” form 

of government. This style of city government 

called for a non-partisan, citywide election of 

seven commissioners. Once chosen, the 

commissioners elected a mayor and department 

heads from among their own ranks. 

Under the new system, Dahlman continued as 

mayor. Even with the new system, it took 

years to make serious inroads into the 

Dennison machine. 

The candidates formed slates before the 

general election, established their political 

platforms, and then stated the offices that they 

were most interested in filling, from mayor to 

chief of police. The slates referred to 

themselves by names like the “Allied Slate” 

and the “Committee of Five Thousand.” They 

competed to prove themselves the most 

progressive and reform minded. Most favored 

Prohibition and opposed corruption and 

prostitution. However, it would take six years 

for the commission form of government to 

reach the height of its popularity, when the 

first slate of “reformers” was elected in 1918. 

But the Dennison crowd wouldn’t stay down 

for long. 

While Omahans waited to see how their 

new form of government would work, a force 

of nature visited them once again, but this 

time it wasn’t a flood or a blizzard, but a 

tornado. Some citizens even saw it as God’s 

retribution for Omaha’s political sins. 

The tornado arrived in the afternoon of 

Sunday, March 23, 1913. According to the 

next day’s edition of the Omaha World-Herald, 

“Death and destruction unparalleled in the 

history of Omaha traveled with a terrific 

tornado which mowed a wide and gruesome 

path through the city late yesterday afternoon. 

A balmy spring day typical in its fleeting 

glimpses of the sun and threatening of 

showers, developed into a driving rainstorm 

and then, in the twinkling of an eye, into a 

devastating monster of annihilation. And as 

the dead were carried to the morgues and the 

maimed moaned from the wreckage, and the 

yellow sky glowed with the carmine reflection 

of hundreds of burning homes, it was recalled 

that it was Easter Sunday!” 

The World-Herald described the storm as a 

“wind demon” that came “careening over the 

prairies from the southwest and drove a 


48

diagonal course through the residence district 

to the northeast.” The storm entered Omaha 

near Fifty-first and Center Streets, struck the 

hill at Thirty-ninth and Farnam, and 

continued on a northeastern path until it left 

Omaha just south of Kountze Park before 

entering Carter Lake and “wreaking its halfspent 

fury” on Council Bluffs. 

Unlike today, there was no early warning 

system. The storm came as a total shock to 

Omaha’s citizens. They considered their town 

to be “tornado-proof,” protected by the 

barricade of surrounding hills. The path of the 

storm was two to four blocks wide and ripped 

its way through the mansions of the rich and 

the tenements of the poor with equal fury. 

When it was all done, there were 111 dead in 

Omaha. Another eighteen perished in the 

small towns surrounding the city. More than 

350 people were injured, 1669 homes were 

destroyed, and thousands of Omahans were 

homeless. Governor John Morehead called 

out the militia and, while touring the scene of 

destruction, said, “This is enough like my 

conception of hell to suit me!” 

There were many stories of narrow escapes 

and heroic rescues. There were also tragic 

tales. The Child Saving Institute, a local 

✧ 

Above: A detachment from the Army Signal 

Corps at Fort Omaha stands guard in Bemis 

Park after the 1913 Easter Tornado. 



Below: Courtland Beach amusement park 

was built on the shores of Cut-Off Lake 

(later Carter Lake). The Carter Lake Club 

bought out the amusement park in 1912. 



CHAPTER III 

49

✧ 

Right: Businesswoman Genevieve Sautter 

opened a grocery store at Tenth and 

Bancroft in 1910. 



Below: Omaha Women’s Club planting the 

first tree on the House of Hope grounds at 

Florence, Nebraska, on Arbor Day, April 

21, 1917. 



orphanage, was directly in the path of the 

storm. The staff hurried to save as many of the 

35 children as they could, but once the storm 

had passed, they counted only 32. They 

discovered three infants had been blown out 

of a window. The crushed body of one was 

found 40 feet away, while another was found 

more than 100 yards away. Miraculously, the 

third infant was found dangling just below the 

open window, her nightgown caught on a 

protruding nail. 

Despite the shock and the horror, 

Omahans proved resilient. They poured into 

the streets to help their neighbors and raised 


50

many thousands of dollars to help rebuild 

their city. Perhaps most resilient of all were 

the insurance companies. On March 25, 

1913, two days after the storm, the Omaha 

World-Herald featured pages of ads offering a 

type of insurance heretofore unknown— 

tornado insurance. 

One of the many people who probably 

witnessed the storm was a young Irish priest 

who had arrived in Omaha only nine years 

earlier. Father Edward J. Flanagan first came 

to Nebraska in 1904. He worked briefly at the 

Cudahy packing plant before beginning his 

study for the priesthood and was ordained 

in 1912. 

While serving as an assistant pastor at St. 

Patrick’s Church in Omaha, he opened the 

“Workingman’s Hotel” for homeless and 

destitute men. It wasn’t long before Flanagan 

realized it was too late for most of these men. 

✧ 

Above: The Omaha Commercial Club, a 

forerunner of the Omaha Chamber of 

Commerce, traveled the region promoting 

the city. A little girl “rings for Omaha” one 

of the promotional souvenirs from a trip 

about 1904. 



Left: Dan Desdunes (far left) came from 

New Orleans to Omaha in 1904. In 1916 

he organized and trained the finest black 

band ever developed in Nebraska. It became 

the official band of the Omaha Chamber of 

Commerce. Desdunes was also the 

instructor for Father Flanagan’s Boys Band 

until his death in 1929. Desdunes is credited 

with being one of the premier jazz coronet 

players in New Orleans. 



CHAPTER III 

51

✧ 

Above: American Expeditionary Forces 

Commander-in-Chief John J. Pershing 

reviews the troops at the Fort Omaha 

Balloon Training School, March 6, 1919. 



Below: The city auditorium opened June 7, 

1904 on the southeast corner of Fifteenth 

and Howard. A new auditorium was 

completed about 1954 at Seventeenth and 

Capitol. This building was razed in 1963. 




52 

The pattern of their lives was already firmly 

set. He believed that if he could have only 

gotten to them when they were boys, maybe 

he could’ve made a difference. He decided he 

had to try. 

In December 1917, with the permission 

of the archbishop and $90 borrowed from 

a friend, he opened his home for homeless 

and neglected boys at Twenty-fifth and 

Dodge. That first Christmas meal for the 

boys was a simple repast, enlivened only 

by a barrel of sauerkraut donated by a 

local merchant. 

The word soon spread about Father 

Flanagan and his home, and boys were sent 

by judges, policemen, and kindly citizens. 

Many boys just walked in off the streets by 

themselves. Flanagan’s home was soon 

bursting at the seams and he was forced to 

move to larger quarters, taking over the 

abandoned German-American Home at 4206 

South Thirteenth Street in Spring 1918. 

The German-American Home was available 

due to America’s entry into World War I and 

the resulting Anti-German fervor that swept 

the country. America’s involvement in the war 

totaled less than two years, from April 1917 to 

November 1918, and there was only minor 

impact on Omaha. A balloon school was built 

at Fort Omaha (whose mission had changed 

after the Indian Wars), and the novelty of 

manned balloons drifting over the city 

entertained the populace but didn’t contribute 

much to the city’s economy. The biggest 

impact was the departure of nearly twentythousand 

Omahans who served in the armed 

forces creating local labor shortages. Almost 

half of these soldiers served in a trio of 

machine gun battalions along with elements 

of the 355th Infantry Regiment. The 

University of Nebraska College of Medicine in 

Omaha formed an active hospital unit that 

functioned overseas. This war also brought 

fame to a former commandant of the 

University of Nebraska cadets. General John J. 

Pershing, who also studied at the university, 

was named commander-in-chief of the 

American Expeditionary Forces. 

Towards the end of the hostilities there was a 

massive expansion of agriculture throughout 

the Great Plains. Once again, Omaha benefited 

from its central location due to its growth as an 

important shipping center. 

Other than helping him find a place for his 

boys, the war had little effect on Flanagan’s 

burgeoning home. The boys just kept coming. 

So, in 1921, again borrowing money from 

friends, Flanagan bought Overlook Farm, ten 

miles west of Omaha. He moved his entire 

operation there and named it Boys Town. It 

became the permanent home for Father 

Flanagan and his boys. 

Through the years, as Boys Town grew and 

buildings were added to the campus, 

Flanagan was tireless in raising money to 

ensure its survival. It became an incorporated

village in 1936, but it was an event two years 

later that was to bring it everlasting fame. 

The MGM movie Boys Town was filmed on 

location, and citizens of Omaha and the 

surrounding areas flocked to see stars like 

Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney in action. 

Dozens of Boys Town boys served as extras. 

The movie premier was held in downtown 

Omaha, and the streets overflowed with 

proud Omahans hoping to catch a glimpse of 

the stars of the movie. It went on to set box 

office records, and Spencer Tracy received an 

Oscar for his portrayal of Father Flanagan. 

Flanagan’s home for boys continued to 

bring attention to Omaha and Douglas County 

during the 1940s. During World War II, over 

✧ 

Above: Florence Field at Thirty-first to 

Thirty-sixth Streets, from Redick to Scott, 

was the site of the Fort Omaha Balloon 

Training School in 1918. 



Below: Officers of the balloon school at Fort 

Omaha with their mascot in 1918. 



CHAPTER III 

53


54

✧ 

Opposite: In 1938, Spencer Tracy won an 

Oscar for his portrayal of Father Flanagan 

in Boys Town. In this photograph, Tracy 

and Flanagan pose with two of the boys 

and the movie’s director, Norman Taurog 

(center). 



Left: Armand Petersen owned Sherman 

Avenue Meat Market at 2911 Sherman 

Avenue about 1910. In 1925, Sherman 

Avenue’s name was changed to North 

Sixteenth Street. 



700 Boys Town graduates served in the armed 

forces and more than 40 were killed, including 

three at Pearl Harbor. Flanagan was named the 

“Number One War Dad” because so many of 

his “boys” had fought for their country. 

After the War, General Douglas MacArthur 

asked Flanagan to visit the Far East and offer 

solutions for the thousands of children 

orphaned by the war. Following his success in 

the Far East, in 1948 President Truman asked 

Flanagan to journey to Europe to offer advice 

for similar problems there. It was while 

visiting Berlin, Germany, that he suffered a 

heart attack and died. He was sixty-three 

years old. Today his creation is named Girls 

and Boys Town and has expanded to locations 

elsewhere in the nation. 

In 1918, the year after Father Flanagan 

founded Boys Town, the reform-minded Allied 

Slate, headed by mayoral candidate Edward 

Smith, finally triumphed, interrupting the 

reign of “Cowboy” James Dahlman, who had 

been mayor since 1906. The Omaha Trade 

Exhibit explained the victory of the Allied Slate 

Below: In 1904, the first “pay-as-you-enter” 

streetcars arrived in Omaha. The 

motorman’s vestibule had a doored cab he 

kept closed except to let passengers off. The 

rear platform, still open, was divided by 

piping, and one entered on the left, handed 

the conductor a nickel. The new plan 

resulted in many passengers getting off 

backward. This safety poster shows the 

proper way to exit the car. 



CHAPTER III 

55

✧ 

Above: An Armistice Day parade in 

downtown Omaha in November 1918. 



Below: On Sunday, September 28, 1919, an 

enraged mob of six thousand people 

attacked the Douglas County Courthouse 

and dragged black prisoner William Brown 

from the top floor of the jail, shot, lynched, 

and burned him. Brown had been arrested 

two days earlier, accused of assaulting a 

white girl. The mob ransacked and looted 

the courthouse as well. After the riot an 

editorial in the World-Herald attacked 

“mob spirit” and won a Pulitzer Prize. 



Opposite, top: Back when talkies were still a 

novelty, Olsen & Johnson, vaudeville 

headliners, brought their live review to the 

Orpheum. For a single ticket price, patrons 

saw both a full-length vaudeville show and 

a full-length motion picture. Opening night 

was in progress when Will Wentworth 

captured this view. 



Opposite, middle: Sebastian Bandiera 

“bobs” a girl’s locks in his barbershop at 

1507 North Thirty-third Street in 1926 

while another girl waits. 



by declaring, “The businessmen of this city, the 

big men who are responsible for the city’s 

rapid growth and wonderful progress, are 

determined to have a four-square city, a well 

regarded and well balanced city, and one whose 

political machinery and city govern-ment 

would be a true representation of the place in 

business and social affairs in this great trade 

territory that Omaha now holds.” 

The ascendancy of the “reform party” was 

short-lived. There was in-fighting almost 

immediately, and the commissioners soon fell 

out over a wide variety of issues. A horrifying 

riot in 1919 resulted in a lynching that was 

one of the city’s darkest hours. 

On the afternoon of Sunday, September 

29, a mob later calculated to number six 

thousand, gathered outside the Douglas 

Opposite, bottom: Albert Cahn at 1322 

Farnam was one of six shirtmakers in 

Omaha in 1915. The employee lunchroom 

apparently had both cook and waiter. 




56

County Courthouse. Imprisoned on the sixth 

floor of that building was a young black man 

named William Brown. He had been accused 

of raping a white girl. Brown’s defense attorney 

argued that his client couldn’t have committed 

the offense because he was severely crippled. 

However, the prosecutor paraded dozens of 

eyewitnesses who swore they saw Brown 

commit the crime. Despite the drama inside 

the courthouse, there was even more drama 

outside as a mob began to gather. The rioters 

took matters into their own hands. They set 

fire to the courthouse, dragged the prisoner 

from his cell, hanged him and then burned his 

body. When Mayor Smith tried to intervene, he 

was also beaten and hanged, but rescuers 

managed to cut him down just in time. 

One outcome of this tragedy was the 

migration of black citizens from other parts of 

Omaha to the near-north side of town. It took 

fifty years for that trend to reverse itself. There 

was also a more determined effort to unite the 

growing black community, led by Earl Little, a 

Baptist minister who was the father of Malcolm 

X. Another result was the defeat of the Allied 

slate, who were depicted as unable to govern. 

In the 1921 election, former Mayor Dahlman’s 

“United Seven” slate was triumphant. Both 

Dennison and Dahlman returned to power for 

another decade. Dahlman would remain 

mayor until his death in 1930. 

As for Dennison, whatever the reason for 

the success of his “Bossism,” it didn’t survive 

him. After his death in 1934 from a cerebral 

hemorrhage, vice’s hold on Omaha began to 

waver. When State Attorney General C. A. 

Sorenson told Omaha officials to “Clean up 

Omaha, or I’ll come and do it for you,” things 

began to change. A series of well-planned 

raids forced much of the criminal activity 

underground and dispersed the rampant 

prostitution. Though Omaha was still a lively 

town, you now had to know where to look to 

find some “action.” 

Despite the Depression, which hit the grain 

and livestock markets heavily, Omaha and 

Douglas County continued to grow. Joslyn Art 

Museum opened in 1931, thanks to a gift by 

Sarah Joslyn, and, that same year, the Art Deco 

Union Station was completed. The Ak-Sar-Ben 

Coliseum was up and running a year before 

CHAPTER III 

57

✧ 

Right: Swift and Company Meat Market, 

1223 Leavenworth Street about 1917. 

Dressed meat was delivered directly from 

their packinghouse at the stockyards via 

open trucks like this until 1947. 



Below: Roy Turnquist was the leader of the 

Orioles, one of many dance bands in 

Omaha in the 1920s. Turnquist played 

saxophone and was later active in the 

Shrine band. 



Opposite, top: Omaha Union Station was 

built in 1899 to accommodate many 

railroads that had passenger train service 

into Omaha. It was replaced in 1931 by the 

current Union Station. The Chicago, 

Burlington & Quincy Railroad Station was 

across the tracks to the south. This photo 

was taken by Joseph Stimson, a 

photographer from Cheyenne, Wyoming. 



Opposite, bottom: The new Insurance 

Building at 1708 Farnam Street opened in 

1935. It was the most complete 

modernization project in the country done 

by Woodmen of the World. The building 

provided additional office space. 




58

CHAPTER III 

59

✧ 

Right: Businesswoman Ellen Rocho sold box 

lunches. By the mid-1930s she averaged 

thirty-three hundred box lunches a day. Her 

fleet of delivery trucks is shown here in 

Elmwood Park in 1927. 

COURTESY OF MARGE TOWEY AND THE DOUGLAS 

COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY COLLECTIONS. 

Below: Johnny Goodman, the greatest 

amateur golfer of his day, graduated from 

South High School in 1927. He won the 

amateur U.S. Open, and defeated Bobby 

Jones at Pebble Beach. 



the Stock Market Crash, and so was the 

Omaha Community Playhouse. 

A 1930s survey showed that the state had 

more automobiles and trucks than families, 

but there were twice as many miles of gravel 

roads than paved roads. This phenomenon 

helped the growth of the town of Valley, 

whose gravel pits were kept busy. Crystal sets 

gave way to radio cabinets, and even foreign 

reception was possible. There were twentytwo 

busy bus lines in Omaha and about a 

dozen planes a day, passenger and mail, took 

off from the city’s airport. 

City planners wisely allowed land for parks 

and Omaha became known for its outdoor 

recreational areas. Names like Elmwood, 

Hanscom, Riverview, Kountze, Mandan, 

Miller, Fontenelle, Hummel, and Levi Carter 

showed green on the city’s maps. As early as 

the 1920s, Omaha was third nationally in per 

capita park area. The city also boasted the 

third largest corn and livestock markets, was 

fourth nationally in home ownership, and 

second in per capita telephone use. The 

county’s population grew by more than fifty 

percent that decade, with new Asian and 

Hispanic immigrants adding to the mix. 

The million-dollar Douglas County 

Hospital opened in 1932, and churches of all 

denominations were erected. Chain stores also 

began arriving on the scene—Woolworth, 

JCPenney, S. S. Kresge, A&P, Safeway, and 

Piggly Wiggly. 

There were, of course, various calamities, 

natural and unnatural. A series of floods on 


60

the Missouri, the Platte, and the Elkhorn 

caused extensive damage in Valley, Waterloo, 

and Omaha. An epidemic of infantile paralysis 

in the 1930s reminded citizens of the 

devastating flu that racked the nation and 

the Midlands during the First World War. 

There was gambling, and bootlegging, and 

the internal warfare these activities caused. 

While the county didn’t have anything to 

match the exploits of Dillinger or Bonnie and 

Clyde, Omaha did record at least one 

unsolved murder, that of Harry Lapidus, 

who was shot and killed near Hanscom Park. 

Since Lapidus was an outspoken campaigner 

against Dennison’s gaming and liquor 

interests, suspicion fell on Dennison, but 

nothing ever came of the investigation, and 

Dennison died less than three years after 

the murder. 

Thanks to the CB&Q and the MoPac rail 

lines, the town of Ralston was created and 

earned official status in 1953. Waterloo had 

its new fairgrounds (1919) and Valley its 

lucrative gravel contracts, so things were 

happening in the county outside of the 

Omaha city limits. 

These residents of outlying towns often 

came to Omaha to see the movies. The city’s 

first movie house, the Parlor, at Tenth and 

Douglas Streets, offered early films like The 

Great Train Robbery. The talkies arrived in 

1928, and patrons soon got to view 

Hollywood stars with local connections like 

Harold Lloyd and Fred (Austerlitz) Astaire. 

✧ 

Above: Passenger trains for both the 

Burlington Station and Omaha Union 

Station arrived and departed from 

adjoining yards. There was even a covered 

walkway between the two stations shown 

here about 1935. 



Below: All dressed up for a 1930s parade, 

this burro pulls a cart of White King 

granulated soap. 



CHAPTER III 

61

King Kong impressed audiences in 1933, just 

as Dracula and Frankenstein had frightened 

them a couple of years earlier. But the biggest 

movie news centered on the premier of the 

movie Boys Town in 1938 and the release of 

Union Pacific the following year. In 

conjunction with that latter film, Douglas 

County citizens celebrated “Golden Spike 

Days,” with residents being encouraged to 

grow beards and wear western clothing. 

Other entertainment options included 

radio programming ranging from The Shadow 

to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy. But 

the major pastime was probably dancing at 

local Omaha venues like Peony Park Ballroom 

and the Music Box where dancers might swing 

to Eddy Haddad, Leo Pieper, or Art Randall. If 

you preferred staying at home with the record 

player, there were 78’s featuring Glenn Miller, 

Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Count 

Basie, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw, Harry 

James, and others. 

Jazz aficionados flocked to the Dreamland 

Ballroom in the Jewell Building at Twenty-fourth 

and Grant Streets, where Basie and Ellington 

appeared along with Louis Armstrong, Ray 

Charles, and others. Local headliners like 

Preston Love also made the scene. 

Presidential visits to Omaha became 

common, with Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow 

✧ 

Above: Ukulele Joe Thomas and his Café De 

Melody was a popular entertainer in Omaha 

from the 1920s until the late 1940s. A chef 

on private railroad cars by trade, Thomas 

also was heard on many radio stations across 

the country as he traveled by train. He made 

most of his own instruments out of kitchen 

utensils. One newspaper article described his 

music as jazz served a la carte. 



Right: A military band plays behind two 

baseball teams lined up along the base line 

at Rourke Park, Fifteenth and Vinton while 

President Woodrow Wilson in review in 

1916. The ballpark was named for William 

“Pa” Rourke, owner of the Western Baseball 

Association from 1899-1920. 




62

✧ 

Left: Barber shops attempt to gain the 

ladies’ trade in this William Wentworth 

Collection photo from the mid-1930s. 



Below: Named for John M. Thurston, an 

Omaha civic leader and U.S. senator, the 

“Thurston Rifles” Company L, First 

Nebraska Infantry, pose outside their 

armory at Seventeenth and Douglas, 

April 27, 1898. 



CHAPTER III 

63

✧ 

Above: Joseph Havlicek began this band, 

The Music Masters, in the early 1920s. 

They were one of the first to play on the 

new radio station WOAW (later WOW) 

in 1923. 

COURTESY OF MARY JO HAVLICEK AND THE DOUGLAS 


Below: Only the third horse to win the 

Triple Crown, Omaha easily wins the 

Belmont Stakes, June 8, 1935. Omaha died 

in 1959 and is buried on the former 

Ak-Sar-Ben property. 



Wilson, and William Howard Taft among the 

chief executives who paraded before the 

home folks. 

Events like the “Dust Bowl” impacted 

Omaha and Nebraska, but not as severely as it 

did other states. And the Spanish Civil War, 

and even the rise of Hitler and Mussolini in 

Europe, seemed far from the Midwest. 

Local universities were paying more 

attention to projected tuition increases and 

pledges to sororities and fraternities than they 

were to reports from Europe or the Far East. 

There were reminders, of course, besides the 

increasingly grim news stories. Students were 

asked to save paper, and classes in first aid 

and civilian defense were added. 

Everything changed on December 7, 1941, 

when residents of Douglas County heard the 

radio announcement about Pearl Harbor and 

the subsequent declaration of war. The full 

significance of that attack may not have been 

appreciated at the time, but, after that day, 

nothing would again be quite the same in 

Omaha or anywhere else. 


64

✧ 

Left: St. Cecilia’s Cathedral decorated for 

the National Eucharistic Congress, 

September 23, 1930. 



Below: Evangelist Billy Sunday poses with 

Samuel McKelvie in Omaha during a 

Victory Loan parade in World War I. 



CHAPTER III 

65


66

CHAPTER IV 

W AR 

& PEACE 

1942 TO 1975 

Like the rest of America, residents of Douglas County were shocked by the news of the sudden 

attack on Pearl Harbor. Some of them knew soldiers, sailors or civilians that were among the more 

than thirty-five hundred killed and wounded. Four citizens of the village of Boys Town were at Pearl 

Harbor, three of them died there. Eight battleships, three destroyers, and three cruisers were hit, yet 

all but two battleships made it back into action. 

This resiliency was characteristic of the country and also mirrored the response of men and 

women in Douglas County. There were long lines at the recruiting offices, and local reserve and 

college R.O.T.C. units prepared for mobilization. The day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, every 

boy in Boys Town’s Senior Class, led by their mayor who was from Hawaii, lined up outside Father 

Flanagan’s office door asking to join the Armed Services. Classes in first aid and civil defense were 

scheduled at local schools. There was talk of rationing. 

In 1939, already bolstered by the draft, the Armed Services had about 335,000 members. By 

1945, that number swelled to 12 million, and over 350,000 of these were women. Nebraska, 

which had an important agricultural role to play in the conflict, still contributed 120,000 military 

personnel. More than a quarter of these were from Douglas County. 

Historians often remark on the totality of the war effort during World War II. Douglas County 

was no exception. Two-thirds of Omaha’s industrial structure concentrated on food production, 

shattering all records for essential supply lines. Omaha companies manufactured steel tanks and 

compartments, oil drums, shells, fuses, grenades, parts for cargo ships, parachutes, guns and 

torpedo parts, film projectors, first aid packets, and other items used by the military. Omaha also 

became a major transportation center, employing even more people in that area than in food 

processing. The Union and Burlington Stations were locales for the shipment of goods and 

farewells by those departing for duty. The city’s small airport also grew in stature and service. By 

1944, Omaha had forty-two thousand female defense workers. 

Twelve Nebraska communities had air bases, including Lincoln and Grand Island, and there 

were major ordnance plants at Mead, Hastings, and Grand Island. The Martin Bomber Plant, south 

of Omaha, was a major employer of women from Douglas County and from neighboring Iowa. This 

plant built B-26 bombers and, later, the B-29 bombers. Two of the planes assembled at the Martin 

Bomber Plant dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. 

Prisoner of war camps for Italian and German prisoners dotted the Nebraska landscape, with 

one of the largest in the United States located near Holdredge. Overall, Nebraska housed more than 

twelve thousand Axis prisoners, including some detained at Fort Crook, just south of Omaha. 

Civilians were engaged in other ways besides defense work. There were thirty thousand Victory 

Gardens in Omaha. These individually tended plots accounted for one-third of all the vegetables 

grown nationwide during the war years. Douglas County residents also joined other Nebraskans 

in collecting scrap metal and other materials that could be converted into war materiel. The 

Omaha World-Herald, which came up with the idea of “scrap drive,” won a Pulitzer Prize for 

this innovation, which soon spread across the nation. An August 1942 survey of scrap collected 

put Nebraska ahead of far more populous states, with an average of about eighty-two pounds 

of scrap amassed for every person in the State. Citizens of Douglas County contributed more 

than fourteen million pounds to that total. Grant County, just east of Nebraska’s Panhandle, 

scored highest on a per capita basis. It posted 631 pounds of scrap for each of the county’s 

1,327 residents. 

✧ 

The Chief Theater, at 4612 South 

Twenty-fourth Street, opened in the late 

1940s. “Roarin’ Rockin’ Action,” cooled by 

refrigeration, brought the kids out for 

the matinee in September 1957. 

COURTESY OF BILL KRATVILLE AND THE DOUGLAS 


CHAPTER IV 

67

✧ 

Above: By February 1945, forty-four 

percent of the workforce at the Martin- 

Nebraska Bomber plant were women. When 

the war ended many women stayed on in 

the workplace, unlike their counterparts in 

World War I, who were asked to give up 

their jobs to returning men. 



Right: Nile Kinnick, from Benson High, won 

the Heisman Trophy in 1939 while playing 

for Iowa. That year, he was named male 

athlete of the year over professional players 

like Joe DiMaggio and Joe Louis. He was 

killed in a Naval Air Corps Reserve training 

accident in 1943. 




68 

Douglas County citizens were also tested 

by the imposition of rationing. Sugar was the 

first to be rationed, then coffee, shoes, nylons, 

and so on. Gasoline was probably the item 

that directly affected the most people. 

Ironically, gasoline was not in critically 

short supply, but rubber was. The idea was 

that if people did less driving, they’d save 

more wear and tear on their tires. Ration 

stamps were issued with three to five gallons 

allowed per week for “low priority” drivers. 

The speed limit was set at thirty-five miles per 

hour. Windshield stickers asked, “Is this trip 

really necessary?” People simply drove less, 

walked more, took the streetcar, carpooled, or 

did whatever needed to be done. Women, 

deprived of nylons, painted their legs or wore 

cotton hosiery. 

Other than the newspaper headlines, 

broadcasts and letters from the front, there 

were few home-front reminders of the war in 

Douglas County. One exception was a 

Japanese balloon bomb, launched off the 

coast of California, which drifted all the way 

to the Dundee neighborhood. Fortunately, it 

proved to be a dud. There were also practice 

blackouts involving several Midwestern 

states, including Nebraska. 

These concerns and privations failed to 

dampen spirits in Douglas County. Civilians 

with a musical bent (and some who couldn’t 

carry a tune) warbled Good Night Sweetheart, 

I’ll Be Seeing You, Beer Barrel Polka, We’ll Meet 

Again, and other songs. White Christmas was 

popular, and Kate Smith’s God Bless America 

opened or closed many events. 

While there were USO canteens and 

dances in Omaha, no place in the nation 

matched the numbers posted by the canteen 

at North Platte, where between 3,000 to 

5,000 service personnel were hosted daily. By 

war’s end, that one canteen had provided food 

and drink, companionship, and help with 

writing letters, to nearly eight million 

members of the military whose train ride took 

them to and through North Platte. 

Sometimes the news was good; sometimes 

it was bad. The list of the dead grew on 

boards like that established in St. John’s 

Church in Omaha. Locals began learning of 

heroism, decorations, and tallies of the dead 

and wounded. 

At long last, on Wednesday, August 15, 

1945, the banner, double-decker, headline in 

the Omaha World-Herald read, “NATION 

CELEBRATES THE END OF THE WAR: 

TODAY, THURSDAY NAMED HOLIDAYS.” 

There were parades and a flurry of initial 

excitement, but Douglas County just seemed 

to settle back into normality. Well, almost. 

Women who had relished their roles in the 

work force were reluctant to abandon that

vocation, even though marriage and family 

were back in vogue. Those from Douglas 

County who had traversed the United States 

or served overseas had a new outlook on the 

world. And even though it would take some 

time to make even a dent in race relations, 

Truman’s integration of the Armed Services 

began at this time. 

Perhaps the most significant legislation 

coming out of World War II was the creation of 

the G.I. Bill that cost $5.5 million in its initial 

stage and provided educational opportunities 

for well over two million veterans. The first bill 

produced 450,000 engineers, 240,000 

accountants, 238,000 teachers, 91,000 

scientists, 67,000 physicians, 22,000 dentists, 

17,000 writers and editors, and thousands 

more in other professions. 

Here in the Heartland, our colleges and 

universities welcomed back those men and 

women who had served in the Armed 

Forces, and educators found ways to 

accommodate the “tidal wave” of students. 

The ex-G.I.’s added a fresh and mature 

dimension to the classrooms. 

Another change in the structure of Douglas 

County occurred with the arrival of 

immigrants from some of the war-torn regions 

of Europe and the influx of other ethnic 

groups, like African Americans, from diverse 

areas of this country. Dozens of different 

nationalities were part of the population 

growth, and many brought their own customs 

and culture to influence the local scene. 

Perhaps typical of these new immigrants 

were the “displaced persons” from Lithuania 

who suffered under Russian occupation for 

years before being allowed to emigrate. 

Between 1949 and 1950 almost seven hundred 

Lithuanians arrived in Omaha. They joined 

more than two hundred of their countrymen 

who were already living in Omaha. They 

managed to blend in easily while still retaining 

elements of their own culture, forming a choir, 

establishing clubs, and supporting their own 

church, St. Anthony’s. 

In 1954, there were 211 Protestant 

churches in Omaha, 31 Catholic churches 

and six synagogues. By 1975, those numbers 

had increased to 332 Protestant churches and 

36 Catholic churches. The number of 

synagogues remained at six. 

From 1940 to 1975, the population of 

Douglas County grew from around 240,000 

to over 400,000. The gains were steady 

rather than dramatic. Annexations abetted 

this increase, and favorable economic 

conditions helped to retain young people 

while adding newcomers. 

It was the inherent strength of that local 

economy that helped Douglas County get back 

on its feet again. One of the first signs of return 

to normalcy in Douglas County was the 

resumption of horse racing at Ak-Sar-Ben in 

✧ 

Many things were rationed during World 

War II, including gasoline. Atwood Thomas’ 

1932 Nash had an A sticker on the 

windshield. He could only buy gasoline 

on “A” days. 



CHAPTER IV 

69

✧ 

The Glen L. Martin Aircraft Company built 

a bomber plant in Bellevue in 1941. During 

its peak of production, 14,572 workers were 

employed at the plant situated at what is 

now Offutt Air Force Base. Two of the 

bombers built here, the Enola Gay and 

Bockscar, dropped the atomic bombs on 

Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, which led 

to the end of WWII in 1945. In this 

photograph, the last of 1,585 B-26 Martin 

Marauders built in Omaha leaves the plant 

in April 1944. 




70 

May 1945. Immediately after Pearl Harbor, the 

governing board of this civic organization had 

placed all of its facilities at the disposal of the 

military. The Ordnance Command Service 

Shops were located at Ak-Sar-Ben Field for the 

duration of the war. Governors of Ak-Sar-Ben 

also conducted bond drives and recruiting 

drives, along with shows produced for local 

service men and women. They also contributed 

money to build theaters at camps and bases. 

With the resumption of racing also came 

the revival of the Coronation and Ball in 1946, 

a rodeo to replace the earlier horse shows, a 

World Aviation Fair, and other programs. 

Tickets to Ak-Sar-Ben offerings were 

brisk that year. For a mere $10, members 

could attend thirteen different events, 

featuring headliners like Bob Hope, Victor 

Borge, and the Glenn Miller Orchestra. 

In addition to the traditional entertainment 

options, a new medium was about to emerge in 

Omaha. On August 29, 1949, Omaha’s WOW 

TV became the first television station in a fivestate 

area. It was followed a few days later by 

KMTV. KETV became Omaha’s third television 

station when it went on the air in 1957. One of 

WOW’s first on-air personalities, Johnny 

Carson, later went on to fame and fortune as the 

host of the Tonight Show, and KMTV was the 

launching pad for the career of network 

anchorman Tom Brokaw. Omaha’s TV stations 

were the first in the region to offer TV programs 

in color (WOW in 1953), non-network station 

transmission of live events (KMTV), and 

twenty-four-hour programming (WOW-TV). 

In 1950, war broke out in Korea, and once 

again many Omahans answered their nation’s 

call, none more memorably than Edward 

Gomez, who received the Medal of Honor 

posthumously in 1951. While serving as an 

ammunition bearer, Gomez threw himself on a 

live grenade that threatened his companions 

and absorbed the shattering violence with his 

own body. While the Korean War did not enjoy 

the overwhelming support of the American 

people that World War II had, it still was far 

more popular than the Vietnam War that 

followed a decade later. 

At the advent of World War II, Omaha’s city 

limit on the west was Sixtieth Street. The future 

site of Crossroads was a cornfield. Although 

there were expansions in every direction but 

east, where the river served as the city limits, 

the major surge was to the west and southwest. 

In addition to the acquisitions of towns like 

Millard, Omaha also witnessed the arrival of 

dozens of new residential communities. Many 

of them, like Regency and Candlewood, were 

built around artificial lakes. 

It was their old border to the east, the 

Missouri River, which would figure 

prominently in Omaha’s next brush with 

natural disaster. The Flood of 1952 was a 

natural calamity that brought out the best 

in Douglas County’s citizens and brought 

together, as never before or since, the

esidents of both Omaha and Council Bluffs. 

In April of that year, the Missouri went on a 

rampage, cresting at eleven feet above flood 

stage, and pouring its muddy waters into the 

narrow corridor between the two cities. More 

than thirty thousand citizens of Council Bluffs 

had to flee their homes to avert a potential 

tragedy in case the levees failed. Some spent a 

week or more with relatives or friends, while 

others lived in Red Cross shelters. On the 

west side of the river, sandbags were piled 

around power stations and downtown 

buildings. At some places the river spread 

some fourteen miles across. 

A call went out to students in the area’s 

universities, summoning them back from their 

Easter holidays. Businessmen, clerks, professionals, 

and workers of every kind took 

time off and joined the sandbag brigade on 

either side of the swollen river. There were 

more than twenty-five thousand workers. 

Henningson, Durham & Richardson, a 

nationally known engineering firm based in 

Omaha, hurriedly built levees on the eastern 

shore of the Missouri. Even visitors to Omaha, 

seeing the determination and spirit of 

Nebraskans and Iowans, rolled up their sleeves 

and assisted the legions of weary workers. 

Council Bluffs Mayor James Mulqueen and 

Omaha Mayor Glenn Cunningham led their 

respective citizen brigades. 

While not as dramatic as a military 

conflict, the battle against this biggest of all 

Missouri floods, was every bit as heroic, and, 

once the crisis had passed, those who had lent 

a helping hand felt a special pride. 

Ironically, the construction of the Fort 

Randall Dam in South Dakota, a structure that 

would nearly guarantee against any 

recurrence of such devastation, was only three 

months away from completion. 

The new dam on the Missouri wasn’t the 

only transformation along the river. Politics in 

Omaha were undergoing a change of their 

own. For most of the first half of the twentieth 

century, Omaha operated under a commission 

system that combined legislative and 

executive functions within the body of seven 

commissioners, each elected to a three-year 

term. The mayor was chosen from among 

their number. 

Many citizens seemed ready for a change 

and, in 1954, Commissioner Warren Swigart 

proposed that a convention be convoked to 

draft a new city charter, one that would either 

shore up some of the weaknesses in the present 

arrangement or forge a whole new system. 

In May 1956 the Charter Convention 

finally got underway, with fifteen members 

chosen to determine the future of city 

government. Things rarely went smoothly. 

Some people argued for the status quo while 

✧ 

On the fortieth anniversary of the 1952 

flood, then Mayors Jim Mulqueen of Council 

Bluffs and Glenn Cunningham of Omaha 

pose for an historic reenactment on the 

banks of the Missouri River in 1992. 



CHAPTER IV 

71

✧ 

Omaha's Riot Squad—Ernie, Emil, Joe, and 

Rudy Dusek—gained fame as professional 

wrestlers beginning in the 1920s. The 

Omaha rowdies originated tag team 

“rassling.” The Dusek Brothers, as a group, 

were inducted into the Wrestling Hall of 

Fame in 1972. 

COURTESY OF JO-ANN DUSEK. 


72 

others voiced their suspicions that the 

changes proposed were being advocated by 

the area’s business sector for selfish reasons. 

A. V. “Al” Sorenson, who would later serve 

as Omaha’s mayor, chaired the sessions. 

Eventually a new charter emerged from the 

discussions. It proposed a division of the 

legislative powers (accorded to the council) 

and executive powers (assigned to the 

mayor). Under the new rules, seven council 

members would be elected, at large (now by 

district, thanks to the state legislature), for 

four years. The mayor would also be elected 

by the voters and would appoint department 

heads who would form his cabinet and serve 

at his pleasure. 

Some local entities, like the police and fire 

departments, argued against the charter 

provisions, and various political leaders 

joined them. An advertising campaign touted 

the advantages of the new system and, in 

November 1956, the charter was approved by 

fifty-six percent of the voters. 

The new council members and a 

succession of mayors had plenty of issues to 

occupy them. Urban renewal was debated, 

with the proponents pointing to the sorry 

state of the city’s housing and offering a 

solution, but, in 1965, the proposed 

legislation was shot down by a ratio of two-toone. 

The Interstate System also had its critics, 

with many of them concerned with the 

displacement of people from their homes 

along the route. Some also debated the route 

through and around Omaha but the matter 

was finally approved, with the Federal 

Government putting up 90 percent of the 

money and local communities the other 10 

percent. Eventually, Nebraska would contain 

the longest stretch of I-80, 455 miles, within 

its borders. The section of the Interstate that 

ran through Omaha was the last section in the 

state to be completed. 

It seemed that every new project met with 

some opposition, whether it was the proposal 

to build the Westroads Shopping Center or to 

modernize the airport. Somehow, these and 

other developments ultimately became 

realities, from the high-rise Woodmen Tower to 

the new city-county building, but all of this 

took time and spanned several administrations. 

Meanwhile, Omaha was joining the big 

boys, nationally and internationally. Firms 

like Peter Kiewit Sons’, Inc., ranked among 

the top construction firms in the world, and 

similar designations were accorded the Leo A. 

Daly architectural firm and the engineering 

giant, Henningson, Durham & Richardson. 

The city became known as an insurance 

center, with several head offices located here 

led by business giants Mutual of Omaha, 

whose glass dome became a fresh landmark 

on Dodge Street; Woodmen of the World; and 

Physicians Mutual. The Nebraska Furniture 

Mart, with its irrepressible “Mrs. B” (Rose 

Blumkin) became the country’s largest 

furniture store under one roof. C. A. Swanson

gave his name to a whole line of frozen foods 

and TV dinners, meals you could eat while 

watching television. 

By the mid-1960s, Omaha’s three TV 

stations were firmly established, and it was 

time for its radio stations to regain the 

prominence they had once held. Though 

there were more than ten radio stations in 

Omaha by 1965, KFAB had become Omaha’s 

dominant station. With a strong emphasis on 

news and coverage of the games of the 

popular Nebraska Cornhusker teams, KFAB 

attracted nearly a third of Douglas County’s 

radio listeners. 

In the newspaper medium, there was also 

a dominant player. With the demise of the 

Omaha Bee-News in 1937, Omaha had 

essentially become a one-newspaper town. 

The Omaha World-Herald had survived its 

rivals and become the leading newspaper 

in Nebraska and western Iowa. Its only 

remaining local rival was the weekly Sun 

newspaper group owned by Omaha 

billionaire Warren Buffett. 

Organized in neighborhood editions, the 

Sun newspapers provided a truly local focus 

and served as the training ground for many 

aspiring journalists. In 1973, the Sun 

newspapers won a Pulitzer Prize for “Local 

Investigative Specialized Reporting” for their 

story, which uncovered the large financial 

resources of Boys Town. While there was 

never any accusation of corruption, the story 

prompted reforms in the way that Boys Town 

solicited and spent its funds. But by the late 

1970s, the Sun newspapers had faded from 

the scene. 

It wasn’t just the media that was changing 

in Douglas County. Some established 

industries were leaving, but other industries 

were growing and taking their place. The 

Union Pacific Railroad, which had 

been so instrumental in Omaha’s growth, 

remained vitally important. A survey by 

Fortune magazine in 1975 showed that 

Union Pacific ranked as the nation’s fourth 

largest transportation company. Omaha 

had also become a headquarters for several 

large trucking firms, and its airport had 

expanded tremendously. 

The agribusiness industry, historically 

important to Douglas County, was also 

beginning to flourish like never before. In 

1971, Nebraska Consolidated Mills became 

ConAgra and evolved from milling to 

producing a wide spectrum of livestock feed 

and grocery products. Under the leadership of 

Mike Harper, ConAgra went from an $11.4 

million loss in 1974 to a $4.1 million profit 

in 1975. 

In contrast to transportation, insurance, 

and agribusiness, Douglas County’s traditional 

✧ 

When railroads hauled the mail from coast 

to coast, the “Fast Mail” did the job for 

Union Pacific. Photographer Bill Kratville 

caught this train steaming through Elkhorn 

on Christmas Day in 1951 . 



CHAPTER IV 

73

✧ 

By the late 1950s, the Omaha Union 

Stockyards was the largest livestock 

market in the world. The packinghouses 

were reached by subways under the 

railroad tracks. 




74 

meatpacking industry had fallen on hard 

times. Three of the “Big Four” packers closed 

their operations in a three-year period. 

Cudahy left town in 1967, Armour in 1968, 

and Swift in 1969. Wilson, the last of the “Big 

Four,” held on until 1976. Their departure 

cost Omaha 10,000 jobs and $500 million in 

wages annually. Fortunately, many of the 

industry’s workers were either near retirement 

age or were young enough to retrain and find 

other work, so the loss of jobs wasn’t as 

damaging as it could have been. 

Many workers were now taking the 

opportunity to further their educations by 

earning college degrees. Omaha University, 

founded in 1908, had become part of the 

University of Nebraska system in 1967 and 

renamed the University of Nebraska at 

Omaha. From 1965 to 1975, its enrollment 

increased from around 6,000 students to 

almost 15,000. With the end of the Vietnam 

War, many servicemen were returning to 

school and UNO’s “Bootstrapper” program 

attracted large numbers of veterans. The 

country was moving from an industrial 

economy to a service economy and Douglas 

County was no exception. 

Prior to World War II, downtown Omaha 

was a shopping hub with department stores 

like Brandeis, Goldstein Chapman, Natelson’s, 

The Nebraska Clothing Company, and 

Orchard and Wilhelm. One of the first 

manifestations of the new service economy 

was the emergence of shopping malls. 

Omaha’s first “shopping mall” was the Center 

Mall, located on Forty-second and Center.

It was soon surpassed by the Crossroads Mall 

and now contains mostly business offices. The 

Crossroads Mall, at Seventy-second and Dodge 

Streets, was built in 1960 and remains one of 

Omaha’s premier shopping centers. However, 

the mall that attracted the most national 

attention was the Westroads Mall, constructed 

in the late 1960s. When it was finished, its 1.2 

million square feet made it the largest mall 

under one roof in the United States. It was also 

the location of Omaha’s first multiplex movie 

theater, the Westroads Six Theater. Multiplexes 

in Omaha, such as that near Oak View Mall, 

now feature 20 and 24 theaters, but in the late 

1960s, it was a revolutionary idea. 

Without a doubt, the most unusual and 

intriguing shopping area in Omaha is the 

“Old Market.” Bounded by Farnam Street on 

the north, Leavenworth Street on the south, 

Fourteenth Street on the west, and Tenth 

Street on the east, this enclave is home to 

many quaint specialty shops and awardwinning 

restaurants. 

The Old Market was born in the mid- 

1960s as Omaha was moving west. The fruit 

and produce markets were closing down, and 

many of the buildings in this old warehouse 

district sat empty. Sam Mercer, whose family 

owned several of the area’s redbrick 

warehouses, proposed an unusual solution. 

Determined to save his beloved buildings, 

Mercer suggested they be turned into small 

shops and restaurants. “We knew these 

warehouses had possibilities, and to tear them 

down to construct contemporary buildings 

would have been like painting over the Mona 

Lisa,” said Mercer. 

At first his idea was ridiculed; now it is 

considered visionary. Today visitors can walk 

along tree-lined, cobblestoned streets or 

wander through a dimly lit Old Market 

passageway preserving an old-world 

atmosphere in the heart of a modern city. 

Other areas of the city boasted their own 

restaurants, heavy on Italian cuisine and 

steakhouses, but also famed for ethnic 

alternatives from Asian, Latin, and Central 

European to Greek, Indian, and American. 

Omaha’s Blackstone Hotel originated the 

Reuben sandwich, and Willy Thiessen’s 

Godfather’s Pizza was founded here. 

Omaha’s cultural offerings were also 

improving. While the Omaha Community 

Playhouse was founded in 1925, it really 

began to hit its stride with the construction of 

the new theaters at Sixty-ninth and Cass in 

1959. Rich in history with famous alumni like 

Henry Fonda and Dorothy McGuire, the 

Playhouse could now comfortably seat more 

than five hundred. Its membership reached 

six thousand, making it the largest 

community theater in the country. During the 

✧ 

Mayor Johnny Rosenblatt swings away in 

the stadium named in his honor in 1956. It 

is still home to the College World Series and 

Omaha’s AAA Royals. 



CHAPTER IV 

75

early 1970s, the dinner theatre phenomenon 

hit Omaha and the Firehouse, Upstairs, and 

Westroads dinner theatres were born. 

However, these faded away after a few years. 

In addition to a wealth of theatre, Douglas 

County also offers its citizens a symphony 

orchestra, and opera. The Omaha Symphony 

was founded in 1921, but fell on hard 

times during the World War II and wasn’t 

reformed as a full symphony until 1947. In 

1971, the Symphony initiated its popular 

“Super Pops” series. 

The Omaha Civic Opera Society began as 

an all-volunteer community opera association 

in 1958. In the mid-1970s it changed its 

name to Opera Omaha and began bringing in 

international opera stars to perform the 

principal roles in its productions. Predating 

both of these organizations was the Tuesday 

Musical Concert Series, a concert series 

founded and staffed by volunteers since 1890. 

One problem that both musical organizations 

faced was a proper venue for their 

performances. The Omaha Civic Auditorium, 

built in the 1950s, had a music hall, but a more 

opulent setting was desirable for the symphony 

and the opera. In the heart of downtown Omaha 

they found what they were looking for. A 1920s 

vaudevillian theater, the Orpheum, had become 

a movie theater and eventually closed down 

in the late 1960s. A city-sponsored, nonprofit 

organization, the Omaha Performing 

Arts Center Corporation, spearheaded a 

multi-million dollar remodeling of the historic 

building and restored it to its 1927 splendor. It 

became the chosen setting for concerts, operas, 

and traveling Broadway shows. 

Although there were few overt racial 

problems in Omaha between the 1919 hanging 

of Will Brown and the postwar years of the 

’50s, there was no shortage of discriminatory 

practices. Restaurants, hotels, and entertainment 

venues in Omaha refused service to Black 

patrons. Employment opportunities were 

restricted and advancement rare. Housing 

policies generally ghettoized our Black citizens. 

Omaha wasn’t unique. This sort of racism 

existed in most areas of the country, and 

Omaha, like other cities, would reap the results 

of prejudice. 

By 1950, there were approximately sixteen 

thousand Black citizens of Omaha. Most of 

them lived in Omaha’s Near-North Side and a 

small neighborhood in South Omaha. Eightyseven 

percent of them held unskilled or 

service jobs—on the railroad, in the 

packinghouses, in restaurants, clubs, or 

hotels, generally as maids or waiters. Only 

thirteen percent had clerical, professional, or 

semi-professional jobs. From 1947 to 1957, 

some twenty-three subdivisions were 

constructed in Omaha and none of them 

welcomed non-white tenants. Historian 

Jeffrey Smith notes that, of the 13,293 homes 

built between 1952 and 1957, only 32 were 

available to African-American buyers. 

✧ 

A march for racial equality, heading north 

on Fourteenth Street and crossing Dodge 

Street, was led by Father John P. Markoe, 

S.J., in the mid-1950s. Markoe, an early 

civil rights activist in Omaha, gained a 

national reputation as a civil rights leader. 




76

There were some Omahans, black and 

white, working for change. The De Porres 

Club at Creighton University, headed by 

charismatic Jesuit Father John P. Markoe, took 

on the discriminatory practices. They staged 

sit-ins at restaurants a dozen years before the 

tactic became popular and conducted an 

effective bus boycott four years before the 

determined stand of Rosa Parks. De Porres 

Club members targeted segregated swimming 

pools and barbershops and challenged the 

real estate industry. This small cadre 

experienced considerable success, even 

though the larger problem continued to exist. 

Mildred Brown, crusading editor of the 

Omaha Star, covered news of Omaha’s Black 

community, championed the cause of civil 

rights, and even provided meeting space for 

those who shared her concerns. Some of her 

saddest editorial tasks were writing about the 

riots that shook Omaha in the 1960s. 

That decade was violent and chaotic. It 

included the assassinations of President John 

F. Kennedy; non-violence advocate, the 

Reverend Martin Luther King; and Omahaborn 

Black leader, Malcolm X. While young 

men were fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, 

the war was being protested at home. Rock 

was the music of choice, and Woodstock 

became a metaphor for a generation. 

Everything seemed in flux, from politics to 

religion. Alternate, sometimes communal, 

lifestyles made the scene, and even movies 

like Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, and Bonnie 

and Clyde, echoed the theme of counterculture. 

Drugs and alcohol were common 

topics in newspapers, and only television, 

with series like Batman, Star Trek, and The 

Beverly Hillbillies, seemed to offer escape. 

Douglas County wasn’t immune to these 

trends. War protestors were a minority, but 

they showed up with their signs and black 

armbands. The wilder fashions and lifestyles 

arrived more slowly in Omaha. But the city 

did erupt into sectarian struggles several times 

during the 1960s. Sometimes the struggles 

were prompted by events, like the Civic 

Auditorium appearance of George Wallace, 

the segregationist former governor of Alabama 

in 1968, or the confrontations between Blacks 

and local police toward the end of the decade. 

The most significant riots occurred in 1966, 

when, in three summer nights of burning and 

looting, the face of Twenty-fourth Street was 

forever altered. 

So much of this history has been 

conveniently forgotten. One almost has to 

review the collection of the Great Plains Black 

Museum, founded by Bertha Calloway, to gain 

knowledge of the great contributions of Black 

✧ 

Rex Allen, cowboy star and narrator for 

many Walt Disney features, rides through 

Omaha during a centennial parade in 

September 1954. 



CHAPTER IV 

77

CELEBRATIONS 

Before the Second World War, in 1939, Omaha took time to celebrate the city’s history with the movie premieres of Union Pacific 

and Boys Town. The stars of the movies came to town for the premieres, and citizens lined the streets to get a glimpse of Hollywood 

royalty. For Union Pacific, citizens were encouraged to grow beards and don western garb, in order to get into the spirit of these “Golden 

Spike Days.” 

Almost a decade after the war, not long after the truce was negotiated in Korea in 1954, Omaha staged a year-long commemoration 

of its centennial as a territory. There were gigantic parades, performances most summer nights on Turner Park’s outdoor theater-in-theround, 

western barbecues, a folk festival showcasing the city’s multi-ethnic heritage, a Grand Ball, proclamations galore, concerts, and 

a special historical drama performed at Ak-Sar-Ben. The drama was written by William Gibson, who had scripted The Miracle Worker, 

the story of Helen Keller and her mentor, Annie Sullivan. 

Perhaps by 1967 Douglas County residents were a trifle weary of historical anniversaries, but they gathered sufficient energy to 

recognize the centennial of Nebraska’s statehood with another round of parties and parades. 

In 1995, Omaha and Nebraska were cited by national media as doing the most outstanding job of remembering the conclusion of 

the Second World War. This “Victory 95” celebration was another multi-faceted series of events featuring exhibits of WWII posters and 

memorabilia, air shows, a “Mess Kit” breakfast, television specials, big band concerts, an Offutt Air Force Base Open House, a special 

performance based on veteran’s remembrances staged by Northwest High School students, a Salute to Labor, and the dedication of a 

new World War II memorial. There was a Grand Victory Celebration at Rosenblatt Stadium showcasing the talents of Chip Davis, 

Crystal Gayle, and the Heartland of America Band. A massive parade included representatives of every state in the union, a procession 

of World War II vehicles, and an aircraft flyover. A unique event was the “Troop Train” supplied by Union Pacific that took dozens of 

WWII veterans round trip between Omaha and North Platte, and included a recreation of the North Platte Canteen, dancing to Glenn 

Miller’s tunes, and stops enroute at Kearney, Grand Island, Columbus, and Fremont before debarking at Union Station in Omaha for a 

special commemoration ceremony. 

citizens to this state and this city and to 

glimpse the turmoil that racism initiated. 

Those troubled years brought to 

prominence a young activist, Ernie Chambers, 

who later became a state senator, and it also 

provided the impetus to enact busing in 

an attempt to achieve racial balance. 

Legislation to prevent discrimination in 

housing was enforced, and both the law and 

public opinion struck down prohibitions 

against people of color in local restaurants, 

hotels, and entertainment areas. 

The struggle for civil rights was not the 

only cause that brought conflict to Omaha in 

the 1960s. While slower to react than many 

other cities, by the end of the decade protests 

against the Vietnam War had reached even 

Omaha. The height of the unrest occurred in 

the early 1970s, when an anti-war rally in 

Memorial Park was broken up with tear gas 

and police batons. However, trouble was not 

widespread, and the college campuses of 

Creighton University and the University of 

Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) remained 

relatively free of anti-war protests. 

Natives of Douglas County take pride in 

their ability to survive the worst that nature 

can dish out. But twin disasters in 1975 tested 

the resolve of even the hardiest Omahan. 

The Blizzard of ’75 began early in the 

afternoon on Friday, January 10, 1975. 

Building quickly, it brought traffic to a 

standstill and trapped many workers in their 

offices overnight. The streets were impassable 

by rush hour. While snow depths ranged from 

11 to 16 inches, the fierce wind whipped the 

snow into drifts several feet high. John Taylor, 

covering the story for the Omaha World- 

Herald, described the event as “…a snowstorm 

of epic proportions, a legendary blizzard, a 

blustery time that Omaha and Council Bluffs 

residents can be proud to have experienced. 

Maybe even the worst blizzard in area history.” 

When it was all over, it had taken 33 lives—six 

in Omaha, eight in eastern Nebraska, 11 in 

Iowa, and eight in South Dakota. 

A few months later, Mother Nature struck 

again. On May 6, the National Weather 

Service issued a tornado warning for the 

Omaha area at 4:14 p.m. The sirens sounded 


78

just before 4:30, when a tornado touched 

down near 132nd and Q Streets in Millard. 

Sweeping north and east, the tornado cut a 

swath of destruction miles wide. It roared 

down Seventy-second Street, Omaha’s main 

north/south street, shredding businesses, 

destroying a motel, and heavily damaging 

Creighton Prep High School. It passed very 

close to the Ak-Sar-Ben track where the stands 

were packed with fans watching the horse 

races. Making a sharp turn between Maple 

and Military, it ripped through Benson Park 

and then lifted back into the black clouds that 

had given it birth. 

At the time, it was the most expensive 

tornado in the history of the United States, 

causing property damage in the hundreds of 

millions of dollars. More than five hundred 

homes were destroyed and thousands more 

were damaged. Amazingly, only three people 

were killed and 141 injured. The timing of the 

storm—occurring after school children had 

reached home and before the rush hour 

began—contributed to the low death total. 

But luck was also a factor. If the tornado had 

veered slightly east as it crossed Center Street, 

it would have slammed into the packed stands 

at Ak-Sar-Ben, potentially killing thousands. 

There is even an apocryphal story of an 

Omaha policeman racing behind the tornado 

as it roared up Seventy-second Street. His 

windshield blown out, and suffering from 

multiple cuts and bruises, he continued to 

radio the position of the tornado, helping to 

clear the streets in its path. 

However, it was the effectiveness of the 

early warning system that should be given the 

lion’s share of the credit. It was a system that 

had been developed through the years as a 

result of other, deadlier, storms. 

✧ 

The funnel cloud of the worst tornado since 

1913, passing near the Ak-Sar-Ben race 

track in 1975. 



CHAPTER IV 

79


80

CHAPTER V 

W INDING U P THE C ENTURY 

1976 TO THE PRESENT 

Nationally and internationally, the last quarter of the twentieth century began with the fall of 

Saigon, high unemployment in the United States, the advent of assertiveness training, Saturday 

Night Live, and pet rocks. It ended with the acquittal of a president, conflict in the Balkans, the 

Columbine school shootings, and needless worries about the millennium effect on the world’s 

computer culture. 

We celebrated the country’s bicentennial, and places like Elkhorn painted their hydrants red, 

white, and blue. Words like “PCs,” “Legionnaire’s Disease,” “crack cocaine,” “Scud missiles,” 

“E-mail,” “Mad Cow,” and “Yuppies” became part of our lexicon. 

In those twenty-five years, the cost of a postage stamp tripled, and the minimum wage cruised 

past a dollar. TV dinners observed a thirty-fifth anniversary, and television viewing for the average 

American topped thirty hours a week. Nearly three-fourths of all homes had VCRs by 1990, and 

there were over five million “Latchkey Kids.” 

We discovered the wreck of the Titanic and re-discovered Halley’s Comet. Four-wheel drive 

vehicles surpassed previous highs in sales, a trend the Midwest had known about for years. 

There was violence, then peace, in South Africa, while other trouble spots, like Northern Ireland 

and the Mideast, kept making headlines. 

There was good news for Nebraskans. Surveys showed that, in 1976, the average American 

consumed over 128 pounds of beef annually, up sixty-six percent from 1960. 

Mao, Howard Hughes, John Lennon, Nixon, Sadat, Elvis, and Princess Diana all died, and 

Jimmy Hoffa disappeared. Both Pope John Paul II and President Reagan were shot, and millions of 

Americans debated “Who shot J. R.?”, referring to the popular Dallas television series. 

As in all eras, there were plusses and minuses. The Camp David Accord was signed, and Apollo 

and Soyuz linked up in an unusual bilateral event. The Soviet Army withdrew from Afghanistan, 

and our troops introduced new military technology to Iraq with Desert Storm. In 1992 the Cold 

War officially ended, and, in 1995, the nation commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of the end of 

World War II. But there was a new kind of conflict introduced—terrorism. In 1993, New York’s 

World Trade Center was bombed, and the Branch Davidian cult was burned out in Waco, Texas. 

Two years later, partly in retaliation for Waco, Timothy McVeigh detonated a deadly car bomb in 

Oklahoma City, and, the following year, a pipebomb was planted to disrupt the Atlanta Olympics. 

We would later learn these were merely harbingers of more tragic incursions to come. 

There was an increasing number of business mergers—over thirty-five hundred in 1992 alone— 

and the breakup of AT&T. By the end of the century, these transactions, plus grocery lists and 

gossip, could be discussed on the more than seventy-five million cell phones in America. 

We survived Abscam, the O. J. Simpson trial, and the media-fueled scandal of a president and 

an intern. We witnessed oil spills and the break-up of the Soviet Union and the cloning of a 

Scottish sheep. Martha Stewart and Regis Philbin took over the airwaves, and viewers observed the 

rise and decline of disco. MASH and Cheers and Seinfeld all segued into reruns. Movie buffs in 

Douglas County, as elsewhere, made hits of Star Wars, E.T. , Jaws, Rambo, and other escapist fare. 

But there was sufficient conservatism to induce folks to reject the “new” Coke. 

By 1987, only two percent of the country’s population lived on farms, and one-parent families 

more than doubled. 

Virtually all of these trends and events impacted Omaha and Douglas County even though this 

region was sometimes behind the curve. This may have been most noticeable in the political arena, 

✧ 

The downtown Omaha skyline looking 

west from Gene Leahy Mall near Tenth 

Street in 2002. 

COURTESY OF TIM FITZGERALD, UNO. 

CHAPTER V 

81

where Nebraskans continued their reputation 

for independence. 

Taxes were a major campaign issue. And 

while almost all candidates opposed to 

raising them, the levies still accelerated. 

Omahans could also show voter concern 

about potholes, the traffic-unfriendly Eightyfourth 

Street tunnel, and the subject of 

gambling. And there was regular discussion 

on merging city and county services. 

During the final quarter of the century, eleven 

men served as mayors of Omaha, including 

several interim mayors who served a year or less. 

Mayor Mike Boyle (1981-87) and Mayor Hal 

Daub (1995-2000) reaped criticism for personal 

styles despite acknowledged accomplishments, 

while another long-timer, P. J. Morgan 

(1989-94), provoked disappoint-ment when he 

opted for a private sector post before completing 

his second term. Mayor Edward Zorinsky 

(1973-76) later ran success-fully for the United 

States Senate and died while in office, while 

participating in the annual Press Club political 

satire show. Popular Mayor Bernie Simon 

(1987-88) also died in office and, in this same 

era, former Mayor Eugene Leahy (1969-73), 

after whom Omaha’s downtown mall is named, 

passed away. Al Veys, a South Omaha grocer, 

was a surprise victor, serving as Omaha mayor 

from 1977 to 1991. Filling in unexpired terms 

were Bob Cunningham (1976-77), Steve 

Tomasek (1987), Bernie Simon (1987-88), Fred 

Conley (1988), Walt Callinger (1988-89), and 

“Subby” Alzaldo (1994-95). 

During those twenty-five years, there were 

political scandals, a recall, and numerous 

battles with the city council, but also 

considerable progress. Mike Fahey assumed 

the role of the city’s chief executive at the turn 

of the century, running on a platform that 

promised an end to internal squabbling and 

power to the neighborhoods. 

These neighborhoods had changed 

dramatically in the last quarter of the 

twentieth century, with new ethnic groups 

altering long-established patterns. A drive 

through South Omaha underlines the influx 

of Hispanic and Asian business and even 

smaller cultural groups, like the Sudanese, 

brought here initially by sponsoring churches, 

add to the mix. 

While the latest census lists eighty-one 

percent of Douglas County’s population as 

“white,” the numbers for the other racial 

groups are increasing. African Americans head 

the list with 11.5 percent, followed by 

Hispanics at 6.7 percent, Asians at 1.7 percent, 

and Native Americans at just under 1 percent. 

There was some “white flight” in earlier 

decades, but much of the population shift to 

the West and Southwest occurred because 

that’s where the available land was. County 

boundaries and the Missouri dictated this 

directional flux, new developments emerged, 

many of them featuring homes with 

eyebrow-raising price tags. And residents of 

these areas had to get used to traffic delays 

reminiscent of much larger cities. 

These changes also influenced politics. 

South Omaha remained an area to be targeted 

by candidates, but they also had to shift their 

focus west. Even so, results were unpredictable. 

A political unknown, Bob Kerrey, a highly 

decorated (Congressional Medal of Honor) 

Vietnam veteran and restaurateur, narrowly 

defeated incumbent Governor Charles Thone 

in 1982 and later parleyed his popularity into 

a Senate seat. Kerrey also took a brief shot at 

the presidency and ultimately left the Senate 

for a top university post in New York. Fellow 

Democrat Ben Nelson, also a former Nebraska 

governor, replaced him. 

Another Vietnam veteran, Chuck Hagel, 

shared Nebraska’s senatorial duties with 

Nelson, and has also been mentioned as 

presidential caliber. 

The Second Congressional District seat 

yo-yoed back and forth between Democrats 

and Republicans, with incumbents like John Y. 

McCollister, John Cavanaugh, Peter Hoagland, 

Hal Daub, and Lee Terry representing the area. 

Besides taxes and road conditions, 

politicians in Lincoln and Douglas County had 

to contend with periodic gambling issues, 

waste dumpsites, and the location of a prison 

facility. Budgets were a recurring problem 

during these twenty-five years, with schools 

and social programs feeling the pinch. Sales tax 

increases helped some and, in 1994, the state 

mandated an increase in property evaluations. 

The people of Nebraska impeached an 

attorney general in 1984, recalled an Omaha 


82

mayor a couple of years later, and, in 1994, 

witnessed the resignation of a county board 

member who admitted to mail fraud. 

One of the most highly publicized and hotly 

contested issues was the legislative ban on same 

sex marriages, enacted the last year of the 

century. And fetal tissue research, conducted at 

the University of Nebraska Medical Center, was 

another critical debate topic. 

The Federal Government closed the 

Franklin Credit Union in November 1988, 

citing various fiscal improprieties. The 

lifestyle of the credit union’s president, 

Lawrence King, raised suspicions, and King 

was sentenced, in 1991, to fifteen years in 

prison. Investors also took a hit, as they did 

with Commonwealth Savings, Enron, and a 

cattle business owned by George Young of 

Grant City, Missouri, where the stock shown 

on paper failed to materialize in real life. 

White-collar crime wasn’t the only law 

enforcement problem. Methamphetamine labs 

sprang up all over Nebraska, and interstate 

transport of this drug, which was dangerous 

but cheap to produce, brought the substance 

to large and small towns in Douglas County. 

Television news cameras often focused on 

another lab bust in some unlikely home. 

Youth violence also escalated, fueled by 

gangs reportedly originating from California. 

In the latter half of the 1980s, gang graffiti 

became a visible sign of a fresh challenge. To 

counteract this seduction of the young, the 

Mad Dads was founded in Omaha in 1989, 

composed of fathers and others committed to 

channeling young people into more 

productive areas. The movement spread 

nationwide and was cited by President George 

Bush as one of his “Thousand Points of Light.” 

A couple of high-profile shootings by police 

of Black suspects like Cary Ammons and George 

Bibins caused considerable protest and unrest 

in Omaha, as did the killing of a young 

police officer, Jimmy Wilson. A foundation 

inaugurated in Wilson’s name by his father, also 

a former officer, funds equipment and other 

needs of the police force. 

There were a number of brutal murders, 

followed by sensational trials, but perhaps no 

killings stirred the public more than the 

deaths of two young Sarpy County boys at the 

hands of Offutt airman John Joubert, who was 

convicted and sentenced to death. 

While politics and crime made headlines in 

the County, weather, always a central factor in 

Nebraska, also supplied its share of stories. 

✧ 

The worst tornado to hit Omaha since 

1913, but still not as devastating, occurred 

on May 6, 1975. 



CHAPTER V 

83

✧ 

The new Qwest Center Omaha Convention 

Center and Arena, part of the new 

riverfront development, opened in 

September 2003. 

COURTESY OF BOB REILLY. 


84 

Some folks remarked on the exceptionally cold 

winter of 1984, and everyone remembered the 

October 1997 snowstorm. Heavy ice and 

snowfall downed power lines and kept some 

Omaha residents without electricity for nearly 

two weeks. More than two hundred thousand 

area homes and businesses were affected. 

Though less costly than the 1975 tornado, the 

impact of that freak snowstorm was wider. 

Record temperatures marked the quarter 

century, milder winters, summers not quite 

so hot, and spring and fall seasons that 

always seemed too short. The period ended 

with Nebraskans worrying about drought conditions, 

and these fears extended all the way to 

the Missouri. 

The media recorded it all, of course: the 

storms, the violence, the vagaries of the 

political scene. 

In the early 1980s, cable TV was sweeping 

the nation. Omahans were like most viewers; 

they had three network stations, an 

independent station and PBS. Cable changed 

all of that. Now viewers were offered dozens of 

channels from all sports to all news and movie 

channels like HBO and Showtime. After a 

spirited battle with several other competing 

bidders, Cox Cable was awarded the Omaha 

franchise in 1982. The company now offers its 

regular subscribers more than 70 channels and 

its digital subscribers more than 200 channels. 

Radio had always been a popular medium 

in Omaha from the earliest stations like 

WOW and KFAB. In the 1960s and 1970s, 

KOIL was a top station, but by the mid-1970s 

FM stations were drawing more and more 

listeners. KFAB remained Omaha’s dominant 

station, buoyed by the Nebraska Cornhusker 

games, especially the football games. When 

KFAB lost the rights to the coverage to KKAR 

in the mid-1990s, its ratings suffered, but it 

has since regained its top ratings and, 

beginning in 2001, the rights to broadcast the 

games once again. Currently, Douglas County 

boasts 19 radio stations, three network TV 

stations (KETV, KMTV, and WOWT), two 

independent TV stations (KPTM and KXVO), 

and a PBS affiliate (KYNE). 

In 2001, the Omaha World-Herald opened a 

new multi-million dollar printing plant to 

increase its efficiency. It allowed the World- 

Herald to change its format, using new paper 

and ink that gave the newspaper a more 

vibrant and colorful appearance. In addition to 

the World-Herald, the county’s only daily 

newspaper, there are several weekly 

newspapers. The oldest is the Catholic Voice, 

which the Omaha Archdiocese has published 

since 1903. The Omaha Star serves Omaha’s 

African-American community, and The Reader, 

founded in 1993, focuses on Omaha arts and 

culture and offers an alternative perspective

not found in the county’s other newspapers. 

The weekly Jewish Press serves Omaha’s Jewish 

community. The Omaha Weekly, which has 

scooped the World-Herald, recently acquired 

The Reader, and the very competitive 

publication is now the Omaha Weekly Reader. 

Omaha has two business newspapers, the 

Midland’s Business Journal and the Daily Record. 

Two other weeklies serve the county’s smaller 

towns, the Ralston Recorder and the Douglas 

County Post-Gazette. The county also has 

several magazines covering the local scene: 

Nebraska Sports America, covering local high 

school and college sports; Today’s Omaha 

Woman, focusing on issues and areas of interest 

that concern the county’s women; The Omaha 

Magazine with news and features designed for 

tourists and townspeople; The Old Market & 

Downtown Encounter focusing on activities in 

the downtown area; and Medium Magazine, 

highlighting Omaha’s creative community. 

There’s a lot more to do in Omaha than 

watching television, listening to the radio, or 

reading the newspaper—even though periodic 

shots of youngsters complaining of local 

boredom surface on the tube. 

Besides the fourscore cable channels 

available at the touch of a remote, there are a 

similar number of movie screens awaiting 

patrons in the county and some two dozen live 

theaters, plus university dramatic offerings. 

Some are dinner theaters, offering a meal with 

the stage presentation, while The Rose 

specializes in entertainment for children. There 

are experimental venues, road companies, a 

Grande Olde Players group that recruits 

seniors, and the famed Omaha Playhouse, 

whose annual ticket sales out-perform much 

larger communities. Alumni of this theater 

include Henry Fonda, Dorothy McGuire, the 

parents of Marlon Brando, and dozens of other 

luminaries, like Lenka Peterson and Jim 

Millhollin. Each year Shakespeare on the Green 

stages a pair of the Bard’s works in an outdoor 

arena near the University of Nebraska at 

Omaha. A majority of these theatrical 

companies debuted in the last quarter of the 

last century. 

True, Ak-Sar-Ben’s horse racing is a thing of 

the past, eliminated by competition and, 

some contend, by the failure to expand 

gambling options at the track site. Gone, too, 

is the regular run of Ak-Sar-Ben offerings, 

from Liberace to Ed McMahon, and even the 

hockey site changed as more space was 

required for the Information Technology 

Center. The last chance to bet on an Ak-Sar- 

Ben favorite came in 1996. 

The previous year, casino and riverboat 

gambling arrived in Council Bluffs, with the 

predicted complaints from Omaha that too 

much of the gambling revenue was contributed 

by those on the west bank of the Missouri. 

But no one could complain about 

opportunities to watch athletic competition that 

didn’t include horses, dogs, or slot machines. 

The crown jewel of Douglas County sports 

is undoubtedly the College World Series. The 

NCAA Baseball championships began in 1949 

and moved to Omaha in the early 1950s. 

They’ve been here ever since. Through the 

years the event has grown until, at least 

among NCAA Championship tournaments, it 

✧ 

Chip Davis from his American Gramaphone 

studios in Omaha, since 1984, has traveled 

more than 25,784,260 miles with his 

Mannheim Steamroller, booked 39,400 hotel 

rooms in eight time zones, and performed 

live before more than 5.5 million people. As 

of 2002, Mannheim Steamroller is the topselling 

Christmas artist of all time. 

COURTESY OF SCOTT DOBRY. 

CHAPTER V 

85

✧ 

The new First National Bank Tower rises 

high above the Omaha skyline in 2003. It is 

the tallest building between Chicago 

and Denver. 



86 

is second only to the “March Madness” 

basketball tournament in popularity. 

Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium has seen 

many updates and renovations designed to 

help the city retain the College World Series 

and, despite interest from several larger cities, 

it seems likely that Omaha will remain the 

home of the Series for years to come. In 1991, 

Creighton University became the first 

Nebraska team to earn a spot in the elite, 

eight-team tournament. They won two games 

before being eliminated by Wichita State and 

finished in third place in the final national 

rankings. More recently, in 2001 and 2002, 

the University of Nebraska at Lincoln has 

earned a spot in the tournament. 

In addition to serving as the home of the 

College World Series, Rosenblatt Stadium is 

also the home field for the Omaha Royals. The 

team, the Kansas City Royals’ AAA affiliate, 

has won the American Association 

Championship several times. When it looked 

like the team might leave town in the early 

1990s, several members of the Omaha 

business community partnered to buy the 

team and keep it in Omaha, including 

billionaire Warren Buffett and the Union 

Pacific Railroad. Rosenblatt is now considered 

one of the best minor league ballparks in 

the country. In an attempt to establish a 

stronger local connection, the Royals briefly 

changed their name to the “Golden Spikes” 

to reflect Omaha’s railroad heritage. However, 

in 2001, the fans overwhelmingly requested 

the team return to calling itself the Royals. 

Both Creighton University and the 

University of Nebraska at Omaha have seen 

their share of athletic success. Creighton’s 

men’s basketball team has qualified for the 

March Madness tournament several times, 

and its men’s soccer team made their sport’s 

“Final Four” two years in a row, finishing 

second in the nation in 2000. UNO has done 

even better. Its women’s volleyball team won 

the NCAA Division II national championship 

in 1996, and its women’s softball team won 

the Division II national title in 2000. UNO’s 

men’s football and wrestling teams have been 

highly ranked for many years. Although it 

competes in Division II in all other sports, 

UNO has had a Division I hockey team since 

1997. The team has become a crowd favorite, 

with a hundred consecutive sellouts. 

Omaha is the hometown of many famous 

athletes, including baseball’s Bob Gibson, 

basketball’s Bob Boozer, and football’s Gale 

Sayers. It is also home to two Heisman Trophy 

winners, Johnny Rodgers (1972) and Eric 

Crouch (2001). 

For those who prefer to participate, there 

are over two dozen public and private golf 

courses in the area, plus three dozen soccer 

fields, and enough bowling lanes to support

more than 500 leagues. Omaha claims to be 

the “Softball Capitol of the World,” and, while 

this may be a bit too expansive a boast, there 

are 60 major sites to play this game and over 

3,000 organized teams. Each February, 

diehards even host a snowball softball 

tournament as a charity event. 

Basketball has always been big in Omaha, 

with scores of leagues, collegiate and 

otherwise. And in recent summers, Omaha 

has hosted Hoop It Up, a three-on-three 

competition fought out in some urban 

concrete locale. 

There is swimming in lakes and pools, raft 

and boat racing on the rivers, and a whole 

calendar of marathon races. Racquetball, 

handball, squash, tennis, ice skating and 

roller-blading, cycling, and gymnastics all add 

diversity. Hunters and fishermen find suitable 

situations for their sports, as well. 

And if these bored teenagers tire of athletic 

pursuits, there are 150 malls and strip malls 

to invade. 

For those who favor cultural diversion, 

there are, besides the many theaters, a whole 

array of options, ranging from symphony 

concerts to open air jazz spectacles. 

For more than seventy years the Joslyn 

Art Museum has been an Omaha fixture, 

ranking at or near the top in per capita 

attendance among its peers. The museum’s 

remarkable permanent collection of Bodmer 

portraits of the Old West is augmented by 

works ranging from Rembrandt and Renoir to 

Grant Wood and Jackson Pollock. Lectures, 

film series, traveling exhibits, and concerts 

extend the museum’s reach, and a relatively 

recent expansion provides more gallery and 

exhibit space. 

Other museums that have come into their 

own in this quarter century are the lively 

Children’s Museum and the Durham Western 

Heritage Museum, which features an exciting 

look at Omaha’s past while introducing 

visitors to everything from ethnic evenings to 

a traveling dinosaur show. It also boasts a 

recent Smithsonian alliance. The General 

Crook House at Fort Omaha houses the 

Douglas County Historical Society, providing 

a window into Omaha’s history and recalling 

the era of the Indian Wars. 

The Bemis Foundation/Alternative Worksite 

provides jury-chosen artists and sculptors 

with studio space and stipends for periods 

up to a year. Those men and women in 

residence come from other parts of the country 

and from abroad. The Hot Shops art studios 

and Thirteenth Street Gallery provide work 

and gallery space for local artists. 

Each summer there’s the Omaha Summer 

Arts Festival, and St. Cecilia’s Catholic 

Cathedral plays host to art exhibits, concerts, 

and even flower shows, while Omahan Bruce 

Crawford occasionally stages a Hollywoodlike 

extravaganza centering on screenings of 

classic films like King Kong. The city and 

environs have provided locations for films 

starring actors like Jack Nicholson and 

Matthew Broderick. Chip Davis and his 

Mannheim Steamroller concerts and albums 

play to audiences nationwide, and his 

hometown American Gramaphone recording 

business even draws artists from Nashville. 

Omaha’s contemporary and alternative music 

scene has earned industry respect, with such 

acts as 311 going on to national and 

international careers. In fact, Omaha was 

hailed as “the next Seattle” in a recent Rolling 

Stone article. 

More quiet, perhaps, are the dozens of 

poets and novelists who publish their books 

in world markets, and the local artists whose 

works hang in New York galleries. 

Nothing to do in Omaha? 

What about the city’s world-class zoo? 

Omaha’s first zoo was founded in 1894 and 

called Riverview Park. Its early population 

included deer, grizzly bear, two bison on loan 

from Buffalo Bill Cody, and 120 other animals. 

The Zoo grew steadily, but it was the 

construction of the $15-million Lied Jungle, the 

world’s largest indoor rainforest, which really 

put the Henry Doorly Zoo on the national map. 

The Zoo followed up its success with the Lied 

Jungle by opening the Walter and Suzanne 

Scott Kingdom of the Seas Aquarium in 1995 

and the Lozier Imax Theater in 1997. Its newest 

exhibit is the Desert Dome, with an 

underground “Creatures of the Night” complex. 

With its many attractions, large 

membership base and extensive research 

facilities, the Henry Doorly Zoo is considered 

CHAPTER V 

87

to be one of the premier zoos in North 

America. It also positions itself as an 

educational facility, attracting classes of 

students from around the Midwest, adding 

clout to the belief that Omaha has one of the 

most successful school systems in the country. 

The teaching of the Three R’s hasn’t always 

been easy, hampered sometimes by budget 

cuts, aging facilities, teacher shortages, social 

demands, and legislative restrictions. 

In Fall 1976, as the result of a ruling by 

the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, the 

Omaha Public Schools began busing its 

students. The Omaha School Board worked 

closely with the Court to devise a plan. They 

enlisted the help of the local media and 

an interracial committee, The Concerned 

Citizens for Omaha, to help prepare Omahans 

for the transition. There was a vocal outcry 

from some citizens, and white enrollment 

in the public schools dropped, but the feared 

mass flight to private and suburban school 

districts never really occurred. 

While private schools may not have grown 

as dramatically as busing opponents 

predicted, by the early 1980s, several small 

Christian schools were operating in Douglas 

County. Conflict soon arose between the 

schools and state educators, with the 

fundamentalists objecting to the government’s 

interference in their curriculum. In 1984, the 

Nebraska Legislature adopted a compromise 

bill allowing Christian schools to operate 

without state certification, but only if they 

provided the state with specific information 

about their curriculum and their teachers. 

The following year there were more 

changes in education in Douglas County 

and the state. Legislative Bill 662 mandated 

that all school districts offering kindergarten 

through eighth grade must merge or affiliate 

with districts offering a high school by 

September 1989. The bill also requested a 

one-cent increase in the state sales tax rate 

to help support schools and set an average 

statewide limit of forty-five percent as the 

amount of local property tax that could 

be used for public schools. Ten years 

later, in 1999, Omaha successfully passed 

a $254-million school bond issue that would 

renovate schools in the older, eastern part of 

the district. It also ended twenty-three years 

of forced busing for integration and returned 

students to their neighborhood schools. 

While most of the educational debate in 

Douglas County concerned elementary and 

high schools, higher education in the county 

was not free from controversy. Douglas 

County now boasted three universities—the 

University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), 

University of Nebraska Medical Center 

(UNMC) and Creighton University. There were 

also several colleges in the county, including 

The College of St. Mary, Grace University 

(previously Grace College), Metropolitan 

Community College, and Nebraska College of 

Business as well as two colleges specializing in 

medical training—Clarkson College and 

Nebraska Methodist College. 

Controversy emerged when Omaha lost a 

couple of large corporations to other cities at 

least partially due to the lack of potential 

employees trained in the high-tech area. In 

1995, more than one hundred business leaders 

from Omaha signed a letter to University of 

Nebraska President Dennis L. Smith saying his 

plan to improve engineering education in 

Omaha was not sufficient. In response, the 

University of Nebraska System regents 

instituted a plan to create an Omaha Institute 

for Information Science and Technology. 

Creighton University also announced that it 

would increase its offerings in information 

technology and engineering courses. In 1996, 

UNO created the College of Information 

Science and Technology, and, with generous 

assistance from the business community, it 

opened the Peter Kiewit Institute on the site of 

the former Ak-Sar-Ben racetrack in 1999. 

Douglas County now contained one of the 

finest schools of information science and 

technology in the region. 

The Peter Kiewit Institute was not the only 

educational institution drawing national 

attention to Douglas County. Creighton 

University finished first in its category in the 

Midwest region for several years in U.S. News 

and World Report’s rankings of universities and 

was touted as one of the “Best Buys in 

American Colleges.” 

UNO’s recent role as a focus for national 

attention came from an unexpected source. 


88

The university administers the nation’s only 

center for Afghanistan studies. The center’s 

director, Thomas Gouttierre, had researched 

terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden for the 

United Nations in the 1990s and had lived in 

Afghanistan for several years. Following the 

terrorist’s attack of September 11, 2001, he was 

contacted by news organizations nationwide to 

offer his analysis of the situation. 

Jack Shroder, a geography and geology 

professor, was also sought out for his 

expertise of Afghanistan’s geology and caves. 

He had traveled to Afghanistan in the 1970s 

to produce maps and had conducted research 

in Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s. His 

expertise in geology enabled him to identify 

the soil background in Bin Laden’s videos, 

helping the American military in its efforts to 

track down the terrorist leader. 

Making headlines along with education 

were matters spiritual. Some religious statistics, 

of course, were not front-page news. The fact 

that residents of Douglas County attended 

church in numbers well above the national 

average doesn’t rate a news bulletin, and even a 

few new mega-churches among the more than 

450 houses of worship in the area no longer 

turn heads. Attendance seems to be growing at 

these super-sized churches, where all sorts of 

social activities are combined with the services. 

Music is more a part of worship everywhere, 

with choirs at places like Salem Baptist, St. 

Cecilia’s Cathedral, and Sacred Heart providing 

part of the drawing power. 

Perhaps the major religious news stories 

were, not surprisingly, ones that centered on 

controversy. The pastor of the First United 

Methodist Church in Omaha, Reverend 

Jimmy Creech, was criticized for performing a 

covenant ceremony for two gay people and, 

although acquitted in March 1998, he moved 

to North Carolina, where his performing of a 

similar rite led to his defrocking. 

In 1993, the Reverend Elden F. Curtiss, 

formerly bishop of Helena, Montana, became 

the eighth bishop and fourth archbishop of 

the Roman Catholic Church in Omaha, 

replacing the ailing Archbishop Daniel 

Sheehan. Nine years later he was brought into 

a far-reaching controversy over the matter of 

some pedophile priests in posts across the 

country, including Omaha. 

Television viewers became more used to 

commercials soliciting church attendance, and 

billboards, strategically placed, touted the welcoming 

atmosphere of varied denominations. 

Omaha’s Jewish community celebrated the 

creation of a new center, where everything 

from plays and concerts to gymnastics and 

dance supplement the Sabbath rituals in the 

city’s synagogues, which serve more than 

seven thousand Jewish citizens. 

✧ 

The downtown Omaha skyline at night 

in 2002. 


CHAPTER V 

89

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day 

Saints, more popularly known as Mormons, 

with their long ties to the Florence area of 

Omaha, built a new visitors center just east of 

their historic graveyard and later added a fully 

functioning temple. 

Overall, the Roman Catholic Church is the 

largest denomination in Douglas County and 

environs, with about sixty churches and a 

third of Omaha’s population. Some 40 

churches and more than thirty thousand 

worshippers make up the area’s four main 

branches of the Lutheran Church. The United 

Methodist Church is next in size, followed by 

Presbyterians, Baptists, and Episcopalians. 

If cleanliness is next to godliness, as the old 

adage proclaims, then it’s a natural segue to 

Omaha’s health care facilities, where the past 

quarter-century has been marked by 

consolidation of area hospitals, promising 

research, and an expanding medical reputation. 

Many of the region’s sixteen major hospitals 

have stories to tell of patients arriving from 

distant places to avail themselves of special 

treatments not generally offered, like transplant 

surgery, new methods of dealing with kidney 

stones, cancer, cardiac regimens, and many 

other specialties. 

Nearly three score faculty members at the 

University of Nebraska Medical Center pursue 

research in biotechnology, while Creighton 

University continues to build one of the 

country’s premier Centers on Aging. Girls and 

Boys Town National Research Hospital is a 

leader in research into and treatment of 

hearing loss. Children’s Hospital’s new familyfriendly 

facility is an oasis of indoor streams 

and nature-themed wards. 

More than five thousand hospital beds are 

available in Greater Omaha, and these are 

augmented by extended care facilities, a 

growing number of clinics, specialized trauma 

units, and rehabilitation centers devoted to 

children, to nutrition, or to human genetics. 

For years, Omaha has been discussed as one 

of America’s major health care communities, 

and the figures for the last twenty-five years 

more than justify that opinion. 

Managed care has become a buzz word in the 

health field, and, in Omaha, that sort of concern 

is best demonstrated by the alliances formed by 

hospitals, physicians, and insurance firms to try 

to get a handle on rapidly escalating costs. 

Financial concerns have also been a 

determining factor in the County’s business 

growth. There have been some negative 

events, like the departure of Enron and the 

failure of the city to attract a couple of 

prospects like BMW and Micron Technology. 

But there was plenty of positive news. 

The Central Park Mall emerged in the mid- 

1980s. It was to be the lasting symbol of an 

attempt to revitalize downtown Omaha. It was 

designed to draw visitors to downtown and the 

nearby Old Market area, and to attract 

businesses to relocate to the area. Largely 

funded by federal grants, its first section, 

bordered by Fourteenth Street on the west, 

Tenth Street on the east, Douglas on the north, 

and Farnam on the south, was completed in 

1982. It featured plazas, bridges, landscaped 

grounds, statues, and a lagoon. In 1992, it was 

renamed the Eugene Leahy Park Mall in honor 

of former mayor Eugene Leahy, who had 

championed riverfront development, and, in 

1994, a city bond issue funded the extension of 

the mall eastward to Eighth Street. 

After surrendering for years to the westward 

growth, downtown Omaha came alive again, 

with billions of dollars committed to new 

projects. The Qwest Center Omaha Convention 

Center and Arena is the linchpin for the 

redevelopment, anchored by the new Hilton 

Hotel. Just a few blocks west, the forty-story First 

National Bank Tower rises above the skyline, to 

be joined by a new Union Pacific headquarters. 

The Omaha World-Herald already has its new 

plant in place, and the Gallup Organization will 

add an office and training campus. New Marriott 

and Embassy Suites hotels have sprung up, and 

more are on the way. A performing arts center is 

underway near the Leahy Mall, and there are 

plans for a new Peter Kiewit Sons’ headquarters. 

Qwest Communications’ imposing glass 

structure is part of the scene, and ConAgra, 

whose attractive riverfront locale really anchored 

the area’s progress, remains a major player in 

Omaha’s economy, with over seventy thousand 

employees in more than two dozen countries. 

The W. Dale Clark Library, Peter Kiewit 

Conference Center, and Landmark Center office 

building are among the other newcomers. 


90

THE MAYORS OF OMAHA, 1857-2004 

Jesse Lowe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1857-58 

Andrew Jackson Poppleton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1858 

George Robert Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1858-59 

David Douglas Belden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1859-60 

Clinton Briggs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1860-61 

George Robert Armstrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1861-62 

Benjamin Eli Barnet Kennedy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1862-64 

Addison R. Gilmore . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1864-65 

Lorin Miller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1865-67 

Charles H. Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1867-68 

George Roberts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1868-69 

Ezra Millard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1869-71 

Smith Samuel Caldwell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1871-72 

Joseph H. Millard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1872-73 

William M. Brewer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1873-74 

James S. Gibson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1874 

Champion S. Chase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1874-77 

Reuben H. Wilbur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1877-79 


James E. Boyd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1881-83 


Patrick F. Murphy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1884-85 

James E. Boyd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1885-87 

William J. Broatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1887-90 

Richard C. Cushing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1890-92 

George Pickering Bemis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1892-96 

William J. Broatch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1896-97 

William F. Bechel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897 

Frank E. Moores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1897-1906 

Harry B. Zimman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906 

James C. Dahlman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906-18 

Edward Parsons Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1918-21 

James C. Dahlman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1921-30 

John H. Hopkins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930 

Richard Lee Metcalfe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1930-33 

Roy Nathan Towl . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1933-36 

Dan Bernard Butler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1936-45 

Charles W. Leeman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1945-48 

Glenn Cunningham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1948-54 

John R. Rosenblatt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1954-61 

James Dworak . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1961-65 

Alexander V. Sorenson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1965-69 

Eugene A. Leahy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1969-73 

Edward Zorinsky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1973-76 

Robert G. Cunningham . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1976-77 

Albert L. Veys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1977-81 

D. Michael Boyle. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1981-87 

Stephen H. Tomasek, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1987 

Bernard R. Simon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1987-88 

Fred L. Conley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1988 

Walter M. Calinger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1988-89 

Paul J. (“PJ”) Morgan, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1989-94 

Sebastian Anzaldo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1994-95 

Hal Daub, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1995- 2001 

Mike Fahey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2001 - present 

More is planned for the stretch of Missouri 

frontage between downtown and Eppley 

Airfield, and a pedestrian bridge, which 

has prompted some controversy, will span 

the river, bringing Iowans and Nebraskans 

closer to their mutual recreational opportunities. 

Yet, reminiscent of the region’s 

beginnings, tourists can cruise the Missouri 

River aboard the River City Star for their 

own “voyage of discovery,” or give tribute to the 

original “Corps of Discovery” at Lewis and Clark 

Landing, near Heartland of America Park. 

For years, Omaha’s unemployment figures 

have been among the lowest in the nation for 

cities its size, and, at the same time, the city 

boasts five of the Fortune 500 companies, the 

most of any city with similar population 

figures. Median income for citizens of Douglas 

County rose to over $43,000 by the year 2000, 

while housing and other costs, though on the 

increase, made the area one of the country’s 

best bargains. And even with construction, 

commuting time from home to work still 

hovered around twenty minutes. About one 

third of Douglas County’s residents earned 

college degrees, and there are more and more 

reasons for these educated people to remain in 

their hometowns. 

Looking back at the end of the nineteenth 

century and Omaha’s bid to impress America 

via the Trans-Mississippi and International 

Exposition, one can conclude, without undue 

chauvinism, that the promises made have 

been kept. 

CHAPTER V 

91

EPILOGUE 

✧ 

An aerial view of Omaha at the beginning 

of the twenty-first century. 



We’re already four years into the new millennium, and the tales of Omaha’s foundation and the 

development of Douglas County sound as ancient as muzzleloaders and ploughshares. And yet the 

traces of the past remain in the region, from the carefully tended prairie grasses and wagon ruts to 

the character of the population. 

With all the changes in the landscape—the new businesses and buildings, the Qwest Center 

Omaha Convention Center and Arena, the Riverfront development—one cliché about the area 

remains constant: It’s a good place to raise a family. 

That may not sound like a sales pitch to the youngest of the young, but it often brings wanderers 

back to their roots. The pace, the basic honesty, the innate friendliness lure the native and the 

stranger, and they discover the City and County offer far more than promised in brochures or 

CD-ROMs. They may even grow to boast about the weather the way New Yorkers flaunt their 

accommodation to confusion. 

In the Works Progress Administration-funded Guide To The Cornhusker State, the author posits 

this truism that is as relevant today as it was in the 1930s: 

The people are practically convinced that although Omaha could be improved upon, it is better than 

any other town within a thousand miles. 

More recently, in his book, Once Upon a Town, author Bob Greene quotes a World War II veteran 

who had just experienced the Canteen hospitality of North Platte, Nebraska: 

The people in the Middle West are a different breed of cat. They don’t live with their heads in the 

clouds. They are willing to think things are OK. They’ll give you a hand. 

Sure, the streets are now paved, the only real riverboats are floating casinos or tour boats like 

the River City Star, and a nuclear power plant generates much of the County’s electrical needs, but, 

if you scratch deep enough, the independence, confidence and neighborliness are still here. 


92

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

BOOKS 

Ambrose, Stephen E. Nothing Like It In The World. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000. 

Benson, Dorothy Devereaux. Omaha and Douglas County: A Panoramic History. Woodland Hills, California: Windsor Publications, 1980. 

Casper, Henry W., S.J.. History of the Catholic Church in Nebraska. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Bruce Press, 1960. 

Charvat, Charles. Logan Fontenelle. Omaha, Nebraska: The American Printing Company, 1961. 

Christensen, Walter, “Gilbert M. Hitchcock: The Newspaperman,” Nebraska History, 17 (July-September, 1936). 

Clemon, James A. Nebraska: Bringing Our Heritage into the Twenty-First Century. Encino, California: Cherbo Publishing Group, Inc., 2000. 

Dalstrom, Harl A. A.V. Sorensen and the New Omaha. Omaha, Nebraska: Lamplighter Press, 1988. 

Faulkner, Virginia. Roundup: A Nebraska Reader. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. 

Fitzpatrick, Lilian L. Nebraska Place Names. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1960. 

Furstenberg, John C. and Jack L. Omaha’s Adventure with the Overland Sport. Self-published, 1989. 

Galbraith, John Kenneth. The Great Crash of 1929. New York City, New York: Time, Inc., 1954. 

Green, Meg. Builders of Omaha. Omaha, Nebraska: Omaha Carpenters Union Local 400, 1981. 

Hansen, Ron; Nebraska Stories. New York City, New York: The Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989. 

Hickey, Donald R. Nebraska Moments: Glimpses of Nebraska’s Past. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1992. 

Holbrook, Stewart H. The Story of American Railroads. New York City, New York: Bonanza Books, 1947. 

Horan, Judy. Guide to Greater Omaha 1998. Omaha Magazine, 1998 

Howard, Robert West. The Great Iron Trail. Bonanza Books; New York City, New York: Bonanza Books, 1962. 

Jacobitz, Jerry Allen. Adie to Yutan: Nebraska’s Pictorial History. Marceline, Missouri: Heritage House Publishing, 1994. 

Killoren, John J., S.J. Come, Blackrobe. University of Oklahoma Press, 1994. 

Larson, Lawrence H and Barbara J. Cottrel. The Gate City: A History of Omaha. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. 

Limprecht, Hollis J. A Century of Service, 1885-1985: The World-Herald Story. Omaha, Nebraska: Omaha World-Herald Company, 1985. 

Mattison, Ray H. The Army Post on the Northern Plains 1865-1885. Gering, Nebraska: Oregon Trail Museum Association, 1954. 

Mercer, Samuel and Mark. The Old Market of Omaha. Omaha, Nebraska: The Old Market Press, 1994. 

Meyers, John. Print in a Wild Land. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Co., 1967 

Morearty, Charles B. Omaha Royal City of Quivera. Omaha, Nebraska: Hogan Printing Company, 1924. 

Nebraska: A Guide to the Cornhusker State. New York City, New York: The Viking Press, 1939. 

Nicoll, Bruce. Nebraska: A Pictorial History. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1967. 

Omaha: Times Remembered. Volumes I and II. Omaha, Nebraska: Omaha World-Herald Company, 1999 and 2000. 

Olson, James C. History of Nebraska; Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1955. 

Orr, Richard. Omaha and Council Bluffs: Streetcars of Omaha and Council Bluffs. Marceline, Missouri: Walsworth Publishing Company, 1996. 

Otis, Harry B. and Donald H. Erickson. E Pluribus Omaha: Immigrants All. Omaha, Nebraska: Lamplighter Press, 2000 

Pratt, Bill. Omaha in the Making of Nebraska: Labor History. Omaha, Nebraska: Central Labor Union and the Nebraska Committee for the 

Humanities, 1981. 

Rae, W. F. Westward By Rail. New York City, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1871. 

Reilly, Robert T. The Omaha Experience. Omaha, Nebraska: Barnhart Press, 1990. 

Rickey, Don. War in the West. Crow Agency, Montana: Custer Battlefield Historical and Museum Association, 1956. 

Sears Roebuck and Company, Inc., 1909 Catalogue. New York City, New York: Ventura Books, Inc., 1979. 

Shannon, James P. Catholic Colonization on the Western Frontier. 1957; New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 1957. 

Strahorn, Carrie Adell. Fifteen Thousand Miles by Stage. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1988. 

Winckler, Suzanne. The Plains States. Smithsonian Guide to America Series. New York City, New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang, 1990. 

Wirth, Eileen. The Omaha Experience. Atlanta, Georgia: Longstreet Press, 1996. 

ARTICLES 

Alfers, Kenneth G. “Triumph of the West: The Trans-Mississippi Exposition.” Nebraska History. 

Danker, Donald F. “The Journal of an Indian Fighter.” Nebraska History, Volume 39, #2. June 1958. 

Danker, Donald F. “The Nebraska Winter Quarters Company and Florence.” Nebraska History, Volume 37, #1. March 1956. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

93

Finney, Daniel P. “The Black Experience.” Omaha World-Herald. February 2, 2002. 

Hendee, David. “Holding Back the Might MO.” Omaha World-Herald. April 7, 2002. 

Karhl, William L. “World’s Fair.” Douglas County Historical Society, Volume 3, #3. Summer 1983. 

Jordan, Steve. “Home Grown Business Giants.” Omaha World-Herald. April 7, 2002. 

Sunday Omaha World-Herald, First Special Section. August 21, 1960. 

Sunday Omaha World-Herald, Second Special Section. August 21, 1960. 

Sunday Omaha World-Herald, Fourth Special Section. August 21, 1960. 

Omaha World-Herald, End of the Year Special Sections, 1981 through 2001. 

Reilly, Robert T. “The Ordeal of Standing Bear.” Magazine of the Midlands. Omaha World-Herald. April 29, 1979. 

Reilly, Robert T. “The World of the Creightons.” Window. Omaha, Nebraska: Creighton University Press; Winter 1996-1997. 

Uhlarik, Carl. “The Sin Sisters Who Made Millions.” Magazine of the Midlands. Omaha World-Herald. 

Wardle, Ralph M. “Territorial Bride.” Nebraska History, Volume 50. Summer 1969. 

WEBSITES 

Website for the Omaha World-Herald 

Website for the Omaha, Nebraska Chamber of Commerce 

Website with lists of politicians who have held local, state, or national offices throughout America 

OTHER RESOURCES 

Douglas County Historical Society 

Mayor’s Office, Omaha, Nebraska 

✧ 

Right: On October 9, 1891, the public 

awaited the execution by hanging of Ed 

Neal, convicted murderer. A drop of six and 

a half feet failed to break Neal’s neck. 



Opposite: Omaha’s year-long centennial 

celebration in 1954 even had its own song. 

The festivities were centered at Turner Park 

and had a western theme. Today the River 

City Roundup, which began in 1982, 

celebrates Omaha’s western and 

agricultural history.. 




94

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

95

✧ 




96

SHARING THE HERITAGE 

historic profiles of businesses, organizations, 

SPECIAL 

THANKS TO 

and families that have contributed to 

the development and economic base of 

Omaha and Douglas County 

Centris Federal Credit Union 

Quality of Life .............................................................................98 

Oriental Trading Company 

The Marketplace .........................................................................128 

Building a Greater Omaha............................................................172 

Paxton & Vierling 

Steel Company 

SHARING THE HERITAGE 

97

✧ 

St. Joseph’s was the first hospital in Omaha. 

It began at Tenth and Mason and moved to 

this location at Tenth and Martha in 1880, 

where it remained until the 1970s. 




98

QUALITY OF LIFE 

healthcare providers, school districts and 

universities, and other institutions that 

contribute to the quality of life in 

Omaha and Douglas County. 

Methodist Hospital......................................................................100 

Montessori Educational Centers ....................................................102 

Visiting Nurse Association............................................................104 

The Omaha Home for Boys ...........................................................106 

Westside Community Schools.........................................................108 

Gross, Iwersen, Kratochvil & Klein................................................110 

Millard Public Schools.................................................................112 

Miracle Hill Golf and Tennis Center ..............................................114 

The Nebraska Medical Center .......................................................116 

University of Nebraska Medical Center ..........................................117 

Creighton Preparatory School .......................................................118 

American Red Cross ....................................................................119 

Metropolitan Community College...................................................120 

National Safety Council, Greater Omaha Chapter ............................121 

Children’s Hospital .....................................................................122 

Creighton University ...................................................................123 

The Douglas County Historical Society ...........................................124 

Omaha Public Schools..................................................................125 

Clarkson College ........................................................................126 

Family Service ...........................................................................127 


99

METHODIST 

HOSPITAL 

✧ 

Below: The early days: Methodist Hospital 

at Thirty-sixth and Cuming Streets, 1908. 

Bottom: Methodist Hospital at 8303 Dodge 

Street was completed in April 1968. 


100 

Omaha was only thirty-seven years old in 

1891, but already it boasted a population of 

more than one hundred thousand. It was a 

town struggling to outgrow its rowdy 

reputation. The city fathers had great plans for 

the growth and expansion of Omaha and they 

relied heavily on Omaha’s religious community 

to provide leadership and support. 

The Methodist Church had established 

itself early in Omaha’s history; by the early 

1890s there were ten Methodist churches in 

Douglas County. The church had long 

dreamed of building a hospital to serve not 

only the needs of their members, but also the 

needs of all the people of Omaha. It was the 

women of the church, led by Lucy Rider 

Meyer, who were the driving force behind the 

establishment of the hospital. In January of 

1891 they had their first meeting where they 

vowed to “Start with what we can, but start.” 

In order to raise money, memberships, 

guaranteeing free hospital care, were sold for 

$10 for a year or $250 for a lifetime 

membership. In April 1891 a building was 

purchased near Twentieth and Harney Street 

and Methodist Hospital was born. Conditions 

were somewhat primitive in the early days. 

Laundry was boiled in a big, black iron pot 

in the backyard and when the gas lines 

froze during the winter, surgery was 

performed by candlelight. 

Despite these early problems, the hospital 

proved very popular with Omahans and soon 

overcrowding was one of the hospital’s biggest 

problems. By 1899, Methodist Hospital was 

debt-free despite the fact that a third of its 

patients for that year had been charity cases. 

A fire in 1901 that threatened the hospital 

building, combined with the increasing problem 

of overcrowding, made a move to bigger 

and better quarters inevitable. Land was purchased 

in what was then the western edge of 

Omaha at Thirty-sixth and Cuming Streets. A 

new hospital was completed in 1908. 

The new Hospital survived two natural 

disasters in its first decade. On Easter Sunday 

of 1913, a tornado ripped through Omaha 

slamming into a wing of the hospital that was 

under construction. Several of the patients 

and one nurse were killed. Five years later the 

worldwide flu epidemic struck Omaha. More 

than 500 patients were treated in three 

months. The hospital survived both 

challenges and continued to grow with new 

wings being built to accommodate more and 

more patients. 

Despite temporary setbacks due to the 

Great Depression and World War II, 

Methodist Hospital’s growth continued in the 

decades of the ’30s and ’40s. In 1951 it 

surpassed one million dollars in billing for the 

first time. Three years later, in 1954, 

Methodist completed the construction of a 

new surgical suite. It was the largest in 

Omaha, with nine operating rooms. However, 

a new problem was emerging. It was feared

that continuing to pour money into the 

hospital at Thirty-sixth and Cuming might 

not be prudent since Omaha was moving 

westward. It was decided that a new hospital 

needed to be built and a site at Eighty-fourth 

and Dodge Streets was selected. Construction 

was completed in April 1968. 

The old building at Thirty-sixth and 

Cuming was converted into the Eugene C. 

Eppley Complex. Its mission was to provide 

extended care for seriously ill patients and to 

help Methodist Hospital’s administrators 

devise new and successful programs to 

improve extended care. In the early 1970s the 

Eppley Complex added a very successful 

alcoholism treatment center. In May 1990, 

Methodist Midtown ended its eighty-two-year 

association with Methodist Hospital, an 

association that saw it through four major 

building additions and several name changes. 

Methodist Health System donated the building 

and its five-acre campus to the Omaha 

division of the Salvation Army. 

Seeking to better respond to the changing 

healthcare needs of the people it serves, 

Methodist Health System was established in 

1981. It was the area’s first health system to 

offer a broad spectrum of services to its 

patients. Methodist Health System now 

includes the Methodist Hospital, Jennie 

Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs, Iowa, 

Nebraska Methodist College, Methodist 

Hospital Foundation, Jennie Edmundson 

Foundation, and Shared Service Systems and 

Physicians Clinic, the region’s largest multispecialty 

physician practice. 

Building on more than a century of 

excellent medical care, annual surveys report 

that Omahans consistently rank Methodist 

Hospital as their first choice for hospital care, 

Methodist Hospital is recognized as a leading 

provider of such services as cancer care; cardiac 

diagnosis; treatment and rehabilitation; 

orthopaedics; neurosurgery; urology; and 

gastroenterology. In addition, Methodist 

Hospital is widely regarded as the area’s most 

preferred provider of obstetrical services, 

delivering more than three thousand babies 

annually. In fact, more babies are born at 

Methodist Hospital year-in and year-out than 

any other hospital in the region. 

Another important service provided by 

Methodist Hospital and Jennie Edmundson 

Hospital is Health Touch One. This free, 

twenty-four-hour service is staffed by registered 

nurses, who provide callers basic treatment 

instructions as well as information on physician 

referrals, educational classes, community health 

services, hospital services and more. Health 

Touch One also provides information to 

consumers through Methodist Health System’s 

website, www.bestcare.org. 

More than one hundred years ago, 

Methodist Hospital was launched with a 

simple philosophy of “Start with what we 

can, but start.” It has grown into one of 

the Midwest’s largest Health Care Systems, but 

remains true to its mission: Methodist Health 

System is committed to caring for people. 

✧ 

From top to bottom: 

Cardiac Rehabilitation Services at 

Methodist Hospital. 

The interfaith chapel at Methodist Hospital. 

The Family Resource Center at 

Methodist Hospital. 


101

MONTESSORI 

EDUCATIONAL 

CENTERS 

✧ 

Above: Children’s Village in Omaha. 

Below: Montessori on the Mall in 

Denver, Colorado. 


102 

Omaha’s Montessori Educational Centers 

have come a long way since their humble 

beginning in 1967: from nineteen students in 

a Quonset hut rented from the Omaha Public 

Schools for the sum of $85 per month to 

fifteen schools in Omaha, Denver and Fort 

Worth serving children from six weeks to 

sixth grade. The success of the Montessori 

Educational Centers is due in large part to the 

determination and vision of its founder, Dr. 

LaVonne Plambeck. 

Dr. Plambeck first became interested in the 

Montessori educational method in the mid- 

1960s. As an educator and young mother 

herself, Dr. Plambeck wanted to learn more 

about the educational method designed to 

inspire learning through hands-on activities 

and respect for each child’s individual learning 

style. Her interest prompted her to board a train 

to Chicago where she attended a Montessori 

training course taught entirely by European 

instructors trained in the traditional Montessori 

method. That course inspired Dr. Plambeck to 

bring the Montessori method back to Omaha to 

serve the children of her community, as well as 

to establish an accredited Montessori Teacher 

Training Center to allow other educational 

professionals to be certified in the Montessori 

method. Dr. Plambeck’s dedication has kept her 

educational centers at the leading edge of 

education in Omaha and the nation. Numerous 

awards, honorary memberships and other 

professional recognitions have been bestowed 

both on Dr. Plambeck personally and on the 

Montessori Educational Centers she founded. 

Dr. Maria Montessori developed the 

Montessori education method in the early 

twentieth century. Born in Italy in 1870, Dr. 

Montessori became the first woman doctor in 

Italy. Her early work was with developmentally 

disabled and economically disadvantaged 

children. Through close observation and 

experimentation, Dr. Montessori devised a 

system of education that helped disabled and 

disadvantaged children to learn as well as 

children with normal intelligence and 

economic advantages. Her methods became 

known throughout the world and were 

adopted by many countries. Today there is a 

renewed interest in her system in the United 

States. Her insights into children and her ideas 

for helping them grow into healthy, wellrounded 

adults are as fresh and meaningful 

today as when they were first developed. 

Montessori is a carefully prepared environment 

for learning. The primary goal of a 

Montessori Education is to help each child 

reach his or her full potential both academically 

and personally. This is a comprehensive, 

carefully measured system created for the 

youngest of minds–for the very special needs 

and abilities of children aged six weeks through 

the sixth grade. Each child is given the needed 

supervision and guidance that leads to learning. 

Children learn to work both alone and with 

others in a Montessori class—usually making 

this choice independently. The Montessori way 

offers a sensible, structured system that allows 

children to develop at their own pace, using

their own abilities, with the guidance of a 

trained directress and the use of specially 

designed materials. 

While Omaha’s Montessori Educational 

Centers are well established and successful 

today, getting there was not always an easy road. 

When the lease ran out on that first Quonset 

hut, Dr. Plambeck moved the school to a home 

at 12602 Pacific Street. While many of the 

children attending the school came from 

families in West Omaha, not all of the school’s 

neighbors were pleased with the new 

arrangement. In September 1969, three of those 

neighbors filed suit against the school, alleging 

that it was a daycare rather than a school, and 

was therefore in violation of Omaha zoning 

laws for suburban areas. The case went all the 

way to the Nebraska Supreme Court, with 

lawmakers at each level siding with the school. 

When the zoning complaint was first filed, the 

City Legal Department rendered an opinion 

that the school was operating legally. The 

neighbors filed suit in District Court and that 

suit was dismissed. Finally, the matter was 

appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court and 

that court upheld the lower court’s decision, 

settling the issue once and for all. 

The zoning issue was not the end of 

controversy over Montessori methods; there was 

also the 1991 futon incident. A dispute arose 

when it was discovered that Dr. Plambeck’s 

Montessori schools were using futons for their 

youngest students rather than cribs. The 

community feared this was an unsafe practice, 

but the school felt it gave even their smallest 

charges more freedom and independence and 

prevented them from having to see the world 

through bars. An investigation was conducted 

by the State Department of Social Services, and 

the school’s approach was vindicated. 

Not all the newsworthy activities of the 

Montessori Educational Centers have stirred 

controversy, however. Dr. Plambeck and her 

schools have consistently been at the forefront of 

educational advancement in the community. 

Working with the College of St. Mary, Dr. 

Plambeck launched the first Montessori training 

program in the area. Her schools were the first 

to hold a “Dads Only” night to encourage fathers 

to become more involved in their children’s 

education. A national women’s magazine did a 

feature story on the infant program; and the 

combination Hebrew school and Montessori 

classroom which ran at one of the Omaha 

schools for several years was a landmark 

program in the area of combined education. The 

newest school, in Denver, is a state-of-the-art 

educational facility. With Dr. Plambeck at the 

helm, the Montessori Educational Centers will 

continue at the forefront of education in Omaha, 

Denver, Fort Worth and the nation for many 

years to come. 

✧ 

Above: Kopecky Elementary School 

in Omaha. 

Below: Montessori at Interlocken in 

Broomfield, Colorado. 


103

VISITING 

NURSE 

ASSOCIATION 


104 

There are few social service delivery 

agencies with the pedigree, lore, and history 

of good works as Omaha’s Visiting Nurse 

Association. A good case could be made that 

more lives have been saved through its efforts 

than those of any other health profession. 

Founded November 19, 1896 under the 

guidance of Anna Millard, who had trained at 

Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, the 

VNA has had a greater historical impact on 

the Omaha community in the last 106 years 

than can be recorded here. 

Poverty and poor health are sisters. Seeing a 

tremendous need to minister to the poor, but 

with no services available, the VNA began with 

Millard making house calls from her own home 

at 1818 Capitol Avenue. Others in the 

community joined her cause, and soon the 

organization had more work than volunteers. 

The W. R. Adams home was the first 

administrative headquarters, but growth and 

demand led them through a plethora of 

locations, including the Paxton Hotel and City 

Hall. Substations were established on Lake 

Street and in South Omaha, and new programs 

implemented to meet health needs. One of their 

first innovations was a “Diet Kitchen” staffed by 

volunteers who assisted the nurses. Sewing 

circles and the Needle Work Guild assisted in 

supplying layettes, bedding and other linens. 

Infant mortality was rampant. In 1910, at 

least 589 babies died from sickness, 89 in 

August alone. A tuberculosis nurse was added 

in 1911, and a summer camp at Riverside 

Park funded by donations was established for 

sick babies. Under the supervision of nurses, 

mothers learned to bathe sick children, give 

enemas, and prepare formula or breast-feed. A 

second camp opened in 1912 at Elmwood 

Park. The year 1913 saw the devastating 

Easter Sunday tornado. VNA hit the streets to 

provide emergency aid. In 1915, two baby 

stations were opened to treat both sick and 

well babies. The Bee Milk and Ice Fund was 

started at this time to supply milk and ice for 

the babies. In 1920-21, preventive healthcare 

became the focus, and four more stations 

opened, but for well babies only. Sick children 

were referred to physicians and dispensaries. 

In 1918, one year after the end of World 

War I, the Spanish Flu struck, killing millions 

around the world. An Omaha doctor said, 

“Without their aid God knows what the result 

would have been. They have worked early and 

late, cheerfully, happily. They have gone where 

others feared or refused to go. Their assistance, 

I believe, has saved hundreds of lives that 

would possibly have been lost.” By its thirtieth 

year, the VNA was providing many types of 

care to people in Omaha: communicable 

disease, orthopedic, prenatal and delivery, and 

infant welfare and nutrition. Stations had been 

added at Twentieth and Leavenworth and two 

more at the South Omaha City Hall. 

By 1929 the VNA staff had grown to thirty 

nurses and begun receiving funds from

Community Chest. But economic conditions 

worsened and operating funds became hard 

to find. Conversely, demand for services 

increased exponentially. Malnutrition was 

rampant among adults and children. The 

VNA was there to distribute milk and sustain 

families by helping the county provide food 

allotments and recommend individuals to 

WPA projects. In 1934, ten Civil Works 

Service nurses were added to help lower the 

city’s maternal mortality rate. Only an 

outbreak of Scarlet Fever and the subsequent 

fear of contamination closed its clinics in 

1935. In 1942 the VNA entered into a series 

of joint partnerships with the Douglas County 

Health Department, parochial schools, rural 

areas, the University of Nebraska Hospital 

and Creighton University. In the 1950s, VNA 

changed its venue from specializedgeneralized 

nursing to a generalized form of 

nursing where VNA nurses became 

responsible for all forms of public health. 

They weathered the horrible polio epidemic 

of the mid-1950s (498 reported cases in 

1952). In 1954 the VNA participated in field 

trials of the Salk polio vaccine program, 

inoculating over four thousand children. 

By the 1960s, the VNA turned its emphasis 

to family health, initiating programs such as 

Child Health Clinics, Immunizations Clinics, 

and the Maternal and Child Health Program. 

In the mid-1960s, the VNA’s Children and 

Youth Project expanded child-related services, 

added staff and clinics, and extended hours 

into the evening. The advent of Medicarerelated 

programs created a huge demand for 

VNA programs among the elderly and lowincome 

because of the availability of 

reimbursable home health services. 

The ’70s were a time of organizational 

restructuring. As society’s needs changed, the 

VNA terminated some programs, revised 

others, and initiated new projects. In 1973 it 

expanded its community service role by 

assuming administrative responsibility of the 

Mobile Meals program for senior citizens. Two 

years later, a Health Maintenance Program for 

senior citizens with fifteen locations was 

established. The same year, follow-up assistance 

for parents of children who died from Sudden 

Infant Death Syndrome was initiated. In 1975 

the VNA again entered the mental health field 

by contracting with ENCOMH for case finding 

and follow-up services. 

With the advent of skyrocketing healthcare 

costs and managed healthcare in the ’80s, the 

VNA began providing more services to those 

dismissed from hospitals, providing aftercare 

nursing and rehabilitation. VNA began the 

first hospice service in the state in the mid 

1980s. The Elder Shelter was established in 

1992 to provide temporary housing to elder 

abuse victims. Geographically, programs and 

services have expanded from the metropolitan 

Douglas/Sarpy area to Schuyler, Columbus, 

and Norfolk, Nebraska and out-of-state to 

Pottawattamie County and Missouri Valley in 

Iowa. The Visiting Nurse Association is 

located on the World Wide Web at 

www.vnam.org. 


105

❖ 

THE OMAHA 

HOME FOR 

BOYS 

Right: Jimmie King, the Home’s first boy. 

Bottom, left: The boys with the Home’s 

Superintendent from 1934 to 1943, William 

Nielsen. 

Bottom, right: The boys enjoying a lunch 

break at the farm during the 1930s. 

Past Presidents of the 

Omaha Home For Boys 

James A. Noble 

1921-1934 

William M. Nielsen 

1934-1943 

Jesse G. Arnold 

1944-1949 

Strengthening Youth & Families Since 

1920. Nestled in a northern corner of the city 

lies one of Omaha’s best-kept secrets. The 

well-manicured lawns, tree lined streets, and 

lovely brick homes have been home to more 

than 5,000 boys since 1920. 

It was Columbus Day 1920 in the turbulent 

years following World War I, twelve men were 

meeting, all members of Masonic Lodges in 

Douglas County, to address the growing need 

of caring for neglected, orphaned, and 

abandoned youth. The meeting that evening— 

a climax to months of hopes, plans and 

dreams—resulted in the incorporation of what 

is known today as The Omaha Home for Boys. 

That spirit of community involvement and 

heartfelt need, put into action in 1920, 

continues to be its hallmark today. 

Boys have come from every corner of the 

United States, beginning with the first boy, 

Jimmie King. King’s mother died when he was 

four years old. Jimmie was sent to Omaha to live 

with an aunt until his fourth grade year when he 

became the first boy to enter the Home. 

Tinley Combs, an orphan himself at the 

age of seven, was the first president of the 

Home. Combs, a prominent Omaha jeweler, 

truly understood taking diamonds in the 

rough and mining jewels. At his funeral in 

1941, six of the older boys from the Home 

served as his pallbearers. 

The legacy has continued. A number of 

prominent local citizens have provided 

leadership to the Home throughout its history. 

Following Tinley Combs, the Reverend Carl 

M. Worden, James A. Noble, Harry Bruner, 

Charles W. Amidon, and the current President 

John Furstenberg. Under their leadership, and 

the board of directors, the Home has grown 

from that first house acquired in 1921 to 

today’s graceful, spacious fifty-two-acre 

campus at Fifty-second and Ames; from the 

nineteen boys in residence that first year to the 

thousands who have found comfort here since. 

Each year the Home cares for more than a 

hundred boys. The campus provides a haven 

for the abused, abandoned, and neglected. 

Helping these boys to thrive, becoming better 

neighbors, friends, sons and fathers. 

The campus is more than a place to live; it 

is a place where the boys are treated as family. 

All of the boys attend public schools close to 

the Home and are encouraged to attend their 

preferred House of Worship each week. 

W. Harry Bruner 

1949-1975 

Charles W. Amidon 

1976-1990 

John C. Furstenberg 

1990-Present 


106

Striving to keep entirely free 

from the institutional spirit, 

the campus is a real home, 

encouraging manners and 

neatness and each boy is 

responsible for chores within 

his home. 

The boys are encouraged to 

take part in school activities 

such as band, choir, sports, 

ROTC, etc. They can also be 

involved in intramural sports 

at the Recreation Center on 

campus, and are actively 

involved in the 4-H program at 

Cooper Farm. Tutors and 

mentors are an added plus to 

serving the diverse needs of the 

boys we serve. 

The mission of the Home is to Strengthen 

Youth and Families. The work of the Home 

isn’t just centered on the boy at the Home, but 

also with his family. Parent workshops are 

geared toward helping families understand 

the entire situation and work to correct it 

while the boy is at the Home and as he returns 

to his family home. 

As President John Furstenberg sums it up, 

“We have found that the more interaction we 

can have with the whole family, the more 

successful the program is for everyone.” 

Long-range planning meetings are held 

twice each year. These meetings review what 

has been accomplished, assess the needs of 

the community and those served by the 

Home, and help determine what The Omaha 

Home for Boys can provide to best help meet 

those changing needs. 

Guaranteed, once you turn off Fifty-second 

Street onto the main road of the Home’s 

campus, meet the boys, listen to their stories 

and see their smiles...you’ll want to share this 

best kept secret with everyone. 

1920 

Tinley Combs becomes 

president of the Home; Located 

Twenty-second and Davenport. 

1923 

The Home outgrew its 

original location and the Megeath 

House, on North Thirty-third 

Street was donated for use as a 

new facility. 

1941 

The Home purchased a fiftynine-acre 

farm at Fifty-second 

and Ames. 

1950 

Bob C. Cooper donated a 

seventy-two-acre farm for use 

by the 4-H Program. The farm 

was located at 8602 Mormon 

Bridge Road. 

1959 

The Board approved hiring 

of married couples to serve as 

houseparents rather than having 

just a housemother. 

1994 

The Jacob’s Place Transitional 

Living Program began. 

1995 

The new Youth and Family 

Services Building completed. 

2000 

The Dining Hall and Recreation 

Center facilities were remodeled 

and rededicated. 

2003 

The state-of-the-art Wurdeman 

Learning Center opens. 


107

WESTSIDE 

COMMUNITY 

SCHOOLS 

✧ 

Above: In 2000 Westside Community 

Schools completed a $27.5 million 

renovation of Westside High School turning 

it into a state-of-the-art technological 

learning center. 

Below: Westside Middle School students 

read to students at Underwood Hills 

Elementary. 

Bottom, right: Students at Paddock Road 

Elementary create a “kindness chain” as 

part of their lessons on character education. 

For more than fifty years, the Westside 

Community Schools’ staff, administration, and 

Board of Education have provided quality 

education at every level. Westside Community 

Schools’ students consistently attain high 

national test scores, attend the best colleges 

and universities, and grow to be the next 

generation of community, business, and 

political leaders. School district founders 

created District 66 with a desire to provide 

educational excellence, and that goal continues 

to drive the district today. 

In 1947 District 66 formed out of three 

flourishing rural districts that shared a 

common vision. Districts 46 (Underwood/ 

Peony Park area), 65 (Loveland area), and 31 

(Oakdale area) wanted to educate their 

children in a single exemplary K-12 system 

that maintained the feeling of a small, closeknit 

community. A petition for merger was 

drafted, and on March 30, 1947, the three 

districts officially became a single, unified 

school system known as District 66. When 

the school doors opened in the fall there were 

17 teachers, seven non-certified staff, and 

344 students. 

Plans soon began for building a new 

secondary school, and in 1952 Westside 

Junior-Senior High School was built on 

farmland along Pacific Street where the high 

school still stands today. The inspiration for 

naming the new school was found in the play, 

Westside Story. At the same time, to symbolize 

the unified community of the merged 

districts, District 66 was named Westside 

Community Schools. 


108

What was once the edge of the city became 

the center of Omaha. Between 1947 and 1977 

the population of the area served by the district 

grew from 1,800 to 40,000. As the population 

increased, bond issues were needed to construct 

additional schools. The voters of the district 

responded favorably, and by 1963, funds had 

been approved for 10 new elementary schools 

and multiple additions to existing schools. In 

May of 1976, the tornado that hit Douglas 

County completely destroyed Westgate 

Elementary School. The community rose to this 

challenge and the school was rebuilt in only 82 

days, in time for the beginning of the fall term. 

Throughout the years, improvements have been 

made to other district schools. In 1993 Westside 

Middle School was expanded and renovated, and 

in 2000 the district completed a $27.5 million 

renovation of Westside High School. Both projects 

focused on transforming the buildings into 

state-of-the-art technological learning centers. 

Today, Westside Community Schools is an 

award-winning school district serving a preschool 

through grade 12 enrollment of more than 5500 

students. Ten neighborhood elementary schools 

provide innovative curriculum, as well as small 

class sizes, all-day kindergarten, and elementary 

foreign language instruction. Both Westside 

Middle School and Westside High School have 

been designated as Blue Ribbon Schools by the 

United States Department of Education. Westside 

Community Schools has a highly educated, 

award-winning faculty, with sixty-three percent of 

the teachers holding masters, specialist, or doctoral 

degrees. Technological advances, such as the 

PowerSchool information system, provide parents 

with up-to-the-minute information about the 

schools and their children’s school performance. 

Westside Community Schools fulfills its mission 

to meet the unique needs of all learners by providing 

excellence in education at every level. 

✧ 

Above: In 1970, Governor J. J. Exon and 

Omaha Mayor Gene Leahy helped Valley 

View Junior High students plant a tree 

outside their school. 

Below: In 1958, teacher Paul Nelson taught 

physical education classes to students at 

Westside High School. 


109

GROSS, 

IWERSEN, 

KRATOCHVIL & 

KLEIN 

✧ 

Above: Front row (from Left to right): Dr. 

Michael Gross, and Dr. Timothy 

Fitzgibbons. Back row (from left to right): 

Drs. Bernard Kratochvil, Joseph Gross, 

Robert Klein, and Frank Iwersen. 

Below: “With a little help from my friends.” 

Joseph F. Gross, M.D. (left) and Frank J. 

Iwersen, M.D. (right). 


110 

Dr. Joseph Gross probably didn’t realize 

what he was creating when he established his 

orthopaedic surgery office in 1949. What 

started as a one-man office now has grown to 

a staff of 11 orthopaedic surgeons and 50 

non-medical employees. 

Orthopaedic surgery formally began in 

1741 and has its roots in the Greek words 

ORTHO (straight) and PED (child). 

Orthopaedic surgery deals with the diagnosis 

and treatment of diseases and injuries of the 

bones and joints and their associated structures 

like ligaments and tendons. Originally 

orthopaedic surgeons dealt with bone 

deformities in children, but now they work to 

correct problems with people of all ages. These 

problems can arise from birth defects, injuries 

or as a result of the aging process. 

Joseph Gross completed his orthopaedic 

residency at the University of Minnesota and 

practiced alone until 1953 when Dr. Frank 

Iwersen joined him. Dr. Bernard Kratochvil 

was added to the group in 1963 and Dr. 

Robert J. Klein joined them in 1965. Dr. 

Timothy Fitzgibbons and Dr. R. Michael 

Gross, son of the founder Dr. Joseph Gross, 

were added in the mid-1970s. Their practice 

was located at the Medical Arts building at 

Seventeenth and Dodge Streets in Omaha, 

Nebraska, where they remained until 1983. 

The end of the 1970s had orthopaedic 

surgery divided into several specialized areas. 

Drs. Gross, Iwersen, Kratochvil & Klein P.C. 

acquired specialists in each of these areas. It 

compared itself to a department store with 

several specialized areas, with each area 

contributing to the success of the whole. 

Instrumental in this evolution was the time Dr. 

Joseph Gross spent with Dr. John Charnley, a 

pioneer in total joint surgery. Dr. Charnley 

specialized in total joint replacement of hips and 

knees. Following his time with Dr. Charnley, Dr. 

Joseph Gross brought back specialized 

instruments and techniques that revolutionized 

the treatment of hip arthritis in Omaha. 

In 1983, in order to meet the growing need 

for space, the group moved their offices to the 

Bergan Mercy Medical Building (south). In 1995 

they moved to their current location in the 

North Medical Office Building of Bergan Mercy. 

While the location and some of the personnel 

has changed, the commitment to excellence has 

not. Drs. Joseph Gross, Frank Iwersen, and 

Robert Klein have passed away, leaving Dr. 

Kratochvil as the senior member. In addition to 

Drs. Kratochvil, Michael Gross and Timothy 

Fitzgibbons, eight other Orthopaedic surgeons, 

Drs. C. Michael Kelly, John McCarthy, T. Kevin 

O’Malley, Jeffrey J. Tiedeman, Scott T. McMullen, 

Erik T. Otterberg, David M. Huebner, and David 

J. Inda currently practice with the group. 

While working with graduates of many 

universities, the group has had consistent

involvement with Creighton University and the 

University of Nebraska Medical Center. Since its 

inception, it has taken on the responsibility of 

orthopaedic teaching to medical students and 

orthopaedic residents from CU and UNMC. 

Several of its doctors have completed residencies 

at the combined Creighton and University of 

Nebraska residency program. As a symbol of the 

firm’s longtime involvement, especially Dr. 

Iwersen’s with the Creighton athletes, Creighton 

named its strength room after Dr. Iwersen. 

Through the years Drs. Gross, Iwersen, 

Kratochvil & Klein P.C., provided orthopaedic 

consultation and services for a wide range of 

teams at many levels and different sports 

including baseball, football, basketball and 

hockey. At various times, they worked with 

grade school teams at Christ the King and high 

school teams at Creighton Prep and Gross 

High, Creighton, UNO and the College of St. 

Mary, the Omaha Lancers Hockey team, the 

Omaha Mustang’s professional football team 

and Omaha’s AAA baseball affiliate, the Omaha 

Royals and the College World Series. 

Many of the members of the group have also 

been very active in the local and national medical 

communities. Dr. Joseph Gross served as the 

chief of staff at Bergan Mercy Hospital for three 

years. Dr. Iwersen served as the chief of 

orthopaedics at Creighton University and as the 

orthopaedic consultant for the Omaha Royals 

and Creighton University. Dr. Kratochvil served 

as the president of the Mid-America Orthopaedic 

Association, which has 1,500 members in 20 

states. Both Kratochvil and Fitzgibbons have 

served a number of years as the Nebraska 

representative on the board of counselors of the 

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. In 

addition, Dr. Michael Gross has practiced 

orthopaedic surgery as a volunteer in countries 

like Uganda, Bhutan, and Honduras for a month 

each year for the last seven years. 

Through it all Drs. Gross, Iwersen, 

Kratochvil & Klein have remained on the 

cutting edge of orthopaedic surgery practices 

and techniques. Recently, Dr. Michael Gross, 

presented his pioneering work on shoulder 

joint replacement to the American Academy of 

Orthopaedic Surgeons. His research focuses 

on improving the quality and durability of a 

shoulder replacement by improving the 

cement fixation into the shoulder blade. 

From a one-man office in downtown Omaha, 

Drs. Gross, Iwersen, Kratochvil & Klein has 

grown to become the largest group of 

Orthopaedic Surgeons in Omaha. Its growth is 

due to more than fifty years of following a simple 

philosophy—provide the best orthopaedic care 

possible and treat your patients in the manner in 

which you yourself would want to be treated. 

✧ 

Front row (from left to right): Drs. Timothy 

Fitzgibbons, Bernard Kratochvil, Jack 

McCarthy, and T. Kevin O’Malley. Back 

row (from left to right): Drs. Erik Otterberg, 

C. Michael Kelly, Jeffrey Tiedman, 

David Huebner, Scott McMullen, and 

R. Michael Gross. 


111

MILLARD 

PUBLIC 

SCHOOLS 

✧ 

Above: Award-winning academic programs 

and innovative curriculum ensure students 

learn the academic and life skills necessary 

for personal success and responsible living. 

Below: Millard’s music program was 

named one of the top one hundred music 

programs in the country by the American 

Music Conference. 


112 

If, 130 years ago, you had stood on the 

highest hill in the area and looked around, you 

would have seen miles and miles of 

uninhabited prairie. Ezra Millard saw 

something else. He saw a town, with churches 

and businesses and schools. From its humble 

beginnings in 1870, Millard has grown in both 

population and importance. Its school district is 

now the third largest in the State of Nebraska. 

The first school in Millard, established in 

the fall of 1870, had six students. Classes were 

held in various buildings belonging to a local 

farmer. Six years later, the first school was built 

and furnished for $2,700. It served Millard 

until 1930 when it was destroyed in a fire. A 

new school was built on the same site, what is 

now 132nd and Millard Avenue. In 1938, 

Millard graduated its first senior class. 

Millard’s original school district had been 

confined to about four square miles 

surrounding the town. That all changed in the 

late ’50s when Western Electric built a large 

plant just north of Millard. The Millard School 

District merged with seven rural districts and 

reached its current size of thirty-five square 

miles in Douglas and Sarpy Counties. In 1962 

the interstate highway system connected 

Millard with Omaha and the town experienced 

rapid growth. Its population grew by 635 

percent between 1960 and 1970. It went from 

one school to eight schools and from 420 

students to 4,756 students. 

After lengthy legal fights, Omaha annexed 

the City of Millard in 1971. However, the 

Millard School District maintained its 

independence from the Omaha School District. 

Due to rapid growth, finding enough classroom 

space continued to be a challenge. While new 

schools were being built, area shopping malls 

were occasionally used as temporary 

classrooms. Construction of new schools 

continued in the 1980s, but at a slower pace. 

In 1984 the Millard Public Schools 

Foundation launched the first before and after 

school childcare program in an elementary 

school. It was called “Kids Network” and is 

now available in all elementary schools. 

Throughout the 1990s, and continuing today, 

the Millard School District has added schools. 

It now operates three high schools, six middle 

schools, and 22 elementary schools. 

The Millard community has historically 

made the support of its schools a priority, 

approving twelve straight bond elections,

dating back to the Eisenhower era. In 1997 the 

community passed an $89-million bond issue, 

which funded extensive renovation, new 

schools and state-of-the-art technology. Millard 

now has top-notch facilities and technology to 

serve its students. 

Strong community involvement is achieved 

through strategic planning. At both the school 

and district levels, hundreds of staff, students, 

parents, business people and community 

members are involved each year. Through this 

process, representatives of the entire community 

create the unifying force necessary to launch 

continual improvements. Working together, 

they create the best future for students. 

Millard provides high academic standards, 

recognizing that students of today need more 

knowledge and skills than ever before. The 

standards define what children should know 

and be able to do throughout their education. 

Assessments measure whether students have 

met the standards. For students who do not 

meet the standards, additional learning 

opportunities are provided. The entire system 

is designed to provide accountability— 

ensuring that all students receive a quality 

education and acquire the knowledge and 

skills that will be vital to their future. 

Thirteen Millard schools have earned the 

prestigious Blue Ribbon Award from the U.S. 

Department of Education. It is considered the 

most prestigious education award in the country. 

Millard’s SAT and ACT scores are higher than 

metro, state and national averages and a high 

percentage of their students go on to college. 

Pre-school programs are available. All-day 

Kindergarten is offered in every elementary 

school. The “High Ability Learner” program 

serves intellectually gifted students and has 

been expanded to include children who have 

exceptional talents in visual arts, drama, 

dance and music. A comprehensive special 

education program serves students from 

preschool to high school. 

The Millard schools offer several specialized 

programs including the Core Academy, 

Montessori, Information Technology, Block 

Scheduling and Nebraska’s only International 

Baccalaureate program. Millard schools have a 

history of providing innovative programs to 

meet the diverse needs of its students. In 

recognition of their efforts, the Millard School 

District was recently awarded a national Magna 

Award given by the American School Board 

Journal and Marriott School Services. In 

addition, the American Music Conference 

named Millard’s music program as one of the top 

one hundred music programs in the country. 

For more than 130 years, the Millard 

schools have worked hard to prepare their 

students for the world beyond the walls of the 

schools. Through award-winning academic 

programs and innovative curriculum they 

ensure their students learn the academic and 

life skills necessary for personal success and 

responsible living. 

✧ 

Above: Individual attention to the needs 

of every student is one of our 

paramount goals. 

Below: Millard students acquire the 

knowledge and skills that will be vital to 

their future. 


113

MIRACLE HILL 

GOLF AND 

TENNIS CENTER 

Omaha’s only championship caliber public 

golf course, The Miracle Hill Golf Course 

opened on April 30, 1961. Green fees were $3 

weekdays and $5 on weekends and holidays. 

Riding carts were $7. The first ladies league 

began in July of 1961. The course was as big a 

hit with pros as it was locals. On October 

21,1961, Don January and Roger Maris played 

a celebrity golf match against Dick Knight and 

Johnny Weismuller. The first of two LPGA 

tournaments was held August 14-16, 1964. 

Many, many famous ladies competed: Mickey 

Wright, Sherry Wheeler, Kathy Cornelius, 

Shirley Englehorn, Althea Gibson, and Kathy 

Whitworth are but a few. The first Senior’s 

League was formed in 1964, which was also 

the year of Bob Mitera’s record-breaking 

longest hole-in-one—an ace on the 444-yard 

par 4 tenth hole on October 7, 1964. 

The course has undergone improvement 

and change. Buildings were added and taken 

down, maintenance sheds built and 

expanded, and the clubhouse café greatly 

enlarged and improved in 1986. Target greens 

were built for the driving range in 1987 and 

irrigation improved. Practice sand traps were 

built, as were forward tee boxes on most of 

the holes. The front and back nines were 

reversed in 1970, and the teaching and 

assistant pros have come and gone. Jack 

Nicklaus toured the course in 1971 and 

Arnold Palmer and Ray Floyd played an 

exhibition match in ’72, as did Lee Trevino in 

’73. Sam Snead visited the course in 1978. 

The first of two tennis buildings housing 

four indoor courts was dedicated in October 

of 1978. The second building was opened in 

November of 1981. At that time the combined 

floor space of the clubhouse and tennis 

buildings totaled 61,000 feet. 

The course is as much a history of the 

Davis Family as it is a successful business. Dr. 

B.B. Davis, a prominent surgeon, purchased 

the old Friesland Farm just north of 120th 

and Dodge Road in 1907. Adjacent parcels 

were added over the years until it grew to 240 

acres in size. Dr. Davis had a thriving medical 

practice in Omaha and used to drive his horse 

drawn carriage to and from the farm in the 

same day. When the needs of the farm became 

too much, he built a carriage house and stable 

so that he could stay several days at a time. 

Dr. Davis developed a Holstein herd that was 

widely renowned in the Midlands for its 

superior breed lines, milk and butter fat 

production, and championship cattle. When 

his medical practice became too demanding, 


114

Dr. Davis sold off his herd in 1921 and rented 

the farm. Various individuals farmed and 

lived on the acreage the next 20 years. 

In 1930, Dr. Herbert Davis remodeled and 

added onto to the carriage house, affectionately 

called Tuckaway by the family. Summers and 

holidays were spent there. Dr. Davis was an 

avid sportsman and excelled in tennis and golf. 

A clay court was built behind the house in the 

’30s, and the first Father Son Round Robin 

Tennis Tournament was held in June 1938. Dr. 

John Davis, one Dr. H. Davis’ two sons, recalls 

riding his horse two miles on Saturdays to 

144th and Dodge Street to Father Flanagan’s 

Boys Home to play basketball with the boys. 

By the late 1940s real estate taxes had risen 

dramatically and farming was not profitable. 

Omaha had begun to move west and Dr. H. 

Davis was looking at retirement. Herbert H. 

Davis, Jr., the second son and a successful 

businessman, decided to build a golf course, as 

there were only four other public golf courses in 

the Omaha area. After much consideration, 

Floyd Farley of Oklahoma City was chosen as 

the course architect to design an eighteen-hole 

golf course with sand traps and a watering 

system, and to supervise all grading work on 

tees, fairways and greens. Construction began in 

1959 and the fairways were mowed for the first 

time on June 10, 1960. Two thousand trees were 

planted, and the total cost of construction came 

to $375,000. Herb Jr. had noticed that Omaha 

icon Rose Blumkin’s farm at 120th and Dodge 

Street was called Miracle Hills. He requested, 

and received from her, permission to use a 

singular form of the name, Miracle Hill, for the 

golf course, as it only had one long hill. And the 

rest is history. 

Dr. Herbert Davis died December 21, 1982, 

and Herb Jr. took over management of Miracle 

Hill Golf and Tennis Center. In 1985 Dr. John 

Davis, the oldest son and a third generation 

surgeon, retired from his surgery practice and 

joined Herb in the management of the business. 

1988 was the first year of the Big Red 

Tournament, and also the beginning of the 

annual Dr. Herbert H. Davis Memorial Golf Day, 

dedicated in his memory by children John, 

Herbert, and Emmy Lou Hilsinger. In 1996 the 

commemorative day was taken over by the 

Nebraska Golf Hall of Fame and was renamed 

the Dr. Herbert H. Davis Memorial Award. 


115

THE NEBRASKA 

MEDICAL CENTER 

✧ 

Above: University Hospital was completed 

in 1917 from funds designated by the 

Nebraska Legislature. 

Below: Child’s Hospital, located at 1716 

Dodge Street was opened in 1883 as the 

forerunner to Clarkson Hospital. 


116 

In 1997, two of the region’s most respected 

hospitals merged creating what is now known 

as The Nebraska Medical Center. The joining 

of the once neighboring hospitals, Clarkson 

Hospital, the first hospital in Nebraska, and 

University Hospital, the primary teaching 

facility for the University of Nebraska Medical 

Center (UNMC), created one of the region’s 

most extraordinary health systems. The 687- 

bed facility serves more than 25 percent of the 

Omaha market and is one of the city’s largest 

employers with about 4,500 employees. In 

fact, the hospital was voted Omaha’s number 

one employer in the annual Omaha Magazine’s 

Omaha’s Best Survey. 

The roots of the proud organization were 

planted in 1869, when a women’s group 

organized the Good Samaritan Hospital, a 

forerunner to Clarkson Hospital. Two years later, 

the land was transferred to Reverend Robert 

Harper Clarkson, Bishop of the Episcopal 

Diocese of Nebraska. 

In 1883, six years after a fire destroyed the 

original hospital, a new facility, Child’s Hospital 

and Home, was opened at 1716 Dodge Street. 

It was renamed Bishop Clarkson Memorial 

Hospital for Children in 1884. 

It was also during this time that the 

University of Nebraska’s Omaha Medical School 

campus was taking shape. Dr. Irving S. Cutter, 

dean of the medical school in 1915, believed 

that a medical school could not achieve 

excellence without employing a teaching 

hospital. Dr. Cutter convinced the Legislature to 

appropriate $150,000 for the construction. In 

1917 the first unit of University Hospital was 

completed. The hospital was a charity hospital 

caring for the “worthy sick,” those who couldn’t 

afford medical care. 

The need for additional beds and the 

advance of medical technology after World 

War II made it necessary for Clarkson 

Hospital to expand. In 1955, the new $5 

million, 200-bed Clarkson Hospital, located 

near UNMC, opened its doors. 

University Hospital also prospered after 

World War II. In 1962 Unit III was completed. 

Construction continued and by 1969 hospital 

capacity had reached 285 beds. University 

Hospital added the Durham Outpatient Center 

in 1993 and soon after, began planning for The 

Lied Transplant Center to open in 1999. 

Today, The Nebraska Medical Center is 

respected locally, regionally and internationally 

for its excellence and innovation. The hospital 

excels in the areas of solid organ transplantation, 

burn care, wound care, bone marrow (stem cell) 

transplantation and other cancer treatments. 

Hospital physicians, many recognized by their 

peers and patients as the best in their field, 

operate more than 300 outpatient clinics in 100 

communities in five states. The hospital’s 

Clarkson West Medical Center provides a wide 

array of medical services, including the only 

tweny-four-hour, full-service emergency 

department in West Omaha. The hospital has 

entered a joint venture with a group of Omaha 

physicians to build the first inpatient 

orthopaedic specialty hospital, Nebraska 

Orthopaedic Hospital, opening in 2004. 

For more information about The Nebraska 

Medical Center, visit www.NebraskaMed.com.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center 

(UNMC) is the only public academic health 

science center in Nebraska. In collaboration 

with The Nebraska Medical Center, UNMC is 

poised to become a world-class academic 

health science center. Founded as Nebraska’s 

first medical college in 1880, it was 

reorganized and renamed the Omaha Medical 

College the following year. It became affiliated 

with the University of Nebraska in 1902 and 

celebrated its hundredth anniversary in 2002. 

Until 1914, medical students took two 

years of basic science classes in Lincoln and 

then performed clinical work in Omaha for 

their remaining two years. Dental instruction 

was added in 1903 and by 1919, it evolved 

into the College of Dentistry. The School of 

Pharmacy was added in 1908. In 1909 the 

Legislature purchased the present UNMC 

campus site in Omaha for $20,000. Four 

years later, the first building on campus, 

which housed the entire medical college, 

opened for business. 

By 1917 University Hospital was built to 

help the college expand its clinical curriculum. 

The School of Nursing also was established that 

year, making clinical hospital work a major part 

of its program. The training of allied health 

professionals began in the early 1930s with 

classes in medical technology and radiological 

technology. By 1943 the graduate college 

offered master and doctoral degrees. By the end 

of World War II, the colleges had established 

programs in all healthcare disciplines. 

Since 1968, the University of Nebraska 

Board of Regents has consolidated all the 

university’s major healthcare programs under 

the University of Nebraska Medical Center. In 

1972 the College of Pharmacy moved to 

Omaha to become part of UNMC. In 1979 the 

College of Dentistry joined UNMC, while 

maintaining its primary facilities and 

programs on the University of Nebraska- 

Lincoln’s East Campus. 

Major projects in the last decade include 

the Durham Outpatient Center that expanded 

UNMC’s outpatient care capacity and training 

opportunities. Also constructed were an 

addition to the Eppley Institute for Research 

in Cancer and Allied Diseases, a Student Life 

Center, two additions to the Munroe-Meyer 

Institute and a patient/visitor parking garage. 

The Lied Transplant Center, which opened 

in 1999, serves as a national model for solid 

organ and cancer transplant programs, by 

linking patient care, education and research. 

The center was the first to use the innovative 

concept of cooperative care for transplantation, 

in which a family member or friend takes on 

the role of care partner to provide the patient’s 

basic care needs during recovery. By 2003 

the Durham Research Center, a second 

parking garage, and a second utility plant will 

be constructed. 

More than twenty-six hundred students 

attend UNMC today and nearly half of 

Nebraska’s physicians, dental professionals, 

pharmacists, bachelor-prepared nurses and 

allied health professionals have graduated 

from UNMC. 

UNIVERSITY OF 

NEBRASKA 

MEDICAL 

CENTER 

✧ 

Above: In 1933, the first building was 

constructed at the present UNMC campus. 

Initially the North Laboratory Building, the 

structure was later named Poynter Hall, 

after Dr. C. M. W. Poynter, an early 

anatomy teacher and later dean of the 

Medical Center. 

Below: These students were among the first 

class of medical students that attended 

UNMC. UNMC’s first class of 14 students 

included two women and Omaha’s first 

African-American physician, W H. C. 

Stevenson, c. 1894. 


117

CREIGHTON 

PREPARATORY 

SCHOOL 

✧ 

Above: From its original building in 1878, 

Creighton Prep has grown to a large 

complex of buildings on a 40-acre campus 

at Seventy-fourth and Western Avenue. 

Below: A Creighton Prep student gets 

individual instruction from his teacher. 


118 

When Mary Lucretia Creighton died in 

1876, her will stipulated that a sum of 

$100,000 be given to the Catholic Church to 

purchase land and construct buildings “…for 

a school of the class and grade of a college.” 

She asked that this school for young boys be 

named in honor of her husband, Edward 

Creighton and, in 1878, Creighton “College” 

was founded. The Jesuits assumed responsibility 

for operating the school in 1879 and 

imbued it with their motto, Ad Majorem Dei 

Gloriam, “For the Greater Glory of God.” 

In the early years, boys started as young as 

seven or eight years old. The school was 

tuition-free and 120 students attended that 

first year. In 1884 the school became a true 

college. A four-year college-prep program and 

a three-year college program were officially 

established. In 1891 the first five graduates 

earned their university degrees. 

The high school and university grew 

together and in 1917 the high school was 

formally established as a separate division and 

located in the north wing of the main building. 

In 1929, Reverend Henry L. Sullivan, S.J., 

became principal of Creighton Prep. He served 

as principal until 1958, profoundly shaping 

the history and lore of Prep. 

As the school continued to thrive, space 

became a premium. By the 1950s, Father 

Sullivan knew that Creighton Prep needed to 

separate from the university if it was to grow to 

its full potential. Through his leadership, 40 

acres of land was purchased for a new high 

school at Seventy-fourth and Western Avenue. It 

opened its doors in September of 1958. The university 

and the high school had been one community 

with one rector. Now, for the first time, 

Creighton Prep had its own community with its 

own president, Reverend John Foley, S.J. 

In the sixties and seventies, Creighton Prep 

used their forty acres to not only expand their 

complex, but also to build enrollment and 

build the character of its students. There was 

a renewed commitment to social justice 

founded in Jesuit education. 

By the time the students graduate from 

Creighton Prep, each student is expected to 

exhibit in his life five identifiable characteristics. 

He should be spiritually and personally 

open to growth. He should have demonstrated 

the ability to succeed in a rigorous academic 

environment. He should have developed a 

personal and enduring relationship with God. 

He should show a caring attitude to those 

around him and he should be committed to a 

lifetime of service and promoting social justice. 

In the end, the school has a vision of a 

student who will be a “Man for Others” and 

live his life Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam!

In 1859, Henry Dunant crossed the 

battlefield at Solferino, Italy and was moved by 

the number of wounded and dying soldiers. 

Dunant gathered the local townspeople 

together to feed, comfort and tend to the 

injuries of the wounded. And so the idea of the 

International Red Cross was born. 

The idea came to America through Clara 

Barton who established the American 

Association of the Red Cross in Washington 

D.C., on May 21, 1881. The Omaha Chapter of 

the American Red Cross opened on April 10, 

1917. In 1981 the Chapter was renamed the 

Heartland Chapter when the Douglas and Sarpy 

County chapters merged. The Heartland 

Chapter currently serves eighty thousand 

people annually with disaster services and 

lifesaving training. 

On February 18, 1948, the new American 

Red Cross Blood Center at Twenty-fifth and 

Farnam opened its doors. The organization 

collected blood from volunteer donors to 

provide to patients in area hospitals. Dr. Russell 

Best, founder of the blood program, had 

envisioned a community blood program while 

serving in military hospitals during World War 

II. “There” he said, “blood was readily available 

for the wounded. Why should it not be 

available for all people in time of peace?” 

During its first year of operations, the blood 

program collected 8,047 units of lifesaving 

blood. Today, more than five decades later, the 

program now called Midwest Region Blood 

Services collects blood in ninety-two counties 

in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Colorado. This 

blood is then distributed to eighty-six hospitals 

throughout the region. The program, with an 

annual operating budget in excess of twenty 

million dollars, employs more than 375 staff at 

locations in Omaha, North Platte, and Grand 

Island, Nebraska. 

In addition to providing much needed blood 

to regional hospitals, Midwest Region Blood 

Services also provides specialized services such 

as peripheral stem cell collections, plasma 

exchanges, reference laboratory facilities for 

tough cross matching problems, and many 

other critical services. 

In 1993, as part of a nationwide 

transformation of the American Red Cross, 

Blood Services was formally separated from 

Chapter Services. The two organizations 

continue to work closely with one another, 

providing humanitarian and medical aid to 

victims of war and disaster in our region and 

throughout the world. 

Today, the American Red Cross is the largest 

humanitarian organization in the United States 

and the nation’s largest collector, processor, 

tester and distributor of blood, supplying 

approximately 3,000 hospitals through the 

generous donation of nearly 20,000 people daily. 

The Red Cross also provides nearly a quarter of 

the nation’s human tissue for transplantation and 

approximately fifteen percent of the nation’s 

supply of therapeutic derivatives of human blood 

plasma, as well as operating the largest, most 

advanced research laboratory in the world. 

AMERICAN 

RED CROSS 


119

METROPOLITAN 

COMMUNITY 

COLLEGE 

✧ 

Below: Building 8 at the Fort Omaha 

campus contains the library and classrooms. 

Built in 1879, it once served as General 

Crook’s headquarters, and later, a hospital. 

Bottom, right: Construction workers 

renovate the interior of Building 8 to 

prepare it for college uses. 

Students strolling the grounds of the Fort 

Omaha Campus of Metropolitan Community 

College might be surprised to learn of some of 

the people who walked these acres before them. 

In 1872 the Grand Duke Alexis, brother of 

the Czar of Russia visited Fort Omaha. The 

list of dinner guests honoring his visit 

included General Philip Sheridan, General 

George Custer, Buffalo Bill Cody, the governor 

of Nebraska and the mayor of Omaha. 

General George Crook, hero of the Civil War 

and the Indian Wars, lived here from 1878 to 

1882 and again from 1886-1888. During the 

years between his stays, he left to lead the 

fight against the Apaches in Arizona. In 1879 

Standing Bear of the Poncas was detained at 

Fort Omaha following his attempt to leave the 

Indian Territory in Oklahoma, so that he 

could bury his son near the Niobrara River. A 

lawsuit brought by Standing Bear against 

General Crook declared that Indians were 

entitled to basic human rights. 

During World War I, the campus served as 

training grounds for members of the Army 

Balloon Corps. During World War II, it held 

Italian prisoners of war and later served as a 

Naval Reserve station from 1947-1973. 

Metropolitan Community College was 

established in 1974 when the Nebraska state 

legislature consolidated several technical 

community colleges. Two of those colleges 

merged to form Metropolitan Community 

College. The college received the deed to the 

70-acre, Fort Omaha campus in 1975, and 

after extensive remodeling inside and out, 

opened for students. 

From the beginning, Metropolitan 

Community College’s mission has been to 

provide a quality, affordable education to all the 

citizens of Dodge, Douglas, Sarpy and 

Washington Counties. It offers one of the lowest 

tuition rates of any area college. For less than 

$3,000, students can earn a two-year degree and 

either begin working in their chosen field or 

transfer their credits to a four-year university. 

The college operates the Fort Omaha, Elkhorn 

Valley and South Omaha campuses and centers in 

Fremont, LaVista and Offutt Air Force Base. 

Metropolitan Community College is accredited 

by the Higher Learning Commission and is a 

member of the North Central Association. 

Students can choose from more than a hundred 

degree and certificate programs including 

automotive technology, business, computer 

technology, photography, computer imaging and 

graphics, health professions, industrial 

technology, and many others. With an annual 

enrollment of about twenty-five thousand credit 

students, Metro is the third largest postsecondary 

institution in Nebraska. Despite its 

size, it offers small classes, typically between 20 

to 30 students, allowing for more personal 

attention. In addition, many faculty members 

work in the community, providing students with 

both academic and practical knowledge. 

A campus that once echoed to the sounds 

of soldiers at drill, now resonates with the 

sounds of students walking to classes. 


120

A historic milestone in safety and injury 

prevention took place in Omaha in January 

2003. The Safety and Health Council moved 

ahead in two ways to continue a seventy-nineyear 

growth in service to the Omaha area. 

First, the Council changed its name to 

National Safety Council, Greater Omaha 

Chapter, a move designed to better serve 

business members who are based locally but 

who need safety services nationwide. 

Second, the Council began its work as one 

of twenty OSHA Training Institute Education 

Centers across the country. Named by U.S. 

Department of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, 

the Greater Omaha Chapter and two other 

consortium members will serve OSHA Region 

VII providing the Outreach Training Program. 

This is a prestigious recognition and a 

remarkable distinction. 

The Council was founded as the Omaha 

Safety Council in 1924, by a group of wellknown 

Omaha businessmen, led by Union 

Pacific Railroad management, who concluded 

that seventy-five percent of accidents could 

have been prevented. A name change in 1987 

to Safety and Health Council of Greater Omaha 

preceded the current name. Today a 58 

member local board of directors and a staff of 

24 full-time and 73 part-time employees carry 

out the private, nonprofit, 501(c)(3), Council’s 

mission: “to promote safety and health by 

providing programs, resources, services, and 

education to prevent both the personal and 

economic loss associated with injuries, 

accidents and health hazards wherever they 

exist.” The mission is unique to the area. 

The Council’s founding was against a 

backdrop of 80,000 lives (about 70 per 100,000 

population) lost annually to unintentional 

injuries. That was the decade the first traffic 

engineer assumed responsibilities in the United 

States amid the growing sales of autos, and just 

the beginning of highway traffic crashes. Today’s 

reduced national unintentional injury death rate 

of about 35 per 100,000 population illustrates 

the success of the safety movement. 

From the beginning, effort was community 

wide involving schools, churches, civic 

organizations, and businesses. The elementary 

school safety patrols were started early by this 

Council. Reluctance by business people to 

support the Council was overcome by reports 

of lowered insurance costs and fewer lost days 

because of injury. Many years later, in the 

1970s, the Occupational Safety and Health Act 

propelled the Council into greater responsibility 

and services to businesses in the area of 

OSHA compliance. 

Chartered by the National Safety Council 

in 1935, the Safety and Health Council 

continued its growth to a membership today 

of more than 1,000 businesses. In 1999, after 

three growth moves in the previous fifteen 

years, the Council moved into its 

headquarters building at 11620 M Circle. 

Services for businesses, courts, schools, 

families, and individuals are provided in 

occupational safety and health, community 

safety, traffic safety, behind-the-wheel-driver 

education, and personal accountability or 

individual behavior choices that impact safety. 

The Council’s curriculum of services and 

training is very comprehensive. While known 

primarily for its service to the courts and 

businesses, the Council has something for 

everyone. In addition to a film library and 

many consultants, they offer an enormous 

catalog of teaching and educational aids. The 

entire gambit of safety and health is available 

through Nebraska’s historic National Safety 

Council, Greater Omaha Chapter—continuing 

to meet the safety needs and concerns of our 

community now and into the future. Contact 

the National Safety Council, Greater Omaha 

Chapter online at www.safenebraska.org. 

NATIONAL SAFETY COUNCIL, 

GREATER OMAHA CHAPTER 


121

CHILDREN’S 

HOSPITAL 

✧ 

Above: Children’s Hospital is located at 

8200 Dodge Street in Omaha. 

Bottom, left: Medical technology has 

progressed a great deal since the Children’s 

Memorial Hospital opened in 1948. 

Bottom, right: A bubbling stream runs 

through the lobby of Children’s Hospital. 

On February 15, 1948, twenty thousand 

people stood in lines three blocks long, 

enduring the cold and remnants of a recent 

snowstorm, waiting to take a peek at their new 

hospital—Children’s Memorial Hospital. After 

all, they built it, these people standing out in 

the cold, with donations from working 

overtime, holding dances, and turning over 

box office receipts from local sporting events. 

And the adults weren’t the only ones helping. 

Omaha’s children turned in money from trick 

or treating and held backyard talent shows to 

raise funds for the hospital. Even before it 

admitted its first patient, Children’s Memorial 

Hospital was a much-loved member of the 

community it served. 

Dr. C. M. W. Poynter first envisioned 

Children’s Memorial Hospital, now called 

Children’s Hospital, in the 1920s while still in 

medical school at Creighton University. The 

Great Depression and World War II 

intervened and Dr. Poynter’s dream of a 

hospital dedicated to the care and healing of 

children was put on hold. But in 1943, Dr. 

Poynter, now dean of the College of Medicine, 

shared his vision with Henry Doorly, and the 

planning began in earnest. After getting 

architect Frank Latenser started on sketches 

and estimates for a sixty-bed hospital, Doorly 

handpicked community leaders to serve as 

founders for the hospital. These founders got 

to work and on Christmas Eve 1943, Articles 

of Incorporation were filed, officially giving 

birth to Children’s Memorial Hospital. 

Now all they needed was money. 

Donations from the talent shows and dances 

were helped along by a starting donation of 

$115,000 from Mr. and Mrs. Doorly and the 

Omaha World-Herald. W. Dale Clark, president 

of Omaha National Bank, took charge of 

collecting the funds. By the time the money 

stopped coming in, the original target of 

$200,000 had been left in the dust; actual 

contributions reached $757,000 by 

November of 1947. 

From the polio epidemic of 1948, to the 

150-plus pediatric heart operations it now 

performs annually, Children’s has cared for 

Omaha’s children, as well as children across 

the nation. Providing exceptional medical 

care while using state-of-the-art technology is 

only part of what Children’s Hospital is about. 

It is also a nationally recognized pediatric 

teaching center and a nonprofit organization 

that never turns away a child in need of care. 

Children’s is an institution built by the 

community—then and now. The new building, 

with its family-friendly design and whimsical 

décor, including a bubbling stream running 

through the lobby, was funded not just by large 

corporate donations, but also by pennies from 

children. And, just as in 1948, thousands 

attended the new facility’s open house on 

August 19, 2000. After all, it is their hospital. 


122

The Village of Omaha was two years old 

when Edward Creighton arrived with his 

brothers John and Joseph and cousin James, 

in 1856. They found a town of about six 

hundred citizens, an unimpressive collection 

of structures and streets either choked with 

dust or oozing with mud. But something in 

the town appealed to them and they decided 

to stay. It’s lucky for Omaha and Douglas 

County that they did. 

Edward soon landed a job helping to 

construct the telegraph line linking Omaha 

with St. Joseph, Missouri. In October 1861 

he completed his half of a telegraph line that 

linked the country from coast to coast. 

The greatest of Creighton’s legacies is the 

University that bears his name. Acting on 

an oft-stated wish of her deceased husband, 

Mary Lucretia Creighton provided in her 

will for the institution the Jesuits and their 

lay faculty and staff would turn into one of 

the Midwest’s premier educational 

establishments. After her death, John 

Creighton, who had married Sarah Emily 

Wareham, Mary Lucretia’s sister, continued 

as a patron of the University. 

Founded in 1878, the University’s outreach 

embraces students, male and female, from 

across the country and has always had an 

especially strong impact on Omaha and 

Douglas County. 

Creighton is the elder sister of most of 

Omaha’s major institutions. It was ten years old 

in 1888 when Fort Crook, now Offutt Air 

Force Base, was established. That same year, St. 

John’s Church was completed on the Creighton 

Campus. When the Union Stockyards were 

founded in 1893, Creighton University was 

already a rambunctious fifteen-year-old with a 

medical school and hospital. St. Joseph’s 

Hospital, founded in 1870, predates the 

University. As the University’s main teaching 

hospital, it remains an integral part of the 

Creighton University Medical Center. The 

University was approaching forty and had 

added schools of law, dentistry, and pharmacy 

when Father Edward J. Flanagan founded Boys 

Town, now Girls and Boys Town. By the time 

Joslyn Art Museum was founded in 1931, 

Creighton had passed its fiftieth year and 

included a business school, a graduate school, 

and a nursing program. Creighton celebrates 

its 125th anniversary in 2003. 

Since 1891, when its first degree was 

conferred, nearly sixty thousand students 

have graduated from Creighton. 

The University has a major service impact on 

Omaha and the region. In 2001, Creighton 

faculty, staff and students provided nearly 80 

institutionally supported programs of education 

and service to 77 agencies in Metro Omaha. 

Through its clinics, Creighton faculty, staff and 

students served patients in Metro Omaha and 

rural Nebraska and Iowa. There were more than 

360,000 patient visits to Creighton University 

Medical Center. Thousands more visited 

Creighton dental, physical therapy, and 

occupational therapy clinics. 

The Creighton and Wareham families had 

no way of knowing the long-term effects of 

their decision to settle in Omaha. But, if they 

had decided not to, it would be a very 

different city today. 

CREIGHTON 

UNIVERSITY 

✧ 

Above: Creighton University began in 

1878 in this building, which exists 

today as the core structure of the 

Administration Building. 

Below: Creighton University has a farreaching 

service impact on Omaha and the 

region. This photo shows the School of 

Dentistry’s 2001 Bright Smiles-Bright 

Futures outreach project, a partnership with 

Colgate-Palmolive. Michelle Klabunde, left, 

a student in Creighton’s cooperative dental 

hygiene program with Iowa Western 

Community College, works with a young 

patient, Marlene Garcia. The Bright- 

Smiles-Bright Futures program brings 

dental care to children in need. 


123

THE DOUGLAS 

COUNTY 

HISTORICAL 

SOCIETY 

✧ 

Right: Within the prairie plants of Hitchcock 

Circle is a statue of General Crook, who is 

portrayed in military uniform with Indian 

moccasins, his customary dress. 

PHOTOS BY RITA JERINS 

Below: The General Crook House Museum 

and its Victorian Heirloom Garden, 

designed and managed by Kinghorn 

Gardens, are popular choices for weddings, 

dinners and private events. 

PHOTOS BY RITA JERINS 

The Douglas County Historical Society is 

the official archive for Douglas County 

history, as designated by the Douglas County 

Board of Commissioners. It serves local and 

international audiences from its facilities—the 

General Crook House Museum, the Library 

Archives Center and National Indian Wars 

Library, the Crook House Victorian Heirloom 

Garden and Hitchcock Circle—located at 

historic Fort Omaha, a supply fort established 

in 1868, that now is the campus of 

Metropolitan Community College. 

Today’s Historical Society is built upon the 

Old Settlers Association of the 1860s, the 

Douglas County Old Settlers Association and 

the Greater Omaha Historical Society, 

established in 1956. Twenty years later, when 

Fort Omaha was acquired by Metropolitan 

(Technical) Community College, the name 

was changed to the Douglas County Historical 

Society, and it began restoration of the 

General Crook House, thus fulfilling a 

requirement of the federal government. 

Through the years, Fort Omaha experienced 

name changes, uses and temporary closings. It 

now is preserved as a National Register District 

and has no closing date, for the federal 

government retained its reservation status, and 

reserve forces still are trained and deployed 

from Fort Omaha. 

The General Crook House Museum, on the 

National Register of Historic Places, is an 

award-winning, authentically restored frontier 

general’s home of Italianate architectural style 

and furnished with antiques of the late 

Victorian period. Completed in 1879, the home 

bears the name of the resident commander of 

the Department of the Platte, General George 

Crook, who was a hero of the Civil War and 

Indian Wars, considered “the nation’s finest 

Indian fighter” by General William Tecumseh 

Sherman, sympathizer of Indian rights and 

defender in the 1879 landmark trial of the great 

Ponca chief, Standing Bear. 

The Library Archives Center and National 

Indian Wars Library houses rare collections 

such as the Barker Letters of the 1860s and 

the World-Herald Clipping Files, in addition 

to thousands of invaluable maps, diaries, and 

documents, and over thirty thousand images 

for research, exhibits, and purchase. 

A staff of two full-time and six part-time 

professionals, 150 volunteers, the Crook House 

Guild, the Board of Directors, the General’s 

Council and other donors are dedicated to 

produce innovative services that include: 

Speakers Bureau; talks and scholarly “Criss 

Lectures;” historical publications; “In Their 

Own Words” video interviews; Step-On Guides 

to narrate motor coach tours or river cruises; on 

and off-site exhibits; classes for young people 

and adults; “History in a Trunk” at schools; gift 

shop with period gifts, books and consignment 

antiques; commemorative events for Lewis and 

Clark and local anniversaries and annual events 

such as the Summer Garden Walk, Nineteenth 

Century Holidays and Centennial Gala. 

Douglas County Historical Society is 

located at Thirtieth and Forts Streets in 

Omaha and may be found on the Internet at 

www.omahahistory.org. 


124

OMAHA PUBLIC 

SCHOOLS 

In 1859 the Public Schools of Omaha City 

was formed to provide education to the 

children of the new city. In 1887, Omaha 

School District 1 was joined by newly 

annexed School Districts 2, 3, 5, 6, 37, 38, 

49, and 53. These districts joined together to 

form the Omaha Public School system. This 

same year marked the first time women with 

children attending the public schools were 

allowed to vote in a school board race. 

In the first year of the twentieth century, the 

Nebraska Legislature made education 

compulsory for children aged seven through 

fourteen. Less than a decade later, in 1909, the 

school year was changed from a trimester system 

to the two-semester system in place today, and 

the Teacher’s Retirement Fund was started. By 

1920, legislation had been passed mandating 

State Certification of teachers and allowing 

married women to teach in the public schools. 

It was more than twenty years later before 

this same teaching privilege was formally 

extended to include African Americans. On 

April 20, 1942, the Omaha School Board 

instituted a policy change allowing the 

employment of African Americans as teachers in 

the Omaha Public Schools. 

The schools themselves remained segregated 

until 1976, when the United States Supreme 

Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education 

mandated desegregation of the country’s public 

school systems. OPS was quick to comply. The 

Desegregation Plan was received from the 

United States District Court in May 1976, and 

was in place by the following September. 

In the years following, OPS successfully 

introduced new programs to improve the 

quality of education. Magnet schools were 

created to offer specialized education programs 

in specific areas such as math and science, 

computers and technology. In 1998 the 

Desegregation Task Force studied the situation 

and recommended that the district allow 

elementary and middle school children to attend 

neighborhood schools rather than being bused 

to schools throughout the district. In 1999 the 

passage of a $254-million bond issue and the 

implementation of the Student Assignment Plan 

effected this change. 

Since 1859, OPS has been a microcosm of 

the community it serves. As Omaha grows, so 

does OPS; if Omaha faces a social or economic 

crisis, it is reflected in the schools. As Omaha 

moves into this new millennium, its citizens will 

continue to rely on OPS to educate its children 

and prepare them for their responsibilities as the 

next generation of Omaha leaders. 


125

CLARKSON 

COLLEGE 

✧ 

Above: Clarkson College, c. 1905. 

Below: Students in the Clarkson College 

radiology program. 


126 

Clarkson College, a leader in educating 

healthcare providers since 1888, offers the 

core values of learning, caring, commitment, 

integrity, and excellence. The story begins 

with the Ladies’ Hospital, founded by a group 

of charitable women. Then the hospital 

transferred to Nebraska First Episcopal 

Bishop Robert H. Clarkson, who established 

the facility as one of Omaha’s first charitable 

hospitals. Following Clarkson’s passing, his 

wife, Meliora, continued to work tirelessly to 

promote and advance the hospital. As the 

demand for health services rose, she helped 

found Nebraska’s very first nursing school, 

the School of Nursing at 1721 Dodge Street. 

In 1892 the facility was incorporated under 

Nebraska law as the Bishop Clarkson 

Memorial Hospital for Children. Today, 

students study in state-of-the-art facilities and 

Clarkson College is an educational partner 

with The Nebraska Medical Center. 

The College has a rich historical perspective. 

In 1902 a formal three-year course of study for 

nurses training was adopted. In 1909 the new 

Bishop Clarkson Memorial Hospital opened at 

Twenty-first and Howard Streets. In addition, 

the Nebraska Legislature created the state’s first 

board of nurse examiners, leading to a change 

in the school from one of apprenticeship 

training to one organized under the Nurse 

Registration Act. In 1917, five of the ten 

Nebraska Red Cross Nurses sent to France in 

WWI were Clarkson School of Nursing 

graduates. As medical advances continued, the 

school innovated. In 1927 the National League 

for Nursing Education curriculum was 

adopted. In 1931 the school affiliated with 

University Hospital to enhance pediatric and 

obstetric training. In response to the WWII 

nursing shortage, thirty-one students enrolled 

as Clarkson’s first Cadet Corps Nurses. By 

1953, Clarkson Hospital had moved to Fortysecond 

and Dewey. In 1958, planning began for 

a new facility. Nebraska’s largest nursing school 

opened its doors in 1960 as the Bishop 

Clarkson Memorial Hospital School of Nursing. 

In 1982 the School of Nursing formally 

became Bishop Clarkson College and received 

its North Central Association accreditation, 

allowing it to offer a four-year bachelor of 

science in nursing degree. In 1991 master’s 

level programs were initiated in nursing and 

health services management. Always a leader in 

healthcare education, the curriculum 

expanded into a full range of health science 

programs, including nursing, healthcare 

business management, health information 

management, medical imaging, radiologic 

technology assistant, occupational therapy 

assistant, and physical therapist assistant. 

Clarkson College is committed to the 

community and connects with children of all 

ages. True to its mission, values and goals, 

supporting programs such as the Adopt-A- 

School Educational Partnership, spark the 

interest of children in future health careers. 

Clarkson College remains on the cutting edge of 

health science career training and is poised to 

meet the challenges of the future. 

Please visit www.clarksoncollege.edu for 

more information.

Family Service, founded in 1875 as the 

Christian Workers Association at 1421 

Douglas Street, is Omaha’s oldest private social 

service agency. Long known as a pioneer in its 

profession, many current services and 

organizations in the Omaha area have their 

roots in this second-century organization. 

Their mission is “to strengthen individuals and 

families through education, counseling and 

support services.” 

Their first effort was a Thanksgiving dinner 

for more than three hundred “newsboys, 

boot-blacks and other children of the more 

neglected class.” By 1892 relief efforts were 

separated from gospel teachings and they 

became the Associated Charities. An 

Industrial Department was added and clients 

were taught job skills. 

In 1927, Family Service began investing in 

professional training for staff. A psychiatric 

consultation service was established in 1941, 

and University of Nebraska students were 

invited to participate. Further collaborations 

with the university resulted in the 

development of the UNO graduate social 

work program. Currently, advanced graduate 

students from several area colleges participate 

in the Clinical Internship Program conducted 

by Professional Counseling staff. 

Family Service has been involved in child 

care since 1924, visiting area centers regularly 

in the early years to follow up on reported 

child abuse and working with families 

ordered by the court to receive services. In 

1945 the agency accepted the administration 

of the Junior League Day Care. Today, care for 

abused children have evolved into twentyfour-hour 

emergency shelters. The Child Care 

Program now focuses on training and support 

to child care providers. 

During the 1960s, civil rights legislation 

made Americans take a hard look at the poverty 

and the plight of minorities. Family Service 

established award-winning “multi-service 

centers” at Logan-Fontenelle and Hilltop- 

Pleasantview Public Homes—neighborhood 

sites with a variety of community services that 

served as national models. 

In 1975, Family Service merged with 

Family Service of Council Bluffs. Divorce 

classes and workshops focusing on children 

were added in the ’80s. In 1979 the agency 

started a Domestic Abuse Program and in 

1994 its concealed “Safe Haven” Transitional 

Shelter opened to protect victims. 

In the mid-1990s the juvenile justice system 

shifted from a correctional model to a 

community-based model. Family Service 

developed the Juvenile Crime Intervention and 

Prevention Services in 1996, becoming a 

proactive partner to the juvenile justice system. 

The “Transitions” Shelter for homeless families 

opened in Council Bluffs in 1999 with a twoyear 

program—including “wrap-around” 

services—to end the cycle of homelessness. 

The agency’s emphasis on high-quality 

services and leadership to the profession 

continues. If there is a defined social need, 

Family Service responds with the finest, 

most innovative services available. The agency 

is found on the World Wide Web at 

www.familyservicemidlands.org. 

FAMILY 

SERVICE 


127

✧ 

An Omaha produce market about 1943. 

Many of the buildings in the present-day 

Old Market were part of the large produce 

business in Omaha. 




128

THE MARKETPLACE 

Omaha and Douglas County’s financial 

institutions, service industries, and 

retail and commercial establishments provide 

the economic foundation of the County 

NP Dodge Company.....................................................................130 

National Equity..........................................................................132 

Ford Moving & Storage Company ..................................................133 

Recorp Corporate Relocation Services, Inc. .....................................134 

Sapp Bros. .................................................................................136 

Candlewood Suites ......................................................................138 

Fringes Hair Salon......................................................................140 

Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society ..................................142 

Baird Holm................................................................................144 

First National Bank ....................................................................146 

Homewood Suites by Hilton ..........................................................148 

Anderson Amoco Food Shops .........................................................150 

First Nebraska Educators & Employee Groups Credit Union ..............152 

Carlisle Insulation ......................................................................154 

Mid-American Benefits, Inc. .........................................................155 

Johnson Hardware Company .........................................................156 

Commercial Federal Bank.............................................................157 

Borsheim’s Jewelry Company, Inc...................................................158 

The Chicago Lumber Company of Omaha ........................................159 

Best Western Redick Plaza Hotel ...................................................160 

Centris Federal Credit Union........................................................161 

Parsow’s Fine Clothing ................................................................162 

Farm Credit Services of America ...................................................163 

Holland Basham Architects...........................................................164 

Koleys, Inc. ...............................................................................165 

Standard Nutrition Company ........................................................166 

The Cornerstone Mansion Inn .......................................................167 

First Data Resources ...................................................................168 

Heafey, Heafey, Hoffman, Dworak and Cutler 

Mortuaries and Crematory ........................................................169 

C&A Industries, Inc. ...................................................................170 

Neon Products Company, Inc.........................................................171 


129

NP DODGE 

COMPANY 

✧ 

Above: NP Dodge Company’s second office 

in Council Bluffs in the 1860’s before 

Broadway was paved. 

Below: NP Dodge Company’s current 

corporate headquarters at 8701 West Dodge 

Road, Omaha. 


130 

This story begins with one of the greatest 

brother acts ever seen in these parts— 

Grenville and Nathan Phillips Dodge. 

What a trail they blazed when they left 

Massachusetts to homestead in Douglas 

County in 1853. The duo founded a land 

office in 1855. Grenville went on to serve as a 

general in the Civil War and help found the 

Union Pacific Railroad. N. P. stayed in the 

land-sale business and built the foundation 

for what is now America’s oldest real estate 

firm and one of Omaha’s signature businesses, 

the NP Dodge Company. 

The birth of the company, in a tiny office in 

Council Bluffs, Iowa, is part of the birth of the 

metro area and the American West. The 

Dodge brothers surveyed land in Nebraska 

and Iowa and represented eastern investors 

interested in purchasing real estate as new 

territories opened up to a growing and landhungry 

nation. 

A century and a half later, men named 

N. P. Dodge are still blazing new trails. The 

pioneering, entrepreneurial spirit of the 

original N. P. Dodge has shown itself in four 

generations of namesakes who have made the 

NP Dodge Company Omaha’s largest fullservice 

real estate business. 

Harvard-educated N. P. Dodge II practiced 

law for three years in Boston, but destiny 

brought him back to the Missouri Valley to 

manage the family business. In 1900 he 

moved the company to Omaha. His law 

practice waned as his love for the real estate 

business soon occupied one hundred percent 

of his time. 

N. P. II had the vision to see and address an 

unmet need. In the days before long-term, 

insured, low-interest mortgage rates, he devised 

a way to develop and sell single-family lots to 

the average wage earner: A dollar down and a 

dollar a week. That pitch sounds quaint today. 

In the early twentieth century, though, that 

formula made the dream of home ownership 

come true for working-class people. It also 

fueled nationwide business growth for the 

company. At N. P. II’s death in 1950, the 

company had completed more than 200 

subdivisions in 103 cities throughout the 

United States. 

The company’s evolution continued under 

the leadership of N. P. (Phil) Dodge III, who 

resumed his career at the company after four 

years in the Air Force as a World War II pilot. 

Phil expanded the company’s activity into 

residential construction, insurance, mortgage 

lending and residential sales. Meanwhile 

the company continued to pursue land

development opportunities in the growing 

Omaha market. 

N. P. (Sandy) Dodge IV followed in his 

father’s footsteps—serving in the Air Force 

and taking over leadership of the company. As 

president and chairman of the board, Sandy 

has taken the company into property 

management, title services and corporate 

relocation. At the same time, residential sales, 

land development and insurance have grown 

in size and services while the company has 

become even more firmly rooted in Omaha. 

Every day that Sandy continues at the helm 

preserves the company’s status as the nation’s 

only real estate firm to be led by the same 

family from its inception. 

Like his predecessor Dodges, N. P. (Nate) 

Dodge V got some East Coast seasoning 

before settling into the family business. Nate 

developed financial training programs for 

large banking entities and for training and 

management positions at Fannie Mae in 

Washington, D.C. He now oversees NP Dodge 

Property Management Company, which 

maintains and leases over five thousand 

apartments in a three-state area. He also is 

president of Omaha Title and Escrow, one of 

the largest such companies in the metro area. 

The Dodge legacy is not just commercial. 

Contributions of the company and the family 

to the community extend beyond the business 

world. Work with local civic and charitable 

organizations has been a natural extension of 

the company’s role in land and community 

development. Each generation has been 

committed to the growth of Omaha, home of 

the Dodges and source of their livelihood. 

Each family member has been involved in a 

multitude of organizations and events to 

support the Omaha area. 

The real estate market has ups and downs 

and never stops changing. The company has 

responded and adapted right along with the 

market, always willing to try new strategies. By 

finding the right combination of innovation 

and consistency, the company has been able to 

maintain its reputation for integrity while 

offering a variety of services and products to 

capitalize on new markets and economies. 

Laws, business practices, customer demands 

and market factors change, but N. P. Dodge 

continues to do what it does best–real estate. 

The various divisions of the company are 

thriving. They are independent, yet they provide 

a mutually supportive infrastructure that helps 

move any venture forward. The company as a 

whole continues to flourish because of its 

leadership and being committed to the same 

solid principles it had in 1855: honest effort, 

perseverance, a willingness to innovate and 

confidence in the future. 

Few businesses have shared–and helped 

shape—the fortunes of the metro area as 

much as the NP Dodge Company. To learn 

more about the NP Dodge Company, log onto 

its website at www.npdodge.com. 


131

NATIONAL 

EQUITY 


132 

In 1985, in an effort to diversify its real 

estate-related services and to expand its 

geographic scope, Sandy Dodge, president of 

NP Dodge Company, decided to add 

corporate relocation management to the 

growing list of NP Dodge services. 

Today, National Equity, Inc., a full service 

global relocation management company, 

works with companies throughout the 

country and increasingly throughout the 

world, as they relocate their greatest assets— 

their employees. 

In an industry where mergers and 

acquisitions have become commonplace, 

National Equity has remained privately held 

throughout its history and its teams of 

relocation professional have provided a full 

array of relocation services to the transferees 

and their families of over one hundred 

corporate clients worldwide. 

The story of National Equity is also a 

family story. Sandy had the assistance of 

Wanda Hike and Randy Wilson, a motherdaughter 

consulting team with over thirty 

years of experience in relocation, as he 

established this new entity. Kate Dodge joined 

the company within a year and with this 

team, National Equity grew from a threeperson 

office to a company that today 

administers origination, destination and 

administrative services to over four thousand 

relocating employees or new hires annually. 

National Equity is now a nationally certified 

Women’s Business Enterprise, and in 2000 

received the JCPenney Company Grand 

Award for the JCPenney Supplier Diversity 

Development Program. 

Since its inception, National Equity’s goal 

has been to take a holistic approach to 

relocation, supporting the entire family 

throughout the relocation, rather than simply 

administering individual company supported 

benefits. This approach to relocation has fit 

well into the marketplace because of the trend 

of mega-companies to fully outsource the 

relocation function. National Equity becomes 

an extension of each corporate client’s Human 

Resources department to provide this 

key service. 

As National Equity supports relocations 

today, it is not at all unusual for the team to be 

purchasing and selling the employee’s 

origination home anywhere in the world, 

assisting with the purchase of a new home, 

processing all of the expenses occurred (and 

calculating the relevant taxes) while 

simultaneously providing the family with 

information on day care options for their 

preschoolers, eldercare options for 

accompanying older family members and 

spouse or partner career assistance! 

National Equity partners with its 

client companies as they write, review 

and update their relocation policies and 

has remained committed to a highly 

personalized service while simultaneously 

offering high tech solutions to the relocation 

process. National Equity’s comprehensive 

website, www.neirelo.com, allows employees to 

do much of the work of the relocation on the 

web. Clients and employees alike can track the 

expenses they have incurred as the relocation 

progresses, complete relocation forms such as 

expense reports and service evaluations on the 

web and can link to all relevant resources in 

their particular destination cities once they are 

authorized for National Equity’s services by 

their employers. 

The company has experienced great 

growth but still stays focused on its original 

goal of providing services exceeding the 

expectations of each client and transferee. As 

the company comes to the end of its second 

decade in business, it also remains fully 

dedicated to the NP Dodge vision for each of 

its companies: a tradition of integrity, a 

history of success, and a future of innovation.

Ray A. Ford was born in 1887. One of 

fourteen children, family would always be 

very important to him and remains important 

to the company he founded. 

Arriving in Omaha in 1915, he began the 

Ford Transfer Company using horses and 

wagons to haul flour and grains to Omaha’s 

many flour mills. Ford Transfer became one of 

the first companies in Omaha to use trucks. 

Following his service in World War I, Ray’s 

twin brother Roy joined the business and it 

was renamed Ford Bros. Van and Storage 

Company. The company soon purchased a 

four-story warehouse in Council Bluffs that 

Roy managed until his death in 1960. 

As business expanded, Ray began hauling 

furniture along with other commodities. To 

provide storage space, he rented three floors 

of the Baker Building in downtown Omaha. 

As highways and motor vehicles improved, 

the distances that furniture was hauled 

became greater. Many companies discovered 

they needed to have return loads in order for 

their trucks to be cost efficient. When Allied 

Van Lines was formed in 1928, Ford Bros. 

became a charter member. In 1933, needing 

more room, the company rented a building at 

Eleventh and Dodge Streets. In 1941 they 

purchased the building. Ray then formed 

Ford Storage and Moving Company to 

operate his warehouse business, while Ford 

Bros. Van and Storage remained the agent for 

Allied Van Lines. 

Following World War II, Ray’s two sons, Jack 

and Dick, joined the family business. In 1949 

the company purchased the Baker Building. In 

the 1960s, it purchased 

Safeway and Hinky Dinky’s 

downtown warehouses 

and moved its Allied Van 

Lines business to these 

properties. Through the 

years, the company handled 

products as diverse as 

Diazinon and ATC vehicles, 

as well as furniture. 

In the 1970s, Jack’s two 

sons, Bob and Jack Jr., and 

Dick’s sons, Rick and Eric, 

became the third generation 

of Fords to work for the 

company. In 1988, at age one hundred, Ray A. 

Ford passed away. That same year, the company 

purchased a new warehouse at Seventy-fourth 

and L Streets and moved all their administration 

and freight operations there. 

In the late 1990s, the company sold all 

of their downtown warehouses and built 

three modern buildings in West Omaha. 

Combined with their Seventy-fourth and L 

warehouse, Ford now has over 375,000 

square feet of space. Since 1998 the company 

has worked with Nebraska Furniture Mart to 

haul their furniture. It now handles their 

entire local and regional delivery operation 

and will handle delivery for their just-opened 

Kansas City store. 

Today a fourth generation of Fords work in 

the business and like all of the generations 

that came before them, they believe there is 

no job too large or too difficult for the 

company to handle. 

✧ 

Above: One of Ford Storage’s early trucks 

from the 1930s. 

FORD 

STORAGE & 

MOVING 

COMPANY 

Below: Ford Storage operates a large 

warehouse at 118th and Centennial Streets. 


133

RECORP 

CORPORATE 

RELOCATION 

SERVICES, INC. 

✧ 

Left: Owner Colleen Bull. 

Right: Ryan Jones. 


134 

The City of Omaha has always been 

fortunate in the way entrepreneurship is 

encouraged and supported by consumers, 

vendors, big business and local government. 

This environment has allowed companies like 

ReCorp Corporate Relocation Services, Inc., to 

grow and prosper; meeting the critical needs of 

those they serve throughout our community. 

The ReCorp story is “home grown” and 

representative of this nurturing environment in 

which we all live. 

ReCorp Corporate Relocation Services, Inc. is 

an independent, full-service relocation 

company. Founded in 1987 by President 

Colleen J. Bull, ReCorp offers creative relocation 

solutions for companies domestically and 

internationally. Bull was born and raised here in 

Omaha, a proud graduate of Burke High School. 

A licensed real estate broker since 1980, her 

professional background includes successful 

ventures in the areas of property management, 

commercial property sales and leasing, 

residential sales, apartment management and 

national account responsibilities for a major 

relocation firm. 

Since January 2002, Bull has broadened 

the range of services to ReCorp’s customers by 

purchasing an Omaha apartment building and 

converting it into upgraded corporate suites 

for temporary housing use. Future plans for 

ReCorp include a new business venture in 

which Bull is participating in a limited 

partnership to construct an 80 plus room 

hotel located in Northwest Omaha. 

Bull’s father, Waldo “Mac” McIntyre, with 

Colleen’s mother, Veronica, close by his side, 

owned and operated a commercial printing 

business, Gate City Printing Company, in 

Omaha for fifty years sharing their work ethic 

and service philosophy with their daughter, 

which served to instill those values that 

continue as the cornerstones of the ReCorp 

mission statement. Bull is now preparing her 

son, Ryan Jones, who is an officer in the firm, 

to eventually take over the reins of ReCorp 

and continue the legacy that began so many 

years ago. The “family” touch is what 

separates ReCorp from others serving this 

market niche. 

Consistency in providing high quality and 

unique service levels has been the key to 

ReCorp’s growth and success. Tailor-made 

solutions for each client offers companies the 

ability to create a partnership with their 

Human Resource function in delivering the 

best possible outcome for the relocating 

employees being served. Very few companies 

deliver such customized services, including: 

• City orienation tours for the entire family; 

• A strategic plan for the marketing and sale of 

the client’s current home as well as for 

identifying permanent housing here in Omaha; 

• Complete VIP apartment suite services, 

including facilities owned and operated by

ReCorp as well as over sixty locations 

throughout the Omaha metropolitan area. 

All suites are full residential apartments, 

tastefully furnished, with kitchenware, 

linens, housekeeping services and many 

other amenities; 

• Temporary housing and rental housing; 

• Assistance in contracting for and planning 

the client’s move; 

• Spousal employment search assistance; 

• And complete coordination of every aspect 

of the relocation process, working with 

both the company and the employee. 

Relocation involves companies spending 

hard-earned dollars to move good people and 

their families. ReCorp’s entire process has been 

developed to minimize the expense as well as 

the stress of this critical event for all concerned. 

ReCorp gets people back to work faster, by 

taking charge of all the details that eat away at 

the employee’s time and productivity. 

Since securing First Data Corporation as its 

first corporate client back in 1987, ReCorp 

has experienced phenomenal growth, 

working with many of the major companies 

here in Omaha and throughout the country. 

Today the firm employs 13 people in Omaha, 

2 in Scottsdale, Arizona, and 2 in Las Vegas, 

Nevada. Professional affiliations include 

membership in the Employee Relocation 

Council (ERC) and the Association of Interim 

Housing (AIHP). Individually, Bull serves on 

the board of directors for Big Brothers and 

Big Sisters. 

This success story is the result of hard 

work, dedication to customer needs, 

unparalleled service and a commitment to 

achieve the firm’s goals and objectives. This 

“home grown” company plans on serving its 

clients for many years to come. Anyone 

needing relocation assistance would be well 

served by utilizing the expertise and broad 

array of services provided by ReCorp. 

ReCorp’s slogan says it best: “You take care of 

the job; we’ll take care of the rest.” 

To learn more about ReCorp, please visit 

the ReCorp Corporate Relocation Services, 

Inc. website at www.rcorp.com. 

✧ 

Above: The lobby of ReCorp Corporate 

Relocation Services, Inc. 

Below: The conference room at ReCorp 

Corporate Relocation Services, Inc. 


135

SAPP BROTHERS 


136 

Few success stories in Nebraska rival that 

of the Sapp Brothers: Ray, Lee, Dean, and Bill. 

Born and raised in southeast Nebraska, the 

four brothers and three sisters were raised in 

poverty during the Great Depression. Their 

father, Hurless, went broke in the cattle 

business and was forced to take a series of 

subsistence level jobs, including the WPA and 

sharecropping. The family moved constantly, 

rarely living more than a year in one 

ramshackle tarpaper farmstead after another. 

Mother, Emily, the moral beacon and teacher 

of the family, refused to let the family move to 

town, believing that country ways and a rural 

environment were better character builders 

than anything the city could offer. Mother was 

right, and old-fashioned Christian values 

continue to define the family’s worldview. 

None of the seven brothers and sisters has 

been divorced. They grew up recognizing the 

value of a dollar and knowing that nothing 

substituted for hard work. The brothers, true 

to their upbringing, purchased a home for 

their parents and a car wash business in 1958 

to keep Hurless busy. Emily died in 1971 and 

Hurless in 1975. 

Business acumen runs strong in the Sapp 

family, and their varied backgrounds and 

work experience aided them in recognizing 

opportunities and making decisions. Ray and 

Bill sold insurance in Lincoln for years, and 

Lee started a frozen food business in 1952, 

later joined by Dean. In 1960 the Sapp 

Brothers’ partnership was formalized when all 

four brothers pooled their savings or 

borrowed money and purchased a Ford 

dealership in Ashland for $25,000. Banks 

were more willing to loan money to a large 

partnership than individuals, and the brothers 

took advantage of the opportunity. Shrewd 

business insight and treating customers as 

guests have resulted in a homespun business 

empire that has become a national player. In 

1963 the brothers opened a Ford automobile 

and truck dealership in Blair, Nebraska run by 

brother Dean. Sapp Bros. GMC and Sapp 

Bros. Leasing in Omaha were opened in 1965. 

Dean now manages Sapp Brothers Truck Sales 

and ran the Donkey Farm, a used truck and 

trailer business that has since been sold. Bill is 

in charge of the truck stops and petroleum 

product sales. Brother Ray, the oldest, was in 

charge of DBR Leasing until his death in 

1995. Brother Lee oversees a complex of 

business under Lee Sapp Enterprises such as a 

Ford-Mercury dealership in Ashland, a leasing 

company, and Sapp Bank in Omaha. 

The Sapp brothers are known for their 

foresight, but perhaps their shrewdest 

decision was the purchase of fifty-four acres 

on the northwest corner of Interstate 80 and 

Highway 50 in 1966. As the property

appreciated, it was sold off to other 

businesses, and only a few prime acres remain 

under the brothers’ control. All agree that 

business on a major traffic artery is essential 

to success. Dean recounts an apocryphal story 

regarding the town of De Soto Bend’s rejection 

of the railroad in favor of boat traffic on the 

Missouri River, which subsequently fueled the 

growth of Omaha and caused the decline of 

De Soto Bend when the riverboat industry 

died out. 

In 1971 the first of fifteen Sapp Bros. Truck 

Plazas opened at I-80 and Highway 50 with 

its landmark coffeepot water tower. Bill had 

the idea for the coffeepot, and the logo has 

become one of the most recognizable 

attractions on the I-80 interstate system. 

Purchased for salvage from the old South 

Omaha Armour plant, the coffeepot is clearly 

visible from miles away. And customers know 

what to expect when they arrive. 

A newsletter by brother Bill greets the 

customer and says, “I would like to mention a 

few items we do not sell! Namely, Playboy, 

Penthouse and other pornographic materials. 

We also do not sell beer or alcoholic beverages. 

You will also note that we do not offer the lookalike 

upper and downer drugs.” The first truck 

stop built in 1971 features the Roadside 

Chapel, dedicated to parents Hurless and 

Emily. At last count there were 15 Sapp Bros. 

Truck Plazas, beginning in Pennsylvania, 

stretching along I-80 to Utah. Sapp Bros. is also 

the largest petroleum jobber in the state, selling 

and delivering fuel oils, gasoline, propane, 

ethanol, and diesel and motor oils with a fleet 

of trucks that are always on the roads. With 

revenue in the millions every year, Sapp Bros. 

predicts 5 to 10 percent annual growth. 

Individually and as a group, Sapp Bros. 

have been very generous to Nebraska causes. 

All four are big supporters of the University of 

Nebraska at Lincoln and Omaha athletic 

teams. The $15-million Campus Recreation 

Center at UNL is dedicated to Lee and Helene 

Sapp. Sizeable contributions have also found 

their way to the Mavericks at UNO. The 

brothers have donated substantial sums to 

Mahoney State Park, the Omaha Henry 

Doorly Zoo, and to the Strategic Air and Space 

Museum. Lee Sapp has sponsored over eighty 

children to attend state and private colleges. 

All the brothers have volunteered time 

and served on various boards of directors in 

the community. 

✧ 

Sketches and a photo of the landmark coffee 

pot watertower at the first Sapp Brothers 

Truck Plaza in 1971. 


137

CANDLEWOOD 

SUITES 

✧ 

Above: Dusk falls on Candlewood Suites. 

Below: “The Cupboard,” Candlewood’s 

twenty-four-hour-day convenience store. 


138 

Candlewood Suites is no ordinary hotel. 

Designed for travelers whose business keeps 

them in town for several days, it’s a place 

where they can put their family pictures on 

their desk and bring their favorite CDs to play 

in their room. 

Founded in 1995 by Jack DeBoer, in partnership 

with the Doubletree Hotel Chain, 

Candlewood Suites is DeBoer’s most recent 

business venture. DeBoer pioneered the 

extended-stay concept back in 1975 when he 

created the Residence Inn Hotel Chain. He 

sold the chain to Marriott in 1990 but kept 

his hand in the business by helping to create 

both the Summerfield Suites and the 

Cambridge Suites Hotel chains. 

Candlewood opened their hotel in Omaha 

in November 1996. The 130-unit hotel, located 

at 360 South 108th Avenue in the Old Mill 

area, offers its residents a home away from 

home. Each room includes a fully equipped 

kitchen, including a microwave, full-size 

refrigerator with icemaker, two-burner range, 

dishwasher, and coffee maker and dining and 

cooking utensils. All the rooms include an 

iron and ironing board. There is also access to 

free laundry machines and same day drycleaning 

services. 

Candlewood is designed with the business 

traveler in mind, so it includes many in-room 

business amenities. For business people tired 

of the small, cramped workspaces that most 

hotels offer, Candlewood includes an oversized 

desk and executive chair. They also know that 

prompt and accurate communication is crucial 

for the business traveler. That’s why they offer 

personalized voice mail. In addition, each 

room has two telephone lines and hookups for 

laptop computers. Local calls are free and long 

distance calls are discounted. 

One of the many challenges that business 

travelers face is how to stay in shape when 

they’re hundreds of miles away from their 

health club. Candlewood solves this problem

y providing their residents with an on-site 

workout facility complete with treadmills, 

exercise bikes, stepping machines and weights. 

Candlewood hasn’t forgotten those 

residents who just want to relax after a 

grueling day on the road. Each resident’s room 

is provided with a CD player and a twentyfive-inch 

television. Residents can enjoy their 

favorite CDs or videos they brought with 

them or select something from Candlewood’s 

free library of CDs and videos. 

A studio suite is 350 square feet and the onebedroom 

suite is 525 square feet with separate 

living and sleeping rooms. To protect resident’s 

privacy, housekeeping is performed once a week 

and the suite is kept stocked with an extra 

supply of towels and face cloths. Security has 

become an important issue, especially with so 

many female executives now traveling, so 

Candlewood has installed monitors above 

outside doors and in the hallways. 

It’s precisely this customer-oriented 

approach that fuels the success of 

Candlewood. Customer surveys show that 

high levels of service, and attention to detail, 

are what separate them from other hotel 

chains. DeBoer says his company puts an 

emphasis on screening recruits at the hiring 

stage. “If you spend 80 percent of your effort 

and time on hiring good people, you only 

have to spend twenty percent of your time 

training them.” This emphasis pays off in 

other ways as well. According to DeBoer, 

Candlewood’s turnover rate among line-level 

and mid-level management employees, is half 

that of the industry norms. 

The attention to detail is evident in 

everything that Candlewood does. James 

Roos, the company’s president and chief 

operating officer, says there are no $2 candy 

bars in the room’s refrigerators. “Doesn’t that 

just drive you nuts to find those,” he said. In 

contrast, Candlewood offers its guests “The 

Cupboard” a small convenience store that’s 

open twenty-four-hours a day and operates on 

the honor system. Residents can find anything 

from an inexpensively priced candy bar and 

soda pop that costs only twenty-five cents, to 

frozen dinners, toothbrushes and soap. You 

can either pay cash or charge it to your room. 

Founder Jack DeBoer considers “The 

Cupboard” a great example of the trust that 

permeates his business philosophy. “We’ve seen 

three of our competitors copy it, and all three 

have locked it up,” he said. “Nobody gets any 

atta-boys for making profit in ‘The Cupboard.’” 

We want to break even. We are not in the grocery 

business. We are in the lodging business.” 

DeBoer says the extended stay concept boils 

down to sales and service. “We know who our 

customer is. We know what our customer will 

pay. We know what our customer wants. And 

the neat thing is, our customers need a room 

for the night, they need a suite for thirteen 

days, and they want to stay.” 

Including franchisees, there are currently 

more than one hundred Candlewood Suites 

Hotels, each operating under the simple 

premise of customer service above all else. 

✧ 

Above: An interior shot of one of 

Candlewood’s “Executive Suites.” 

Below: The main entrance to 

Candlewood Suites. 


139

FRINGES 

HAIR SALON 

✧ 

Above: Carol Cole and Troy Davis, partners 

in Fringes Hair Salon. 

COURTESY OF DOUGLAS GUNDER, PHOTOGRAPHER, 2003. 

Below: Fringes encourages its employees to 

update their own personal styles and be 

ready to encourage clients to take chances 

with their looks, as well. 



140 

As a native Midwesterner, Fringes Hair 

Design founder and co-owner Carol Cole is 

no stranger to hard work. Her parents, just 

teenagers when they got married, still 

managed to pay off the family farm in just ten 

years. This same focused work ethic has 

enabled Carol to not only open her own hair 

salon, but expand the business to two 

locations and remain on Salon Today’s list 

of the two hundred fastest growing salons 

in America for three years in a row. Cole 

credits the warmth and openness of the 

Omaha community for much of her success, 

saying, “Omaha has allowed me to realize 

my dreams.” 

Carol has been living this dream for over a 

quarter of a century now, starting with 

coming to Omaha to attend Capitol School of 

Hair Styling. Omaha has some of the best hair 

styling schools in the country, and many 

young hopefuls, like Cole, come to the city 

just to attend these schools. After graduating, 

Cole worked as a stylist, never losing sight of 

her plan to one day own her own salon. 

That day came in 1993, when Fringes Hair 

Design first opened its doors. A year later, in 

1994, the salon moved to its current location 

at 15821 West Dodge Road. Shortly after they 

relocated, Cole remodeled the salon to 

accommodate their growing business, 

creating room for offering additional services 

(including manicures, pedicures and waxing) 

and retail space, and to create a more 

accessible atmosphere for their clientele. 

And they just kept growing. In 1999, Cole 

opened the second Fringes Salon at Tenth and 

Jackson in the Old Market with employee 

Troy Davis as her partner. After just one year, 

that salon expanded, doubling its space to 

accommodate its rapidly growing business. 

The clientele differs between the two salons, 

with the west salon drawing more families 

and the downtown location serving more 

travelers and business professionals. 

What’s the secret to Fringes’ success? 

Perhaps the best way to sum it up is by using 

the language of the Salon’s brand: Fringes is 

“EDGEWORTHY.” EDGEWORTHY means 

Fringes is a progressive salon, always 

prepared to give clients the newest and the 

latest. EDGEWORTHY is all about change. It’s 

about keeping up with the latest trends and 

techniques, about having stylists who are 

constantly updating their own styles and are 

ready to encourage clients to take chances 

with their looks, to try something different. 

The brand captures the essence of 

“EDGEWORTHY” with advertisements asking 

viewers questions like “Ready to Jump?” and 

“R U Ready for STR8?” 

When clients come to Fringes ready to 

jump, they never need to worry about 

whether their stylist is ready to jump along 

with them. In addition to looking for stylists 

who are self-motivated, upbeat and willing to

work as part of a team, Cole and Davis have 

developed an extraordinary education 

program to keep their team on the cutting 

edge of hair design. When new stylists join 

the Fringes family, they go through 

EDGEWORTHY Education, learning not just 

styling techniques, but also the company’s 

brand and team approach to business. 

Fringes internal brand training introduces 

stylists to the Fringes brand soul: Its people’s 

passions, its culture’s values, and its vision for 

the future. 

“Our people’s passions: We design without 

boundaries! Our culture’s values: We explore 

the diversity in our team and our clients. Our 

vision for the future: We inspire what’s 

beyond the fringe.” 

Ongoing education is definitely a passion 

for the Fringes team. Davis teaches for Rusk, 

one of the fastest-growing haircare manufacturers 

in the world. After he learns new 

techniques, he shares his knowledge with the 

rest of the team. Stylists are encouraged to use 

the Internet and current technology to keep 

up with trends across the country and the 

world. Instead of waiting several months for a 

trend to reach the Midwest, the Fringes’ team 

knows about each trend as it happens and is 

ready to offer their customers the very latest 

in hair design and personal care. Davis and 

Cole have developed a world-class ongoing 

training program that keeps stylists up to date 

by bringing in industry specialists to 

demonstrate techniques, as well as holding 

weekly classes to teach the team everything 

from business processes to leadership skills, 

to tools for personal happiness and work/ 

life balance. 

Cole and Davis are as committed to their 

community as they are to their clients and 

their team. They frequently donate products 

and services for “give-aways” for local charities 

and community organizations. They 

participate in an annual “Cut-A-Thon” to 

benefit the Nebraska Aids Project. And they 

are long-time contributors to “Locks of Love,” 

a program that makes hairpieces for children 

under the age of eighteen who have lost their 

hair due to chemotherapy or Alopecia Areata. 

So what’s next? Continued success and 

more growth. Cole and Davis are currently 

investigating a site for a third Fringes location 

in Southwest Omaha. In fact, Cole tells us not 

to be surprised if Fringes has salons across the 

country someday in the not too distant future. 

The EDGEWORTHY concept, commitment to 

clients and team approach used by Fringes is 

an idea the rest of the country seems ready to 

embrace. A charge that may just be led by 

Cole’s children—with a son who is a stylist, a 

daughter currently working as a stylist in 

Chicago, and another daughter finishing up a 

degree in accounting, the Fringes family is 

poised for continued growth with no danger 

of compromising their team approach. This is 

definitely a company to watch! 

For more information, please visit 

www.fringessalon.com. 

✧ 

Above: Troy Davis teaches for Rusk, one of 

the fastest-growing haircare manufacturers 

in the world. 


Below: EDGEWORTHY is the Fringes’ 

brand. Fringes prides itself on keeping 

informed of the latest techniques, trends, 

styles, and products. 



141

✧ 

Woodmen employees pose in front of their 

headquarters office at Fifteenth and Howard 

Streets in 1905. 

WOODMEN OF THE WORLD 

LIFE INSURANCE SOCIETY 

Farmers had barely recovered from the 

blizzard of 1888 when the drought of the 

early 1890s took hold. Even in Douglas 

County’s fertile bottomland, total crop failure 

became the rule rather than the exception. It 

didn’t seem to be an auspicious time to create 

a new fraternal society. 

But none of that deterred Joseph Cullen 

Root. He had recently moved to Omaha and 

saw a bright future for this bustling river town, 

which, from its beginnings 40 years earlier, 

had grown to a city of 80,000 people. Root 

decided that this was the place to create the 

kind of organization he had long imagined. 

On June 6, 1890, in the Paxton Hotel at 

Fourteenth and Farnam Streets, Root founded 

Woodmen of the World Life Insurance 

Society. Root and business associates from 10 

states met to establish the structure and 

mission of the new fraternal society. 

Root’s idea for the name “Woodmen” is 

thought to have come from a sermon he heard 

years earlier that mentioned “woodsmen 

clearing away the forests to build homes for 

their families.” Root wanted to build an 

organization that would shelter its members 

with life insurance protection and also reach 

out to help others in the spirit of brotherhood 

and fraternalism. 

The new Society began business operations 

a short time later in a one-room office in a 

building at 15th and Howard Streets known 

as the Sheely Block. Woodmen grew rapidly 

and by 1901, the Society boasted a 

membership of more than 194,000. By 1910, 

that number had tripled to almost 600,000. 

In addition to providing life insurance for its 

members, Woodmen promoted fraternalism in 

a variety of ways. One of its earliest efforts, in 

1903, was to create a youth program called 

Boys of Woodcraft that emphasized outdoor 

activities. Today, the program is known as 

Woodmen Rangers ® , and includes more than 

123,000 boys and girls who participate in 

many fun and educational activities. 

In 1912, Woodmen moved to its new 

headquarters at Fourteenth and Farnam 

Streets. The nineteen-story Woodmen of the 

World Building was the tallest office structure 

between Chicago and the West Coast. 

With an eye to the future, Woodmen 

founded one of the nation’s first radio stations 

in 1923. Originally called WOAW, it was 

renamed WOW (Woodmen of the World) in 

1926. In the beginning, the station only 

broadcast a few hours a day, from studios 

located on the top floor of Woodmen’s 

headquarters. In 1927, WOW joined the new 

NBC radio network. 

Woodmen later sold the station to Meredith 

Publishing of Des Moines, Iowa, and in 1947, 

used the proceeds to establish a National 

Fraternal Service Fund to help its lodges 

conduct civic and charitable activities in their 

local areas. That same year, Woodmen 

instituted a Patriotic Program featuring the 

presentation of U.S. flags to schools, churches 

and other civic organizations. The program, 

which continues today, also includes the 

presentation of American Patriot’s Handbooks 

to schools and to newly naturalized citizens; 

and awards to students for proficiency in 

American history. A milestone was reached in 

2001 as Woodmen passed the one-million 

mark of U.S. flags presented. 

By the mid-1960s, with the Society’s 

membership steadily growing, it was clear 

that Woodmen needed a more spacious 

headquarters. In 1966, ground was broken for 

the Woodmen Tower. The work was 


142

completed in 1969 and at thirty stories, 

Woodmen’s headquarters was once again the 

tallest building between Chicago and the 

Pacific Ocean. Woodmen’s decision to build 

its new headquarters in the city’s central 

business district is often credited for paving 

the way for the revival of downtown Omaha. 

Today, in addition to their insurance 

coverage, Woodmen members receive many 

value-added benefits and participate in a 

variety of social, patriotic and charitable 

activities. Woodmen member benefits include 

a catastrophic illness benefit, financial 

assistance for orphans, newborn benefit, 

prescription savings card and a home loan 

mortgage program. 

Fraternal activities include monthly lodge 

meetings; taking part in communityimprovement 

projects; educational and social 

programs for Woodmen youth and senior 

members; and promoting patriotism. 

In 1998, Woodmen teamed up with the 

American Red Cross to create Disaster Action 

Teams in communities across America. 

Working with their local Red Cross chapters, 

team members are trained to quickly respond 

to a wide variety of disaster situations. More 

than 1,600 Woodmen members currently 

serve on 157 Disaster Action Teams 

nationwide. In addition, Woodmen supports 

the American Red Cross with equipment, 

supplies and the use of Woodmen facilities as 

training centers and disaster relief sites. 

Woodmen’s product 

portfolio includes whole 

life, flexible premium life 

and term life insurance, 

cancer insurance, hospital 

supplement insurance, 

long term care insurance 

and annuities. In 2001, 

the Society expanded the 

range of financial 

products and services it 

can provide through the 

creation of Woodmen 

Financial Services, Inc., a 

wholly owned subsidiary. 

With a focus on 

serving its members, 

their families and the 

communities in which they live, Woodmen 

has become one of the nation’s leading 

fraternal benefit societies. For more than 113 

years, the Society has held true to the simple 

premise that by strengthening families, you 

can strengthen a nation. 

With more than 825,000 members holding 

life insurance in force of $32 billion, 

Woodmen is poised to play an even greater 

role in the lives of American families in the 

twenty-first century. 

✧ 

Left: Woodmen lodge members present a 

U.S. flag to Omaha’s Technical High 

School in 1949 as part of the Society’s 

Patriotic Program. 

Below: Upon its completion in 1969, the 

thirty-story Woodmen Tower was the tallest 

building between Chicago and the 

West Coast. 


143

BAIRD HOLM 

It is my honest belief that those who do 

work for others do not believe they are 

doing anything out of the ordinary course of 

life…. Service is the great thing. It should 

be practiced in business by professionals and 

corporations, not to help the success of 

business but to help humanity. 

— C. S. Montgomery, 1923, 

upon his retirement. 

✧ 

The above painting hangs in Baird Holm’s 

main lobby area on the fifteenth floor of the 

Woodmen Tower. Painted by Hal Holoun, a 

Nebraska native, it is a view of the current 

Omaha skyline overlooking the Missouri 

River, facing west. Holoun stated that he 

attempts to “capture the core of the 

experience—abstracting or distilling light 

and form until some sort of balance occurs 

between the painting, and what inspired 

the painting.” 


144 

The Firm is proud to be a part of the 

history of the region and proud to continue 

the legacy of service and excellence of its 

founders through the sixty-one attorneys who 

now comprise Baird, Holm, McEachen, 

Pedersen, Hamann & Strasheim LLP. 

Baird Holm traces its history to three 

pioneer Omaha law firms, founded 

respectively in 1873, 1878, and 1887. All had 

long histories of quality lawyers, high ethics, 

and service to clients and the community. On 

November 1, 1873, C. S. Montgomery, along 

with his father, General Milton Montgomery, 

founded the law firm Montgomery & Son. The 

firm of Young, Holm, McEachen & Hamann 

was a continuation of Montgomery & Son. 

In 1878, Henry D. Estabrook and Richard S. 

Hall founded a law firm which later became 

Wells, Martin & Lane, and which merged in 

1955 with a firm founded in 1887, originally 

known as Holmes, Wharton & Baird and then 

known as Baird & Baird. In 1970, these 

traditions came together with the merger of 

Lane, Baird, Pedersen & Haggart, with Young, 

Holm, McEachen & Hamann to form the 

current Firm. 

Baird Holm’s history is woven into the 

history of the city, the state, and the region. A 

member of the firm helped organize and then 

served as general counsel for the corporation 

which organized the Trans-Mississippi and 

International Exposition in Omaha in 1898. 

A member of the firm participated in revising 

the original 1867 Nebraska Constitution in 

1920, which continues in place today. 

Members of the firm counseled individuals 

and businesses that helped shape the 

region. Its members have been active 

in many civic, charitable, and professional 

organizations and have served in numerous 

leadership roles in state and Omaha 

bar associations and national associations 

of lawyers. 

The legacy of one of Baird Holm’s 

founders, Winthrop Lane, lives on today 

through the Winthrop and Frances Lane 

Foundation, which annually awards 

scholarships in equal amounts to 

students at the University of 

Nebraska College of Law and the 

Creighton University Law School, 

and which also supports projects 

to advance the legal profession 

in general. 

Today’s firm looks much different 

than in the days of its founders. 

High-speed computers have replaced 

typewriters. Long rows of legal 

reference materials are being replaced 

with a variety of computer-assisted 

research capabilities specific to the 

attorney’s and client’s needs. The 

legal secretary and paralegal support 

attorneys with a variety of 

increasingly complex skills. Today’s 

litigators use sophisticated computerized 

litigation and document 

management systems that allow them to 

instantly call up quotes from mountains 

of depositions. Instead of waiting months 

for new cases to be printed and mailed, the 

firm’s lawyers now have almost instant access 

to new cases and rulings through internetbased 

services. 

Baird Holm’s services have also changed 

and expanded. The firm has expanded 

beyond its Omaha base to serve regional and 

national clients in a broad range of specialties. 

Practice specialties, unknown until recent 

times, have emerged to meet client needs. 

Today’s Baird Holm is a broad general practice

law firm with lawyers who practice in 

virtually every legal specialty. 

Baird Holm continues to recognize that its 

continued long-term success ultimately 

depends on the personal capabilities, legal 

experience, and integrity of its individual 

attorneys. The firm has consistently sought to 

recruit and retain attorneys of exemplary 

character, with distinguished academic 

records and exceptional legal abilities, from 

a large number of law schools throughout 

the country. 

Baird Holm lawyers are licensed to practice 

in several states other than Nebraska (several 

are licensed to practice in Iowa), and Baird 

Holm is the exclusive Nebraska law firm 

selected as an affiliate of Lex Mundi, an 

international network of law firms. This 

affiliation enables the firm to offer access to 

legal services throughout the United States 

and in eighty-three other countries. 

Baird Holm’s clients range from large 

public institutions and publicly traded 

companies to small family-owned businesses, 

start-up companies, and individuals. 

Baird Holm, while steeped in the history of 

Omaha, Nebraska, and the region, keeps its eye 

focused on the future. It does so by continuing 

to be guided by the principles of its founders: 

• Quality lawyers with technical expertise; 

• High ethical standards; 

• A commitment of personalized service 

to clients; 

• A commitment of service to the community; 

• A commitment to grow and expand to serve 

clients with knowledge and experience in a 

broad spectrum of areas of the law; 

• Accurate, timely and cost-effective legal 

advice and representation; and 

• A desire to be known by clients as key 

resources in the management and conduct 

of their business and personal affairs. 

✧ 

Above: This historic photo is a view of the 

Omaha skyline looking east toward the 

Missouri River, in the late 1860s. The white 

picket fence in the foreground of the picture 

marks the west side of Seventeenth Street. 

The wide dirt road on the right is Farnam 

Street. Copied by Louis R. Bostwick in 1912, 

it shows the approximate location of where 

the Woodmen Tower stands today. 

Montgomery & Son was established in 

Lincoln in 1873, a few years after this photo 

was taken, and moved to Omaha in 1879. 

Below: One of Baird Holm’s conference 

rooms houses a collection of historic 

photos of some of the firm’s founding 

members. Photos of the current firm 

attorneys can be found on the firm’s 

website, www.bairdholm.com. 


145

FIRST 

NATIONAL 

BANK 

✧ 

Above: First National of Nebraska is the 

leading banking organization across the 

state. Its bank building in North Platte 

evidences its commitment to Nebraska. 

COURTESY OF AND © JEFFREY BEBEE. 

Below: Bruce R. Lauritzen, chairman of 

First National Bank. 

Opposite, top: Pictured from left are John F. 

Davis, co-chariman; John R. Lauritzen, cochairman; 

and F. Phillips Giltner, president 

of First National Bank, who in 1971 set the 

stage for the bank and Hilton Hotels to 

begin the development projects that continue 

today throughout the bank’s campus. 

Opposite, bottom: At forty-stories and 633 

feet high, the First National Tower has 

redefined the Omaha skyline. The structure 

is the highlight of First National’s expansive 

office and technology district 

in downtown Omaha. 

COURTESY OF MICHAEL KLEVETER. © JOCK POTTLE/ESTO. 


146 

In an industry characterized by megamergers 

and ever-changing marquees, First 

National Bank is proud to have a history 

and a name that dates back nearly 150 years. 

Built upon humble beginnings in 1857, 

First National’s rise to prominence parallels 

Omaha’s growth from a tiny village housing 

a few hardy pioneers to a thriving metropolitan 

city. 

First National’s story is also the saga of 

three industrious families—Kountze, Davis, 

and Lauritzen—who built the company from 

a small operation in a wood-frame building 

near the edge of the Missouri River into a 

nationwide multi-billion-dollar success story. 

The bank’s well-established culture of 

providing personalized customer service and 

innovative quality products has garnered it a 

reputation as the leading banking institution 

in the region. 

The First National Bank story begins in 

1857 during a period known as the “wildcat 

banking” era. Four young brothers from Ohio, 

led by Augustus and Herman Kountze, 

established a bank built on trading gold dust 

and buffalo hides. 

Noted Omahan and investor Edward 

Creighton served as the bank’s first president. 

During the nineteenth century, under the 

Kountze and Creighton leadership, the bank 

worked hard to enhance the city’s business and 

cultural growth by supporting such projects as 

the Omaha Stockyards, the Trans-Mississippi 

and International Exposition of 1898, and 

Creighton University. Community involvement 

continues to be a guiding principle of 

First National Bank’s business philosophy. 

In 1914, Herman Kountze’s brother-in-law, 

F. H. Davis, assumed the presidency. In 1916 

First National constructed its new headquarters, 

a “skyscraper” of fourteen stories 

located at Sixteenth and Farnam Streets. F. H. 

Davis’s son and successor, T. L. Davis, 

demonstrated the innovation and foresight 

typical of First National’s leadership when he 

established a consumer credit corporation 

during the 1930s. While other banks at that 

time specialized in lending to commercial 

clients, First National built a thriving business 

handling auto, coal, home repair and other 

installment loans for a large number of 

middle-income consumers, thus creating a 

lasting retail lending culture. 

In the 1940s John Lauritzen joined his 

brother-in-law John Davis, son of T. L. Davis, 

at the company. Lauritzen was eager to build 

a national business—one that would stretch 

far beyond Omaha. His greatest contribution 

to First National was his pioneering and 

promotion of the bank’s credit card business. 

Starting in 1953, this innovative product was 

John’s “baby,” which grew up to become two 

nationwide businesses: card issuing and 

merchant processing. 

Also in 1953 John Davis became the third 

generation of the Davis family to serve as

president. Bruce Lauritzen, the bank’s current 

chairman, is the fifth generation of his family 

to serve First National Bank. He carries on a 

tradition of providing quality products with 

innovative technology and superior customer 

service. 

First National Bank’s holding company, 

First National of Nebraska, is one of the 

largest bank holding companies 

headquartered west of the Mississippi River. 

Organized in 1968, First National of 

Nebraska’s managed assets have grown more 

than 65-fold since its founding. Today, First 

National and its affiliates have $13 billion in 

managed assets and 6,500 employee 

associates located across the United States. 

Primary banking offices are located in 

Nebraska, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, South 

Dakota and Texas. First National is also one of 

the nation’s largest in-house bank processors 

of merchant credit card transactions, one of 

the fifteen largest bank issuers of Visa 

and MasterCard cards, a top twenty processor 

of automated clearinghouse transactions, and 

one of the region’s largest providers of cash 

management services. 

As the new century unfolds, First National 

of Nebraska continues to serve as a catalyst 

for the growth and development of the 

entire state. This is seen clearly with the 

company’s impressive buildings for First 

National Bank in North Platte, Platte Valley 

Bank in Kearney, and the First Bankcard 

Service Center in Wayne. 

The strength of First National’s 

commitment to Nebraska is further 

demonstrated by its $300-million redevelopment 

project in downtown Omaha. First 

National Bank’s Technology Center, a 

194,000-square-foot facility that processes 

more than $3 million in credit card 

transactions per hour, utilizes an independent 

power system that is the largest application of 

fuel cell technology in the world. Fuel cell 

technology allows First National to operate 

independently of the public utility grid, 

ensuring that the center will have 

uninterrupted computer-grade power twentyfour 

hours a day, seven days a week. 

“First National Bank is committed to the 

automation of currency. We are a major 

processor of checks, credit cards, and 

electronic transactions for millions of 

customers throughout the United States. We 

are determined that a customer will never be 

left standing at an ATM or denied a credit card 

purchase because our computers are down,” 

said Lauritzen. 

The 40-story, 633-foot-high First National 

Tower highlights the new First National 

Center, a nine-square-block office and 

technology district interconnected by a 

network of underground walkways. Work is 

also underway on a major sculpture project in 

downtown Omaha that, when completed, will 

be among the largest bronze monuments in 

the country. 

With its ongoing commitment to providing 

outstanding customer service and innovative 

products, plus its dedication to the 

community, there is no doubt that First 

National Bank will continue to be “The Bank 

Omaha Calls First.” 


147

HOMEWOOD 

SUITES BY 

HILTON 


148 

Homewood Suites By Hilton, located at 

7010 Hascall Street in Omaha is no longer the 

special secret of hotel-weary families 

and well-traveled businessmen. Unlike its 

cheaper looking, box style counterparts, 

Homewood Suites are as pleasing to the eye 

as it is comfortable inside. As many 

generations of travelers have learned the hard 

way, an extended stay from home is best 

undertaken in a true “homelike” atmosphere. 

The property is a combination of Dutch lap 

siding and wainscot brick, with bay windows, 

towering chimneys, and mature trees. 

Numerous golf courses, nationally known 

restaurants, shopping centers, hospitals and 

Omaha’s Old Market are all within easy reach 

of Homewood Suites. 

Built by Harper Construction in August of 

1989 as an extended stay hotel, Homewood 

Suites has served with distinction the discerning 

traveler for nearly fifteen years. In 1998 the 

facility was sold to Bristol Hotels and Resorts. In 

2000, Six Continents Hotels of Atlanta, Georgia, 

a subsidiary of Felcor Lodging Trust in Dallas, 

Texas, assumed management of the day-to-day 

operations. Homewood Suites is franchised 

through Hilton Hotel Corporation of superior 

hotels, which include Hilton, Conrad, 

DoubleTree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton 

Inn, Hampton Inn and Suites, Hilton Garden 

Inn, and Scandic Hotels—some of the finest, 

most notable names in the business that offer 

first class lodging worldwide 

Homewood Suites was designed to make the 

traveler feel as if they never left home. Privacy, 

convenience and comfort, the three mainstays of 

the American home, are its primary attraction. 

There are no “hotel rooms,” only suites, both 

one and two bedroom, just as the name implies. 

Every suite is attractively designed to include a 

living area with plenty of room to work or 

entertain. All quarters have fully equipped 

kitchenettes, and some have wood burning 

fireplaces. A separate, comfortable bedroom 

with a dressing area and residential-style bath is 

standard. Home-style furniture such as hide-abed 

sofas, armchairs w/ottomans, and coffee 

tables recall the amenities of one’s own house. 

The center of every Homewood Suites is its 

Lodge, a place to relax and socialize with other 

guests. A complimentary pantry breakfast is 

available every morning and a late afternoon 

social hour is featured Monday through 

Thursday. Like to work out? No need to miss 

your fitness routine, as Homewood has 

something for everyone, including an outdoor 

pool and a whirlpool. A well-equipped fitness 

center with a state-of-the-art treadmill, a 

Stairmaster and recumbent bike is also available. 

For those requiring office-like facilities away 

from home, Homewood has an Executive 

Conference Center equipped with a copier, a 

computer with Office 97, a fax, and a printer. 

Business meetings and conferences of twentyfive 

or less are easily accommodated. The on-site 

Suite Shop, open twenty-four hours a day, 

allows guests to buy snack foods, sundries, film, 

etc. without having to travel to a separate store.

Because of Homewood’s affiliation with 

Hilton Hotels, they can provide amenities and 

rewards to travelers beyond that of lesser hotel 

chains. Lodgers can earn points that qualify 

them for increased benefit levels through the 

Hilton Honors program. As an “Honor 

Member,” a traveler staying with Homewood is 

eligible for an incredible array of benefits. 

Members use points and miles toward hotel 

stays and airline tickets that can be used anywhere 

in the world. Using a Hilton Visa card 

for purchases will earn you thousands of 

points towards a hotel stay, a vacation, or 

shopping. If you make hotel reservations online, 

you can earn five hundred points. And 

special promotions are always available; some 

in the form of trips to National Championship 

football games, the Super Bowl and Hilton’s 

Trip A Day, where daily winners are chosen 

during the summer for special vacation trips. 

When it’s time to get away from it all, vacations 

are offered from Hawaii to Africa. A 

member’s points may be applied toward the 

purchase of Princess and Carnival cruises to 

the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, Alaska, and 

the Mexican Riviera. VIP-Only Vacations are 

available that will take you to the Hilton 

Hawaiian Village Beach or the Waikoloa 

Village. As an HHonors member you can participate 

in their vacation ownership program 

with stays at luxurious condominiums in 

Orlando and Nevada, some that come with a 

travel trailers, golf extras, and house boats. 

Homewood Suites is a member of the 

Omaha Chamber of Commerce and is an active 

participant in charitable causes, including 

Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation, 

March of Dimes, and more. Homewood 

Suites by Hilton is found on the Web at 

www.homewood-suites.com, or you can email 

General Manager Shane Underwood at 

omaha_gm@hilton.com. 


149

ANDERSON 

AMOCO 

FOOD SHOPS 

✧ 

Above: Standard Station at Thirtieth and 

Dodge Street, 1963. 

Below: Standard Station at Seventy-second 

and Dodge Street, 1967. 

Anderson Amoco has deep roots and a long 

history in the Omaha community. In 1952, 

eighteen-year-old Dwight Anderson, the 

oldest of four brothers, established the very 

first Anderson Service Station at the 

intersection of Saddle Creek and Farnam as a 

full-service gasoline and automotive repair 

facility with one outside rack and two pumps. 

A vending machine dispensed five-cent candy 

bars. Brothers Bob, Ray Jr. and Warren 

worked several years with Dwight before 

striking out on their own to operate stations. 

Growth was steady, but changes in the 

petroleum retailing industry required 

adaptation to survive. The Anderson brothers 

were risk takers and had good business 

acumen. The business, previously focused on 

pumping gasoline and repairing automobiles, 

began to change when new laws were enacted 

in 1961 that allowed customers to dispense 

their own fuel at the pumps. Prior to this, fullservice 

stations were found everywhere. 

When profit margins became lower, many 

stations went out of business. Higher gasoline 

taxes combined with fuel-efficient cars had 

made the market more competitive. The law 

became a catalyst for change in an industry 

that is still evolving. Since 1952, fifteen 

locations, some more successful than others, 

were tried over the years. Ray and Dwight left 

for Orlando in 1972 to open a Shell and 

Amoco Station, respectively. Dwight stayed 

and Ray returned, as the area was not growing 

as quickly as had been projected. Ray 

returned to the Seventy-second and Dodge 

station and later operated three more stations 

on Dodge Street. 

The convenience store concept first appeared 

in 1979 and Ray had the foresight to join the 

revolution. A service station at Ninth and Dodge 

was converted to a convenience store, but did 

not play well with the public, and was switched 

back to a full-service unit. But they learned from 

their mistakes and kept growing. By 1981, when 

Anderson Amoco was incorporated as Ray 

Anderson, Inc., the market had begun to focus 

on convenience and high volume gasoline and 

grocery sales. A unit was converted at Fiftieth 

and Dodge, but still looked like a service station 

and failed to meet expectations. It was not until 

1988 that the first successful convenience store, 

a Food Shop, was opened at 140th and West 

Center Road. 

There is little substitute for experience and 

long-term planning. R. A. Inc. does their 

homework before going into any area. City 


150

growth patterns are studied and monitored to 

select ideal locations. Thus Anderson Amoco 

Food Shops have moved west and to the 

interstate as the city has grown. Three stores 

were opened in 1996 alone, a big growth year. 

In 1999 the company moved offices to a 

building next to its Anderson Amoco Food 

Shop at 168th and Q Streets. As they have 

evolved toward larger, more modern and 

customer friendly facilities, the company’s 

largest stores have reached 4,000 to 5,000 

square feet of space. Larger carwash bays, 

more gasoline dispensers, wider aisles, better 

lighting–even a larger selection of coffees and 

packaged goods are part of the new marketing 

philosophy. Their strategy for opening a new 

store is premised on building in an area first 

in order to be able to attract a clientele and 

keep them when outside competition arrives. 

Customer loyalty is best fostered in this 

manner. When competitors do arrive, Ray 

Anderson, Inc. is already established and a 

known entity to their customers. This formula 

for success has led Ray Anderson, Inc., to 

become the most successful convenience store 

chain in Omaha. 

Despite the emphasis on convenience 

stores, Ray still owns full-service stations. But 

it’s a tough business and takes a good operator 

to keep one going. Full-service stations must 

compete with specialty shops and automotive 

dealerships. Hi-tech equipment to analyze and 

diagnose problems is very pricey, and good 

technicians are expensive, as automobiles are 

technologically advanced and require more 

education of the mechanic. Automobiles used 

to require tune-ups every ten thousand miles. 

Other than oil changes, brake pads and an 

occasional muffler, many of today’s cars don’t 

require a tune-up until the 100,000-mile mark. 

With Ray Anderson as the CEO, and sons 

Ray Anderson III, Rick, and Rod, a new 

generation of Andersons is helping to bridge 

the business into the twenty-first century. The 

company’s Mission Statement is: “To provide 

the cleanest, quickest, most efficient and 

friendliest service available…all with a 

greeting, smile and thank you.” Like most 

growing industries, R. A. Inc. is converting to 

a corporate model, even though they intend 

to stay family owned. Over 150 plus 

employees operate seventeen service stations 

and Food Shops, thirteen of them in the 

Omaha area. The eighteenth, a Food Shop cobranded 

with Quizno’s Classic Subs, operates 

in Westminster, Colorado near Denver. 

R. A. Inc. can be found on the Internet at 

www.AndersonFoodShops.com. 

✧ 

Above: Anderson Amoco located on 

Harrison Street, 2000. 

Below: Anderson Amoco located at 120 th 

and Pacific, 1996. 


151

✧ 

(From left to right) President Gunnar Horn, 

Mary Jenkins, Fred Rasmussen, Josephine 

Frisbie, and Charlie Matthews. 

FIRST NEBRASKA EDUCATORS & 

EMPLOYEE GROUPS CREDIT UNION 

First Nebraska Educators Credit Union has 

a long and colorful history. It is the product of 

the 2000 merger of two well-known credit 

unions, First Nebraska and Educators. Both 

have been central players in the Nebraska 

credit union history for a combination of one 

hundred-plus years. 

Times were tough in the Depression, and 

money difficult to come by. Educators, then 

known as the Omaha Teachers Cooperative 

Credit Association, came into existence 

February 2, 1932, when its fifteen founders met 

at Central High School. Membership fees were 

set at 25¢ and share price was $10. Loan rates 

were 5/6th of one percent on the unpaid 

balance and the maximum available loan $50. 

Credit unions then, as now, were not-forprofit 

financial cooperatives. “Banking” as we 

know it didn’t exist. Volunteers performed all 

work. Hours of operation were Saturdays, 9 

a.m. to 12 p.m. and the office consisted of a 

desk on the top floor balcony of the old City 

Hall, which was then the Board of Education 

Office. Records were kept in a briefcase 

carried by Secretary-Treasurer Charlie 

Matthews, a long-time chemistry teacher at 

Benson High School. Under his stewardship, 

the credit union’s first private office was 

opened in his spare bedroom on Willit Street. 

This, as you might imagine, had disadvantages, 

as prospective borrowers would 

sometimes come knocking late at night after 

everyone had gone to bed. Security concerns 

were also different. In order to be safe, Charlie 

made arrangements with the Smith Drug 

Store in downtown Omaha to give him a 

check in exchange for cash left with the 

Omaha Education Association during the 

week. This eliminated the risk of keeping 

money on hand over the weekend. He would 

ride a bus to Benson and deposit the check in 

the Douglas County Bank. 

The Omaha Teachers Cooperative Credit 

Association eventually became Omaha 

Teachers Credit Union and in 1985 it became 

Educators Credit Union. 

Chartered in 1964, First Nebraska Credit 

Union waited until 1968 to hire their first 

full-time manager at a salary of $400 a month. 

First Nebraska was chartered as a Central 

Credit Union that acted as an inter-lending 

agency among credit unions and served as a 

vehicle to provide investment and lending 

liquidity sources for smaller credit unions. In 

addition, it provided credit union benefits to 

smaller employee groups that could not 

provide benefits on their own. 

Through the ’70s and mid-’80s high 

inflation and deregulation of the banking 

system led to high costs of funds and 

eventually the collapse of the federal deposit 

insurance fund. This also introduced a new 

flexibility into credit union operations, which 

created opportunities as well as consequences. 

Many credit unions found 

themselves unable to compete for services, 

provide required capital, or simply could 

no longer provide the personnel to sustain 

regulatory requirements. Through the ’80s 

several smaller credit unions merged with 

First Nebraska Credit Union to provide 

uninterrupted services to their members. 

Today we provide credit union services to 

360 Select Employee Groups providing 

financial benefits for their employees. In 1980 


152

there were 157-chartered credit unions in 

Nebraska; today there are 86. 

President/CEO Rich Kounkel, has worked 

in the financial industry since 1968 and 

piloted First Nebraska since 1987. Chairman 

of the Board Gene Lyons, a credit union 

member since 1960 at World Insurance, has 

been chairman of the board at First Nebraska 

for twenty-five years. All total, FNECU Board 

of Directors boasts more than two hundred 

years of collective volunteer service—a truly 

remarkable credit union characteristic. 

First Nebraska Educators Credit Union, 

“Where members always come first!” defines 

their service to the community. With 

membership at 17,700 and growing, FNECU 

is the third largest credit union in the 

state. They were one of the first to upgrade 

their management information system to 

computers in the 1980s. Information and 

on-line banking services are readily accessible, 

and they maintain the human interaction of 

branch banking with the friendliest staff in 

the industry. “People Helping People!” It made 

sense yesterday, it makes sense today, and it 

will make perfect sense tomorrow. 

Previous mergers continued benefits to 

credit union members at Alegent Health, 

Nebraska Methodist Health System, 

Lutherans, World Insurance, Physicians 

Mutual Insurance, and employee groups with 

as few as five employees. With the Educators 

merger in April 2000, the name changed to 

First Nebraska Educators and Employee 

Groups Credit Unions to more accurately 

reflect the membership served. In addition to 

SEG’s, FNECU now serves all public school 

employees throughout Nebraska. The primary 

headquarters is at 10655 Bedford Avenue, 

Omaha. Other branches are at 120th and I 

Street, Forty-eighth and Center in Omaha, and 

4741 North Twenty-sixth Street in Lincoln. 

New facilities opened in May 2000 

at Fourteenth and Stockwell in Lincoln 

and Forty-eighth and L in Omaha. In October 

2003, another facility was opened at 5070 

North Fifty-second Street in Lincoln. FNECU 

can be found on the web at www.1stne-cu.org. 

✧ 

Top, left: First Nebraska Educators Credit 

Union Main Branch at 10655 Bedford 

Avenue in Omaha. 

Above: Gene Lyons has served as the 

chairman of the board for FNECU for the 

past twenty-five years 

Below: The new South Lincoln Branch at 

Fourteenth Street and Stockwell. 


153

CARLISLE 

INSULATION 

✧ 

The original trucks used by 

Carlisle Insulation. 


154 

The 1930s were the dust bowl years; 

prairie winds whipped the bone dry land and 

dust clouds blocked the sun for days at a 

time. T. M. Carlisle had traveled the Midwest 

selling insurance for many years; he saw the 

effects of the weather first hand. He heard 

about a new product called insulation and in 

1936, he decided to begin selling insulation 

instead of insurance. 

He started the business in his house near 

Fifty-eighth and Pacific, at that time the western 

edge of Omaha. In the morning he would 

hitch his trailer to his truck and prospect for 

clients. In the afternoon, he went back to the 

businesses and houses to which he had sold 

the insulation and weatherproofing and 

installed it. 

As the business prospered, he opened 

a warehouse at Sixtieth and Center, but in 

the early 1940s, he moved his operation 

east to Omaha’s Warehouse District at 

Seventeenth and Leavenworth Streets. In 

1950 Carlisle Insulation moved again to 910 

Saddle Creek Road. 

Carlisle was very involved in the community. 

He was one of the original members of the 

Omaha Home Builders Association and 

belonged to the Omaha Chamber of 

Commerce, and was a member of the Omaha 

chapters of the Elks, Optimists and Kiwanis 

Clubs. He was also an active member of the 

Dundee Presbyterian Church for fifty years. 

When Carlisle died in 1965, he left his 

business to his niece, Peggy McVea. Her 

husband, K. G. McVea, became the president. 

He moved Carlisle Insulation to 5016 

Woolworth Avenue where it has been located 

for the last thirty years. McVea remained 

president until 1992 when his son David McVea 

was appointed president of Carlisle Insulation. 

Through the years the company has been 

very active in supporting community 

programs. They are sponsors of American 

Legion Baseball and Girls Select Softball. They 

also support the YMCA, Junior Achievement, 

and the Boys and Girls Club of Omaha. In 

addition, they have assisted the Construction 

Technology Class at Benson High School with 

material, labor and training. They are also 

strong supporters of Habitat For Humanity, 

providing that organization with discounted 

material and labor for five houses a year. 

Carlisle Insulation now has offices in both 

Lincoln and Omaha and has provided 

fiberglass insulation and fire stop products for 

residential and commercial clients for nearly 

seventy years. It tripled its revenue in the last 

ten years, earning $6 million in 2001. The 

company currently employs forty-five people 

and expects it will continue to grow along 

with the City of Omaha. 

Not bad for a company that started with a 

truck, a trailer and a dream.

MID-AMERICAN 

BENEFITS, INC. 

In 1981, Alex McPherson and Lee Johnson 

launched a small firm called Mid-American 

Benefits, Inc. That firm has grown from only 

one part-time assistant to a full-time staff of 

seventeen associates. Mid-American Benefits 

functions as a third-party administrator (TPA) 

by setting up and paying medical and dental 

claims for corporations and government 

agencies in Omaha and the Midwest that wish 

to partially self-insure their health insurance 

benefits. Many corporations also use the 

administrative services offered by Mid- 

American to handle their Flexible Spending 

(Cafeteria) Plans. 

Dedication to service has led to Mid- 

American’s strength and continued growth. 

This dedication is best expressed in the 

mission statement that has guided the firm 

and which was drafted by MABI associates: 

“To perform at a level that consistently rises 

above “good” and pursues excellence. Our 

detailed attention to prompt, courteous, 

accurate, and professional service will transform 

every customer into an enthusiastic client.” 

Mid-American moved into its current 

headquarters at Ninety-ninth and Fort (5310 

North Ninety-ninth), in 1996 as part owner of 

the building. Its previous locations were in the 

114th and Dodge area. From this office, Mid- 

American annually pays over $50 million in 

medical and dental claims on behalf of more 

than 75 corporate clients. At the same time, 

Mid-American reviews over five thousand new 

laws and government regulations each year 

that may impact its clients. Respected 

insurance brokers from around the Midwest, 

such as Marcotte and Associates (Omaha) and 

McDermott Brokerage (Omaha), have trusted 

Mid-American to provide their clients with 

solid professional service. 

In 2000, Matt Wullenwaber came on board 

as vice-president of sales. Matt has an extensive 

background in employee benefits and 

accounting. This combination has brought an 

added strength to Mid-American. Matt is 

originally from the Seward, Nebraska, area. 

The firm has a strong sense of its Omaha 

roots. Both founding partners, who are still 

active in the day-to-day operation of the firm, 

were raised in Omaha and graduated from 

Omaha area high schools. Lee and Alex 

married and raised their families in Omaha. 

The firm’s sense of community extends to the 

active support that both partners have given 

to local groups and civic causes including 

Kiwanis and Optimist Clubs, the Salvation 

Army, Junior Achievement, the Teammates 

mentoring program, and other civic causes. 

Outstanding service to clients, service to 

community, and professional hard working 

associates have placed Mid-American 

Benefits, Inc. in the “elite” ranking of group 

health plan service providers to Omaha and 

the Midwest. 

✧ 

(From left to right): Lee Johnson, Matt 

Wullenwaber, and Alex McPherson. 


155

JOHNSON 

HARDWARE 

COMPANY 

✧ 

Above: Omaha in 1868. 

Below: Johnson’s Hardware’s current 

location. 


156 

When F. A. Schneider founded Johnson 

Hardware in 1855, Franklin Pierce was 

president, Abe Lincoln was still practicing 

law in Illinois, and Omaha was a stopping 

point for provisioning wagon trains to head 

West on the long, arduous Oregon Trail. 

Johnson Hardware has handwritten ledgers 

to establish their pedigree as Omaha’s oldest 

business. Ledger prices show that a coffee 

mill could be purchased for fifty cents, a 

gold scale for one dollar, and an oxbow for 

thirty-five cents. Johnson Hardware 

outfitted the U.S. Cavalry at Ft. Omaha, as 

well as the Western Stage Coach Company 

and served as an essential hardware supplier 

to help set the Western telegraph lines in 

place. The Creighton brothers, Kountze 

brothers and Union Pacific are all early 

entries in their sales ledger. Steamships 

docked and loaded their hardware to 

transport material up the Missouri River to 

miners in the Black Hills and south to 

Kansas City and St. Louis. 

An axe head, symbolic of early-day settlers 

and the long-standing trademark of Johnson 

Hardware, has hung outside since opening their 

doors in 1855. The axe head now hangs at 1201 

Pacific, a reminder to all that Johnson built their 

reputation for stability, quality, and service, one 

day at a time. Through the Civil War, the Great 

Depression, two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam 

and the Gulf War, Johnson Hardware has 

prospered. One cannot look at the Omaha 

skyline without seeing buildings constructed 

with Johnson doors and locks: Union Pacific, 

the OPPD Energy Plaza, Woodmen Tower, First 

National Bank of Omaha, the ConAgra Campus, 

and the Qwest Center Omaha convention 

center, among many elite names. 

With business booming in the mid-1980s, 

Johnson Hardware expanded, acquiring an 

IBM computer to process an inventory 

database of 40,000-plus items that had 

become almost unmanageable. (Today’s 

inventory approaches 100,000 items.) Offices 

were opened in Lincoln and North Platte to 

better serve building contractors throughout 

Nebraska. Johnson Hardware has three 

divisions: the Contract Division focuses on 

commercial construction and architectural 

hardware such as hollow metal doors, locks 

and door accessories; the Wholesale Division, 

with a national presence, provides hardware 

to glass contractors, lumber yards, 

locksmiths, hotels and motels, distributors, 

and retail hardware dealers; the Industrial 

Division, headquartered in Omaha, sells hand 

tools, equipment, and industrial supplies. 

In spite of the present-day era of competing 

hardware superstores, Johnson Hardware 

continues to prosper as a national, visionary 

leader in the architectural and security 

hardware business, selling and servicing a 

multitude of consumer, institutional and 

commercial customers. They have progressed 

from outfitting wagon trains and cavalry to 

retrofitting airports and controlled-access 

installations, providing high-tech security 

devices that utilize biometrics for fingerprints, 

palm readers, and retina scanners. 

Johnson Hardware is located at 1201 

Pacific in Omaha, Nebraska and on the Web 

at www.johnson4hardware.com.

In 1887 a group of business leaders in South 

Omaha pooled their resources to form the South 

Omaha Loan and Building Association. By 1893 

they were successful enough to hire their first 

full-time employee, James J. Fitzgerald, a recent 

immigrant from Ireland. That young Irishman 

served the organization for sixty-four years. He 

would begin a family tradition that endures to 

this day in his grandson, William A. Fitzgerald. 

In 1910 the company changed its name to 

Commercial Savings and Loan Association to 

reflect the broader range of services it now 

offered. James J. Fitzgerald continued to work 

for the association and, in 1943, was elected 

president. He served until 1955, when his son, 

William F. Fitzgerald, assumed the presidency. 

The association had survived the Great 

Depression and World War II. It had prospered 

where many of its competitors had not. Much 

of its success was due to a willingness to try 

new approaches and ideas. In 1952 it was one 

of the first local financial institutions to use the 

new media of television to advertise its services 

and, in 1953, it was the first financial 

institution in the state to offer its customers a 

drive-up window and later was one of the first 

to offer telephone bill paying. 

During the next twenty-five years, William 

F. Fitzgerald guided the association through 

continued growth. By the 1970s, when the 

firm adopted a federal charter and became 

Commercial Federal, assets had reached $500 

million, there were now 190 employees, and 

William A. Fitzgerald, son of William F. 

Fitzgerald, became president. Over the next 

decade, Commercial Federal continued to 

build its network of retail banks throughout 

the state and, in 1990, amended its charter to 

become a federal savings bank. A new name 

emerged–Commercial Federal Bank. 

In 1994, William A. Fitzgerald became the 

third generation of his family to be chairman of 

the board and CEO of Commercial Federal 

Bank. The bank currently employs more than 

2,800 people and has more than $13 billion in 

assets. It currently has 190 offices in Nebraska, 

Iowa, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, 

and Arizona. 

Commercial Federal Bank is wholeheartedly 

embracing the challenges of the new century. It 

continues to offer innovative services like its 

Internet banking program. AccessOnline ® is an 

Internet based service that lets consumers use the 

convenience of their own computer to conduct 

banking business while also offering information 

on local weather, headline news and stock 

market reports. The company is also offering an 

expanded array of services to businesses. 

Commercial Federal has remained true to 

promises made more than a hundred years 

ago—to provide the financial services that best 

meet the needs of each and every customer. 

COMMERCIAL 

FEDERAL BANK 

✧ 

Above: T. J. O’Neil (left) and James J. “J. J.” 

Fitzgerald (right) pose in front of the early 

South Omaha office. The twenty-four-year 

old Fitzgerald joined the South Omaha 

Loan and Building Association in 1893, 

launching a sixty-four-year career with the 

company that is known today as 

Commercial Federal Bank. William A. 

Fitzgerald, the company’s current chairman 

and chief executive, is his grandson. 

Left: Chairman of the Board and Chief 

Executive Officer William A. Fitzgerald 

(right), and President and Chief Operating 

Officer Robert J. Hutchinson. 


157

✧ 

Above: Borsheim’s Jewelers in the Hotel 

Regis building at Sixteenth and Harney 

Street in 1952. 

Bottom: Borsheim’s Jewelers in the Omaha 

National Bank Building at Seventeenth and 

Farnam in 1938. 

BORSHEIM’S 

JEWELRY 

COMPANY INC. 


158 

When Louis Borsheim opened a small 

jewelry store in downtown Omaha in 1870, the 

United States was almost one hundred years old. 

In those days, the clientele arrived by horse and 

carriage or sometimes just by horse. Though the 

jewelry store remained small, it established a 

reputation for quality merchandise, reasonable 

prices and personalized customer service. 

Louis Friedman purchased Borsheim Jewelry 

Company in 1947. He kept the name and built 

on the strong reputation that Borsheim’s had 

earned. When his son Ike joined him a few 

years later, the stage was set for dramatic 

growth. Ike Friedman’s focus on meeting the 

needs of his customers was crucial to the 

success of Borsheim’s. By the mid 1970s, 

business exploded as worldwide inflation drove 

up the prices of precious metals and gems. 

Borsheim’s stubbornly maintained its policy of 

pricing based on cost and worked on a lower 

profit. It had become the nation’s largest, single 

unit, fine jewelry and gifts retailer. 

In 1986, having outgrown its downtown 

store, Borsheim’s moved to west Omaha and 

the fashionable Regency Court. It was the 

perfect setting for their unique combination 

of quality, service and price. Business 

quadrupled and the staff grew from a few 

dozen employees to a current total of more 

than 350. In addition to serving the needs of 

its customers from Nebraska, Borsheim’s 

market expanded to cover all fifty states and 

many foreign countries. 

All of this success attracted the attention of 

the renowned investor Warren Buffett. In 1989, 

following a ten-minute conversation and a 

handshake, Buffett purchased eighty percent of 

Borsheim’s stock through his company Berkshire 

Hathaway. The Friedman family retained the 

remaining stock. Accustomed to analyzing the 

strengths and weaknesses of companies, Buffett 

knew he had a winner in Borsheim’s. He gave 

their management team simple directions, 

“Don’t change a thing.” 

Susan M. Jacques became Borsheim’s 

president and CEO in 1994. Personally 

appointed by Buffett, she is one of the few 

women executives in the jewelry industry and 

one of two women heading a Berkshire 

Hathaway subsidiary. Under her leadership, 

Borsheim’s continued to grow and has expanded 

its retail space in Regency Court to forty-five 

thousand square feet. Borsheim’s size, and 

prestigious reputation, has earned the company 

tremendous buying power. Because of this 

legendary buying power, low operating costs 

and its commitment to customers, Borsheim’s is 

able to offer exceptional prices to its customers. 

Nowhere else will you find an individual 

store with such a selection of spectacular 

diamond and gemstone jewelry, fine watches, 

elegant tableware and exceptional gifts. 

From its humble beginnings in downtown 

Omaha, Borsheim’s has grown tremendously 

through the years. No longer do customers 

arrive by horse and buggy. Now they can shop 

through Borsheim’s extensive catalogue or make 

a purchase through Borsheim’s website, 

www.borsheims.com`. Still, some things remain 

the same, like Borsheim’s legendary devotion to 

extraordinary selection, exceptional values, and 

world-renowned customer service.

“The Chicago Lumber Company have 

just opened in this city, a large and desirable 

Stock of Lumber, and all kinds of building 

material. Office and yard foot of Douglas 

Street,” published June 10, 1876, in the 

Omaha Republican. 

Frank Colpetzer and Charles Guiou came to 

Omaha from Chicago to open The Chicago 

Lumber Company of Omaha. M. T. Green, 

owner of The Chicago Lumber Company in 

Chicago, Illinois, saw Nebraska as an exciting 

opportunity to expand his business. A new 

partner, Henry F. Cady joined the company in 

1877. By 1881, The Chicago Lumber Company 

of Omaha had branch-yards throughout 

Nebraska and maintained an inventory of 

twenty million board feet of lumber in its 

Omaha location. 

In 1894 the Omaha partners purchased The 

Chicago Lumber Company of Omaha from 

M. T. Green. In 1910 Charles Guiou and Henry 

Cady sold their shares to Frank Colpetzer. In 

1952 Lawrence Simpson purchased the 

business. Simpson began selling stock to key 

employees. He retained a majority interest until 

his death in 1968. Today the company remains 

one hundred percent employee owned. 

In addition to a large retail and wholesale 

operation at its main location, Fourteenth 

and Pierce Streets, The Chicago Lumber 

Company of Omaha also owns and operates 

nine other building centers. Locations in 

Nebraska are Ainsworth, Alliance, Blue Hill, 

Geneva, Grand Island, Nebraska City, and 

Norfolk. In Wyoming, the building center is 

located in Torrington. The Marvin Window 

and Door Store is located at 320 North 115th 

Street in Omaha, Nebraska. A brokerage 

firm, Walter T. Johnson Lumber Company, is 

located at the company’s headquarters at 

1324 Pierce Street. 

As The Chicago Lumber Company of 

Omaha has adapted to changing times, it has 

become one of the few lumber companies in 

the entire nation to survive since 1876 under 

the same name and with a continuity of 

ownership and management. During its 126 

year history, only seven men have served as 

president of The Chicago Lumber Company 

of Omaha: Frank G. Colpetzer, 1894-1916; 

Moshier G. Colpetzer, 1916-1945; Lawrence 

G. Simpson, 1945-1957; Fred L. Miller, 1957- 

1973; Warren L. Hotz, 1973-1978; Larry L. 

Johansen, 1978-2000; Walter R. Cady, 2000 

to present. 

The company has not given in to adversity. 

When its original office was destroyed by 

Missouri River floodwaters, the company 

moved to higher ground. When the current 

office was nearly destroyed by fire in 1993, 

the company remodeled, making use of 

skylights and the original tin ceiling. When a 

fire in 2000 destroyed three major warehouses, 

the company rebuilt a forty-eight-thousandsquare-foot 

warehouse. Having learned from 

its history, The Chicago Lumber Company of 

Omaha will continue to transition itself for 

future growth. 

THE CHICAGO 

LUMBER 

COMPANY OF 

OMAHA 

✧ 

Above: The Chicago Lumber Company 

building in the 1800s. 

Below: Current headquarters of The 

Chicago Lumber Company on 1324 Pierce 

Street in Omaha. 


159

BEST WESTERN 

REDICK PLAZA 

HOTEL 

✧ 

Above: Redick Tower is listed in the 

National Register of Historic Places. 

Below: Best Western Redick Plaza Hotel is 

an elegant art-deco hotel, gracious and 

quiet, combining old world charm and 

friendly midwestern warmth. 


160 

Omaha’s downtown has boasted the finest 

collection of unique brick and stone buildings 

in the Midwest. Most were razed to make way 

for newer and modern, but architecturally 

neutered high-rises. Not so the Redick Tower, a 

classic example of art deco, AKA, American 

Perpendicular Architecture that was so popular 

in America during the ’20s and ’30s. Listed on 

the National Register of Historic Places, the 

Redick Tower is twelve stories of reinforced 

concrete faced with buff brick, and is one of the 

few remaining buildings of its type. The 

outside is defined by right angles and a dearth 

of curves. Its design is geometric and linear and 

stepped with ziggurat-like setbacks. Over 150 

stylized, sunken steel casement windows 

topped with geometric designs create an 

appearance of great height. Hard-edged, low 

relief terracotta ornamentation in sunrise, 

chevron, and floriated patterns are employed 

throughout the structure. Designed by Omaha 

Architect Joseph McArthur, it was financed and 

named after Redick family patriarch, John I. 

Redick, an Omaha lawyer and land developer. 

In 1930, during the Great Depression, it 

opened as a multipurpose facility with 

storefronts and offices. The building has seen 

many owners and tenants, but by the mid-’70s 

only the main floor and the parking garage 

were in use. Mickey’s, a bar with dancing go-go 

girls once did business on the ground floor. In 

1983 the Redick Tower Limited Partnership 

purchased the facility and implemented a 

seven million dollar renovation to install the 

Radisson Redick Tower Hotel. When 

completed it had eighty-nine hotel rooms, the 

Redick Grill Restaurant, a health club, and 

space for smaller business. 

Radisson’s tenure in the tower ended in 1998 

and Charles Rennie Financial purchased the 

building in 1999 and made further 

improvements. Much of the facility and all of the 

guestrooms were redecorated, carpeted, painted, 

and the bathrooms updated. In order to attract 

more convention business, Best Western 

expanded the banquet space from 1,500 to 

3,000 square feet. The seventh floor, with 

twenty guestrooms and a social room, can be 

completely closed off and made a secure access 

floor, something very popular and in demand 

with entertainers. And the tower has seen its 

share of them; Neil Diamond, Joey McIntyre, 

Loverboy, and the Osmonds all stayed at the 

Redick Tower. Wynonna and entourage, 

including her own chef, once occupied the 

entire seventh floor. Portable cooking appliances 

were made available to accommodate her needs. 

Because of its proximity to the Old Market, 

Orpheum Theater, and several upscale 

restaurants the Best Western Redick Plaza Hotel 

is a recommended favorite of theater production 

groups. The casts of Joseph and his Amazing 

Technicolor Dream Coat, Les Miserable, Grease, 

and many others have stayed at the Hotel. 

Best Western Redick Plaza Hotel is found 

on the Web at www.redickplazahotel.com.

Centris Federal Credit Union, founded in 

1934, has expanded in size and grown in 

assets to become Nebraska’s largest credit 

union. Established by seven charter members 

as the Omaha Telephone Employees Federal 

Credit Union, it was the twenty-eighth federal 

credit union to receive a charter in the United 

States. Like all credit unions, Centris is a 

nonprofit financial cooperative owned and 

directed by its membership. Growth and 

service are the key words describing its history. 

Omaha Telephone Employees Credit Union 

took the name of Bell Federal Credit Union and 

expanded operations to North Platte in 1974. In 

1982 they acquired BelTel Federal Credit Union 

of Grand Island. In 2001 they became Centris 

Federal Credit Union and expanded their field 

of membership to include four counties. Today 

Centris employs 180 employees, boasts assets 

over $310 million, and has 55,000-plus 

members. Three new offices were opened in 

2001 and two more offices are slated to open in 

2003. With seven locations in Omaha and 

additional offices in North Platte, Grand Island, 

and Council Bluffs, it services much of Nebraska 

and Eastern Iowa. Centris Federal Credit 

Union’s Board of Directors supports an 

aggressive growth policy and the addition of 

more facilities throughout the four counties. 

Centris assets have risen $55 million in the 

past five years and 11.2 percent since 2000. 

This phenomenal growth can be attributed to 

competitive marketing, well-trained staff and an 

ideology of continually seeking to improve 

operations. Profit seeking is not the central 

focus of a credit union; providing loans and 

services at affordable prices takes priority. In 

order to achieve this goal, state-of-the-art 

technology is used to recruit members and 

provide a large menu of financial services. Car 

loans, home equity loans, lines of credit, 

mortgages, investments, mutual funds, 

insurance, credit cards, online account access, 

electronic bill pay, as well as traditional savings 

and checking accounts are all part of the 

convenient services offered to Centris members. 

Centris employees are active in the 

communities that they serve, taking the credit 

union philosophy of “People Helping People” 

beyond the branch doors. They volunteer for 

and sponsor a variety of programs that 

include the Junior Wheelchair Sports and 

Recreation Camp, United Way, American Red 

Cross, American Cancer Society Relay For 

Life, as well as numerous area school events. 

As the main sponsor of the Nebraska Humane 

Society’s annual Cause For Paws, Centris has 

helped to raise thousands of dollars to help 

the more than twenty thousand homeless 

animals that find their way to the shelter each 

year. Each summer, dogs and their owners 

look forward to this fun-filled family event. 

Membership at Centris is open to all who 

work, live, attend school, or worship in 

Douglas, Sarpy, Lincoln and Pottawatamie 

Counties. Family and household members are 

also eligible to join. 

CENTRIS 

FEDERAL 

CREDIT 

UNION 

✧ 

Above: Centris Federal Credit Union 

branches are located throughout the Omaha 

metropolitan area, as well as North Platte, 

Grand Island, and Council Bluffs, Iowa. 

Below: Centris helps thousands of animals 

each year through its annual benefit, “Cause 

For Paws.” 


161

PARSOW’S FINE 

CLOTHING 

✧ 

Above: Parsow’s original store 

opened in 1952 next to Omaha’s famous 

Orpheum Theatre. 

Parsow’s Fine Clothing has been named one 

of the “Top 100 Specialty Stores in America” 

by Esquire magazine for four consecutive 

years. 

Below: Parsow’s Fine Clothing is located 

in the Regency Court at 120 Regency 

Parkway, and on the Internet at 

www.parsows.com. 


162 

Parsow’s Fine Clothing has been voted 

Omaha’s finest Men’s Specialty Store and 

selected by Esquire magazine to its elite “Top 

100 Specialty Stores in America” for four 

consecutive years. Terrific honors by anyone’s 

standards, but a dream come true to the 

Parsow family and its founder, Omaha 

businessman, Sol Parsow. 

Sol’s dream began shortly after World War 

II. Stationed in Omaha during the War, he 

met Lee Jane Greenberg and realized Omaha 

was the place he wanted to begin his retailing 

career. After the war, he returned to Omaha to 

marry Lee Jane. 

Growing up in New York City, the fashion 

capitol of the world, Sol learned all he could 

about men’s clothing and furnishings. In 

1952, Sol opened his first store, a sevenhundred-square-foot 

haberdashery, next to 

Omaha’s famous Orpheum Theater. After 

eleven successful years there, Sol contacted 

prominent Omaha businessman Peter Kiewit 

about building “the best looking men’s store 

you’ve ever seen,” in Kiewit’s new office plaza 

across from the Blackstone Hotel. “I worked 

from dawn to dusk to finish that store,” Sol 

recalled. Opened in 1963, the new twentyone-hundred-square-foot 

store flourished for 

more than a decade. Sol’s oldest son, Alan, 

who retired from the store in 1980, was 

instrumental in its success. 

In 1974, Sol saw the chance to build 

his final “dream store.” He envisioned a 

“French village under glass,” with Parsow’s 

being the centerpiece. Including courtyards, 

waterfalls and cobblestone streets it would be 

a miniature town with European flair. 

Working with his customary drive and 

determination, the following year Sol’s dream 

came to fruition. 

November 1975 marked the opening of 

Parsow’s magnificent fifty-six-hundredsquare-foot 

store in what is now called the 

Regency Court. In 1982, Sol’s sons, David and 

Steven, started the “new” Parsow’s on the path 

towards not just local but national 

recognition. Larry Ginsburg became a partner 

in 1989 when Sol retired. Through creating 

exciting weekly Trunk Shows and special 

events unlike any store in America, Parsow’s 

generates excitement all year long. 

The hard work and passion that Sol instilled 

in “his boys” makes them successful. They 

pride themselves on building relationships, not 

simply acquiring customers. When you walk 

into Parsow’s you are greeted by name, like the 

friend you truly are. Quality merchandise with 

outstanding service and attention to the 

specific needs of each customer is rare in 

today’s world but an everyday occurrence at 

Parsow’s. In addition, they now carry some of 

the finest women’s lines to complement their 

successful men’s business. 

The year 2002 marked the fiftieth 

anniversary of Parsow’s in Omaha. Sol’s 

legacy of personal, professional, and attentive 

service continues. “The boys have done an 

outstanding job,” says Sol, “and they will 

continue to do so.”

It was July 17, 1916, when President 

Woodrow Wilson appended his signature on a 

piece of legislation that would open the gates 

to an agricultural revolution. That document 

he signed would later become known as the 

Federal Farm Loan Act. 

Established at a time when credit for 

agriculture was difficult to come by in the 

existing banking community, the new 

legislation heralded the beginning of financial 

independence for farmers and ranchers and 

created what is known today as the Farm 

Credit System. 

Within that System, Farm Credit Services 

of America, known then as the Federal Land 

Bank of Omaha, was formed to provide 

farmers and ranchers long-term mortgage 

loans. Sixty thousand applications and 

inquiries awaited the company on its opening 

day, March 18, 1917. The first loan of $1,000 

was made for the purchase of 160 acres in Red 

Willow County. Five years later, over fifteen 

thousand loans totaling nearly $75 million 

had been made. 

In the decades to come, capital 

became essential to survive in rural 

America. By deferring and extending loan 

payments and with the help of federal 

funds, which were repaid in full in 1953, 

Farm Credit Services of America made it 

possible for thousands of hard-pressed 

farmers and ranchers to survive the Great 

Depression and prevail with better 

financial health. With newly available 

operating and equipment loans, financial 

freedom and prosperity took hold. 

By the 1950s, sophistication and 

modernization was fueling economic 

growth. Although the costs of farming 

continued to mount, borrowers began 

seeking larger loans for more land and 

new machinery. Farm Credit Services of 

America kept pace by making loans at a 

rate, which topped that of the troubled 

’30s. The company also expanded its 

services to include rural home mortgages 

and variable interest rate programs 

helping farmers and ranchers expand 

well into the ’70s. 

By the mid-1980s, rising inflation and 

collapsing farmland values forced 

American agriculture into a four year long 

recession. As a result, Farm Credit Services of 

America, along with commercial banks and 

producers, experienced severe financial stress. 

Through financial assistance, which was 

repaid in 1992, and changes in legislation, the 

company began its recovery in 1988 and set 

in motion a commitment to help distressed 

customers pull through the recession. The 

company returned to its strong financial 

health—a trend that continues today. 

The late 1990s sparked a chain of process 

enhancements, changed lending philosophies, 

new product introductions, a new market 

delivery structure, and technology 

improvements. Beginning the turn of the 

century, with assets exceeding $6.4 billion and 

serving nearly fifty thousand customers, Farm 

Credit Services of America has become one of 

the largest providers of credit and insurance 

services to farmers, ranchers, agribusinesses 

and rural residents in Nebraska, Iowa, South 

Dakota and Wyoming. 

FARM CREDIT 

SERVICES OF 

AMERICA 

✧ 

Above: The corporate seal of the Federal 

Land Bank of Omaha, predecessor of today’s 

Farm Credit Services of America. 

Below: Farm Credit Services of America 

headquarters in Omaha in the 

mid-twentieth century. 


163

HOLLAND 

BASHAM 

ARCHITECTS 

✧ 

Above: Level 3 Communications Corporate 

Headquarters, Broomfield, Colorado. 

Below: The office of Holland Basham 

Architects in the renovated Beth 

El Synagogue. 


164 

Holland Basham Architects (HBA) was 

founded May 10, 1989, by Timothy F. 

Holland and J. Keith Basham. In 1996, the 

firm purchased and renovated the former Beth 

El Synagogue, located at 119 South Fortyninth 

Avenue. The result is a stunning suite of 

offices filled with light, air, and many of the 

building’s original elements. Wood from pews 

has become decorative molding; a raised 

alcove designed for an altar is now an open 

conference room; the firm’s state of the art 

teleconferencing center occupies the former 

choir loft. 

Tim and Keith are committed to providing 

personal comprehensive architectural and 

interior design services to a variety of 

commercial clients. The firm’s enthusiastic, 

aggressive approach to projects has been 

successful, particularly in the corporate office, 

health care and educational arenas. The 

largest project to date is an 850,000-squarefoot 

corporate campus north of Denver, 

totaling $160 million in construction costs. 

The only people more enthusiastic about 

HBA than its employees are its clients. Take, 

for example, the large Omaha client who 

called the firm the evening before the client 

intended to announce its plans for a new $50- 

million corporate office facility and asked if it 

was “okay to tell the [newspaper] you’re our 

architect”. While the firm was a little surprised 

to find they had been awarded the job without 

even submitting a proposal, it is not at all 

unusual for their clients to be so satisfied with 

their work that they return to Holland Basham 

for their next big project; and their next; and 

so on. In fact, ninety-four percent of the firm’s 

business is from repeat clients. 

Holland Basham has steadily grown to its 

present staff size of twenty-three, including 

sixteen architects and three interior 

designers. In an industry where the national 

average architectural firm has only six 

employees, HBA is a large firm capable of 

handling complex projects. They hire 

experienced, motivated professionals 

proficient in all phases of design and project 

documentation. 

From the moment the firm opened its 

doors in 1989, technology has driven the 

firm’s design process. These designs can be 

transferred to the client electronically, 

ensuring that even remote clients are kept up 

to date. All projects have the same project 

team from design through construction, so 

the client always knows exactly whom they 

are dealing with and everyone on the project 

team has the “whole picture”. This 

commitment to detail, innovation and, above 

all, client satisfaction, has helped Holland 

Basham Architects achieve and maintain its 

position as one of the region’s top 

architectural firms.

Owners of prized family possessions and 

treasured heirlooms made of precious metals 

are very familiar with Koleys, Inc. The 

company, founded in 1919 as Koley and Son 

by patriarch Peter W. Koley and his son 

Joseph, is a fourth generation business whose 

success comes from attention to detail, and 

the caring craftsmanship of its employees. 

Artistic magic is routinely performed to make 

the ‘rare and unusual’ a daily affair. 

Under Joseph Koley, the firm focused on 

industrial and commercial refinishing, contracting 

with the government sector during the 

war to provide plating at the old Martin Bomber 

plant in Omaha. After WWII, most of Koleys’ 

employees were metalworkers from the bomber 

plant. These men were often the first- or secondgeneration 

offspring of European immigrants, 

practicing traditional family crafts and trades. 

Today, craftsmanship and artistic ability are still 

the primary focus of each employee’s work. The 

reputation of honesty, quality work, and trust is 

synonymous with their legacy. 

In 1960, looking for new markets and 

opportunities, the company name was changed 

to Koleys, Inc. and expanded with greater 

intensity. In fact, Koleys is one of only a handful 

of companies in the country that can refurbish 

and replate church metalware as well as precious 

family heirlooms that need work. 

As with all successful businesses, Koleys is 

once more in the process of adapting to meet the 

needs of a changing market. Current President 

Tom Koley, like his fathers before him, is looking 

to the future. He is reinvesting in the business by 

remodeling facilities and updating equipment 

with state-of-the-art technology. 

Koley craftsmen are always looking to be 

challenged with an unusual metal piece that 

can’t be entrusted to just anyone. Bobby Hull, 

hockey legend, chose Koleys to replate his 

special memorabilia and trophies from his 

days as a professional athlete. Earl Mann, of 

the Oakland Raiders, also turned to Koleys to 

repair and refinish his Super Bowl trophy. 

If you have valuable antiques, gold and 

silver heirlooms, precious jewelry, silverware, 

or even exotic samovars, Koleys has 

silversmiths with the ability to make your 

piece look like new again. Koleys can be found 

on the web at www.koleysrefinishing.com or 

call 402-341-9795. 

KOLEYS, INC. 

✧ 

Above: Tom and Ed Koley in front of the 

Koleys locaiton at 2951 Harney in Omaha. 

Below, left: Gary polishing. 

Below, center: Trevor repairing a candlestick. 

Below, right: Marty and Joe in the 

plating department. 


165

STANDARD NUTRITION COMPANY 

In May 1986, Dr. F. E. Sanborn, an Omaha 

veterinarian, created a pioneering company 

selling nutritional supplements and remedies 

to livestock producers. His company was then 

known as Standard’s Stock Food Company. 

Sanborn’s knowledge and theories proved to be 

the introduction of supplemental vitamins and 

trace minerals as a beneficial inclusion in an 

animals daily ration. 

Sanborn sold his nutritional supplements 

off a horse and wagon directly to livestock 

producers. It came at a time when industrious 

producers could and did capitalize on the 

emerging science of nutrition and livestock 

production. Since then, the company has 

grown from a small operation serving local 

livestock producers to a major provider in the 

livestock industry with headquarters in Omaha 

and serving livestock and poultry producers in 

eighteen states and in two Canadian provinces. 

Through the years and in keeping with the 

times, the company name has changed from 

Standard Stock Food Company to Standard 

Chemical Manufacturing Company and then 

to Standard Nutrition Company as it is known 

today. What hasn’t changed is Standard’s 

dedication to producing quality products and 

providing professional service to its clients. 

A number of knowledgeable and 

influential men have guided Standard 

Nutrition Company over the past 116 years: 

F. E. Sanborn, John W. Gamble, Benjamin 

Harrison, Trafford Wurdeman, James M. 

Paxson, Tom Reese, Greg L. Kluck, and 

current president, William F. Dyer. These 

leaders have contributed to the continued 

growth and success of Standard and each 

has been an involved citizen of his 

community. As a tribute to former President 

Gerald R. Ford, Paxson sponsored a memorial 

at the site of the President’s birthplace in 

Omaha “The Gerald R. Ford Memorial and 

Conservatory” which Paxson donated to the 

City of Omaha. 

Today, Standard Nutrition Company 

carries on the one-hundred-plus year 

tradition of providing quality products and 

professional services to its clients. Standard’s 

current clients include large swine, dairy, 

cattle, and poultry producers. A team of 

professional consultants and nutritionists 

provide consulting services that effectively 

serve livestock producers with a full life-cycle 

program from evaluation and assessment 

programs to individual animal nutrition 

requirements, herd health, and management 

and financial guidelines. Standard’s mission is 

to provide programs, product, and support in 

all areas needed to profitably produce meat 

and milk. 

Standard’s high-tech computerized 

production facilities are located in Idaho, 

Iowa and Washington and guarantee a strong 

backup for it’s consultants providing them 

with exact ration formulations and fresh, ontime 

delivery of product to their clients. 

Standard’s employees are all considered to 

be an integral part of the total operation and 

all participate in company benefits and profit 

sharing. They are also encouraged to grow 

professionally and personally. There is a 

company-wide commitment to service, 

product quality, and a willingness to embrace 

new technologies as they emerge. This 

company-wide involvement and commitment 

has resulted in tripling Standard’s growth over 

the past fifteen years. 


166

With the first shovel of dirt turned on the 

Offutt/Yost Mansion, Omaha’s westward 

expansion outstripped its streetcar lines. Built 

on the corner of Thirty-ninth and Davenport 

Streets in 1894, the Offutt Mansion was the 

cornerstone of what would become Omaha’s 

Gold Coast District. 

The mansion took two years to complete 

and still reflects the opulence of another time. 

From the mahogany and pink onyx fireplace in 

the library to the grand staircase and expansive 

sun porches, the home takes visitors to the 

splendor of the past. 

Today the mansion is a boutique hotel, 

offering six guest rooms and space for events 

from weddings to board meetings. Owners 

Mark J. O’Leary and Julie Mierau named the 

home The Cornerstone Mansion, honoring its 

place as the first mansion in the area. 

O’Leary’s family has owned property in the 

neighborhood since the late 1800s, so his 

family legacy lives on in this home. 

O’Leary and Mierau restored much of the 

property’s interior and exterior. “We focused 

on details along with structural issues,” 

O’Leary says. With the help of a complete 

1918 whole-house inventory, they searched 

for furnishings and decor that match the 

proper timeframe. “Because the first owners 

were so well-known in Omaha,” Mierau says, 

“we want to be certain that every detail is as 

close as possible to the original.” 

Casper and Anna Yost built the house as a 

wedding gift for their daughter, Bertha, and 

her fiancé, Charles Offutt. In 1865 President 

Lincoln appointed Yost the marshal of the 

Nebraska Territory. Yost later started the local 

telephone company, which became the 

regional Northwestern Bell. The Offutt name 

is familiar to those in eastern Nebraska today, 

with Offutt Air Force Base named for Charles 

and Bertha’s son Jarvis. 

Today’s owners keep the Offutt family history 

alive with photographs and scrapbooks. “Our 

guests are interested in the history of the family 

as well as the history of the area,” O’Leary says. 

“People who choose this type of facility want to 

relive a less hectic, more elegant time.” 

Each of the mansion’s guest rooms features 

antique furnishings and a private bath. Some 

have the original claw-foot tub. 

Brides find the grand staircase the perfect 

entry for their perfect day. Many couples choose 

to be married in front of the exquisite fireplace 

in the library; others prefer the cathedral 

windows on the first floor landing. Hosting such 

celebrations in a historic setting affords their 

ceremonies an air of intimacy and elegance. 

O’Leary and Mierau, who both live on-site, 

plan to continue opening their home to 

guests. “We love to see our guests’ faces when 

they come through the front door,” says 

Mireau. “Their love of this elegant mansion is 

our inspiration.” 

You may visit them on the Internet at 

www.CornerstoneMansion.com. 

THE 

CORNERSTONE 

MANSION INN 


167

FIRST DATA 

RESOURCES 

✧ 

Above: The First Data Technology Campus, 

at Seventy-second and Pacific Streets in 

Omaha, plays an integral role in the 

company’s global transaction cardprocessing 

operations. 

Below: The First Data Technology 

Campus in Omaha is located next to the 

University of Nebraska’s Peter Kiewit 

Institute of Information Science, 

Technology, and Engineering. 


168 

Every year, First Data Corporation helps 

financial institutions, merchants, and 

consumers electronically move more than two 

trillion dollars. Whether it’s helping businesses 

sell their products at stores or over the 

Internet, or processing a consumer’s credit or 

debit card transaction, First Data Corporation 

has more than twenty-nine thousand 

employees around the globe, working together 

to make it easy for businesses to operate, and 

for consumers to buy the things they need. 

The origins of this electronic commerce 

leader can be traced back to Omaha in 1971 

when First Data Resources was created to 

provide card processing services to an 

association of seven Midwest banks. First Data 

Resources led to the creation of First Data 

Corporation, and made a name for itself as one 

of the world’s leading transaction processors. 

With over nine thousand employees 

worldwide, First Data Resources has become 

an industry veteran and partner of some of 

the most well respected, highly visible 

financial institutions and card issuing 

companies. First Data Resources serves 1,400 

companies representing 325 million card 

accounts worldwide. 

First Data Corporation, headquartered in 

Denver, Colorado, has several business units 

with operations in Nebraska, including First 

Data Resources, First Data Merchant Services, 

and Call Interactive. 

These businesses serve some of the largest 

corporate names in the world—GE Capital, JP 

Morgan Chase Bank, First USA/Bank One, 

Sears, AT&T, and American Express—with 

card processing services and leading-edge 

interactive voice response systems. First Data 

Resources also partners with international 

financial services companies through its offices 

in Japan, China, and Mexico. 

To serve the leaders in the financial industry, 

First Data’s Omaha operations feature the latest 

in advanced technology. Its world-class Data 

Center, which operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a 

week, handles credit and debit card 

transactions from around the globe. Omaha is 

also home to First Data’s Powerhouse, one of 

the most redundant power supplies in the 

nation, which ensures continuous processing. 

Financial institutions also rely on First Data to 

print and mail millions of card statements every 

day from its award-winning mailing facility. 

With seven thousand local employees, First 

Data has a vested interest in a productive 

Nebraska. By recruiting workers from other 

cities and states, First Data is continually adding 

to the positive economic impact that the 

company and its employees have on the 

Omaha-area economy. 

From its humble beginnings in 1971, to its 

worldwide presence as a transaction processing 

leader, First Data’s success, and that of its 

clients, is permanently linked to the resources 

of Nebraska. 

For more information on the company, please 

visit the company’s website at www.firstdata.com.

It’s a long way from the mountains and 

bays of County Kerry, Ireland, to the streets of 

Omaha, Nebraska. But, like so many other 

Irishmen who came before them, Patrick C. 

Heafey and Morgan J. Heafey, sought a new 

life in this “land of opportunity.” 

Patrick Heafey opened the first licensed 

funeral home in Nebraska in 1882. His brother 

Morgan worked for the Union Pacific Railroad 

for a few years before joining him. The first 

Heafey and Heafey Mortuary was located at 

Fourteenth and Farnam Streets in downtown 

Omaha. A year later, in 1883, a second 

mortuary was opened in South Omaha on 

Twenty-fourth and N Streets. Heafey and 

Heafey quickly became the most prominent 

mortuary in Omaha. 

In addition to the mortuary business, Heafey 

and Heafey rented out horses and carriages. 

They were rented for many auspicious 

occasions including the funeral of prominent 

Omahan, Count John Creighton, in 1906. 

Heafey and Heafey’s meticulous records 

help to provide a glimpse of life and death in 

Omaha’s early years. An example is a bill from 

1909 listing the following funeral costs: casket 

and box, $70; candles, $1.50; gloves, $1.50; 

hearse, $12; five carriages, $25; robe, $10; and 

embalming and removal, $25. It came to a 

grand total of $145. Scratched in the margin 

was the customer’s comment, “Too expensive!” 

In 1912, Heafey and Heafey built a new 

mortuary at Twenty-sixth and Farnam where 

they remained until 1928. Morgan Heafey 

passed away in 1917. When he died, the 

operation of the South Omaha business fell to 

Morgan’s son, John C. Heafey. When Patrick 

Heafey died in 1921, Morgan’s sons, John C., 

Morgan and Con Heafey, took over both funeral 

homes. In 1928 Heafey and Heafey moved even 

further west, to Thirty-fifth and Farnam. 

In 1980, Heafey and Heafey merged with Leo 

A Hoffmann Mortuary and built a beautiful new 

funeral home at Seventy-eighth and Center 

Streets. After additional mergers, the firm is now 

called Heafey, Heafey, Hoffmann, Dworak and 

Cutler. They now operate several mortuaries in 

the area including: Seventy-eighth and Center, 

and Sixteenth and Vinton in Omaha; and 

Twenty-second and Hancock in Bellevue. 

Thomas P. Heafey, son of John C. Heafey, is the 

current president of the organization. 

In 1929 the mortuary published a small 

booklet for their clients. Their philosophy then 

was described as, “The Threshold of 

Sympathetic Understanding, a term that has 

become a tradition with Heafey and Heafey in 

their many years of sympathetic, thoughtful 

and dignified funeral service in Omaha.” For 

more than 120 years, that philosophy has never 

wavered or changed. 

✧ 

HEAFEY, 

HEAFEY, 

HOFFMANN, 

DWORAK AND 

Above: Crowds line the street for Count 

John Creighton’s funeral in 1906. 

CUTLER 

MORTUARIES 

Left: Patrick C. Heafey, founder of Heafey, 

Heafey, Hoffmann, Dworak and Cutler. 

AND 

CREMATORY 


169

C&A 

INDUSTRIES, INC. 

✧ 

Above: C&A Industries, Inc. 

Corporate Office. 

Below: The new Aureus Medical facility in 

west Omaha. 


170 

C&A Industries, Inc., (a national staffing 

firm), was formed in 1969 by a new 

engineering graduate from the University of 

Nebraska. The firm has shown consistent 

growth and success throughout the years. This 

has resulted in the Omaha Chamber of 

Commerce’s Award for being “Omaha’s fastest 

growing privately held firm” for two years 

running—2001 and 2002, and continued 

recognition for sustained excellence. 

The ability to focus on specialized 

segments of the job market has resulted in 

exceptional customer and employee 

satisfaction. You’ll recognize the firm’s trade 

name Aureus Group and its affiliate Celebrity 

Staffing. Each division of the Aureus Group 

maintains its own locations, employees and 

specialized industry training. Excelling in just 

one niche of the job market gives its internal 

employees a feeling of confidence that results 

in customer satisfaction. 

Making the staffing experience stress free is 

the company’s overall commitment. Corporate 

clients of Aureus Group are offered rapid 

access to pre-screened, qualified candidates, 

allowing the client the freedom to focus on 

their own business issues. This commitment is 

further enhanced through the variety of flexible 

staffing options. 

The Aureus Group offers Managed Services, 

Direct Hire, and Contract and Temporary 

Staffing, along with the famous Match Hire ® or 

working interview. Clients depend upon Aureus 

Group to provide staff that is a perfect fit for 

each unique position, the first time…every time. 

Customer and employee satisfaction is the 

primary corporate mission. This is exemplified 

by the firm’s commitment to hiring the best 

available talent, supporting them with 

excellent training programs and offering them 

a comprehensive benefit program. The 

corporate work culture thus developed results 

in quality productivity and satisfied customers. 

This caring environment fosters an 

enthusiasm for community service. The 

company’s employees are dedicated to giving 

back. In the past two years, C&A and its nearly 

2,000 employees have given over $250,000 in 

support of numerous charities including the 

Red Cross, United Way, Multiple Sclerosis 

Society, Salvation Army and the Food Bank. 

Expansion and a dedication to excellence has 

been a constant theme over the years. Aureus 

Group is poised to continue its sizable expansion 

efforts. A new facility in west Omaha (Lakeside 

Shopping Center) is the home of 200 to 250 

additional personnel dedicated to professional 

staffing and customer satisfaction. The company 

anticipates additional growth in Omaha and in 

other major metropolitan areas across the nation. 

Aureus Group remains unchanged in their 

commitment to client companies, employees and 

candidates. They keep business simple. They 

listen, they prepare and they deliver results. 

For more information, please visit the C&A 

Industries Website at www.ca-industries.com.

In 1933 the Electrical Products Company 

(EPCO), a regional sign company, sent five of 

its Kansas City employees to open a branch in 

Omaha. Among the five were Elizabeth “Pat” 

Patterson, a widow who was to manage the 

office, and Dwight Hatcher, a sign painter 

who, in taking this more secure job, turned 

down an offer to seek his fortune in 

Hollywood with his friend Walt Disney. 

Despite the Depression, the operation 

prospered for two years. Then, in 1935, EPCO 

fired one of the five Omaha employees, and the 

remaining four resigned in protest. Shortly 

thereafter, these four, along with a local crane 

truck owner, founded Neon Products Company. 

Although the new company soon grew into 

a full-service custom sign shop, offering 

design, fabrication, installation and servicing 

of all types of signs, in its early years its focus 

was on large neon displays. 

In 1941, Pat and Dwight were married and 

shortly thereafter bought out the other three 

company founders. Five years later, Pat’s 

daughter, Elizabeth Wofford, began working at 

Neon Products. In 1963, Beth’s leadership 

abilities were recognized when she was elected 

president of the company, making her one of 

the very first female heads of a sign company in 

the country. 

Much of the success the company 

experienced during the next twenty years was 

the result of Beth’s ability to foster strong and 

lasting business relationships with the area’s 

leading architectural firms, contractors and 

business leaders. These contacts and a reputation 

for fabricating quality signs led to Neon Products 

being asked to provide some of the highest 

profile signs in Omaha, including those on The 

Woodmen Tower, Brandeis Department Stores, 

Commercial Federal, Hinky Dinky 

Supermarkets, Baker’s Supermarkets, AK-SAR- 

BEN, Union Pacific and First National Bank. 

Beth’s successes, however, were not limited 

to improving the company’s client base. In 

1976 she decided to give the company’s 

building a face-lift. With the assistance of Neon 

Products’ designers, a new exterior for the 

building was created utilizing sign industry 

materials for the fascia. Neon Products was 

awarded that year’s “Downtown Beautification 

Award” by the Chamber of Commerce as well 

NEON PRODUCTS COMPANY, INC. 

as the very prestigious “Corning Award” by the 

National Electrical Sign Association. 

Continuing the family tradition, Beth’s 

daughter, Dorsey Olson, joined the company in 

1976. Over the next sixteen years she worked 

variously as bookkeeper, estimator, and 

secretary/treasurer, and in 1992 was named 

president upon Beth’s retirement. In recognition 

of her dedication and contributions to her 

association and the industry, in 2002 Dorsey 

was the first female elected to the World Sign 

Associates Executive Board. She has also been 

president and/or a board member of three local 

executive and service clubs. To complete the 

family circle, Dorsey’s daughters—Gabrielle 

Ryan and Mikaela Olson—as well as Dorsey’s 

husband, Jim, have also become integral parts 

of the company. Immediate family members, 

however, are not the only ones who have made 

an impact on the company’s success. Over the 

years it has been fortunate to have many highly 

skilled employees, including those of the 

Hayden family, which has had four generations 

work at Neon Products. 

The company’s dedication to quality and its 

longevity were recently rewarded by the receipt 

of the 2001 Chamber of Commerce “Golden 

Spike Award.” As Dorsey put it in her 

acceptance speech, “We have a responsibility to 

maintain the legacy of Neon Products’ founders 

by continuing to offer the highest standards of 

quality and service in our industry.” 

✧ 

Neon Products is located at 1331 Park 

Avenue in Omaha. 


171

✧ 

Sixteenth Street looking south from Douglas 

Street about 1910. 




172

BUILDING A GREATER OMAHA 

Omaha’s construction, manufacturing, and 

energy industries shape tomorrow’s skyline, 

providing working and living space for 

Omahans and fuel for the State 

Modern Equipment Company.........................................................174 

Metropolitan Utilities District ......................................................176 

Allied Oil & Supply, Inc. and Allied Tire Company ..........................178 

Contractors Siding & Window Supply.............................................179 

Nebraska Machinery Company ......................................................180 

Omaha Print ..............................................................................181 

United Seeds, Inc........................................................................182 

Paxton & Vierling Steel ...............................................................183 


173

MODERN 

EQUIPMENT 

COMPANY 

✧ 

Above: Truckloads of Wizards loaded on 

Cuming Street in 1934. 

Below: The original Wizard Drum and 

Barrel Stand patented in 1907. 


174 

Modern Equipment Company, Inc. (MECO 

OMAHA) has been an important part of the 

Omaha landscape for nearly a century. MECO 

produces high quality material handling and 

storage equipment, from cantilever and pallet 

rack to drum stands and self dumping 

hoppers. Founded in 1907 by Clark A. 

Sigafoos, Modern Equipment Company began 

life as the Omaha Folding Machine Company, 

named after its key product. In addition to the 

Omaha Newspaper Folder, Sigafoos 

manufactured a drum and barrel stand called 

the Wizard. With the addition of a few 

improvements, the Wizard is still 

manufactured and sold by MECO today. 

MECO is proud of its history: an example of 

the early Wizard is on display in the MECO 

museum, located in MECO’s downtown 

Omaha campus. Also displayed in the 

museum are pictures of all the owners 

through the years, newspaper and magazine 

articles about the company, handmade models 

of many of the products made by MECO 

during the last century, historical 

photographs, and much more. 

Each succeeding president and owner has 

left his mark through the years–Sigafoos; 

Henry Haubens; Jake and Aaron Raznik, who 

changed the name to Modern Equipment 

Company; Gerry Cohn; Dick Johnson; and 

most recently his son, Rick Johnson. Since 

Dick Johnson purchased the company in 

1975, MECO has grown from one building to 

an urban campus covering nearly five 

downtown blocks. Dick Johnson built this 

company with the help of his son, Rick, now 

president and CEO, and a team of devoted 

long-term employees. As a result of the work 

by this dedicated team, MECO has shown 

continuous growth year after year since the 

Johnson family took control. Modern 

Equipment Company now bears little 

resemblance to that small, earlier firm. In fact,

the Wizard is the only surviving product from 

the original line. 

The team of long-term employees 

continues to grow. A combination of the 

family atmosphere, pride in product and 

service, and the security offered by a company 

that doesn’t believe in layoffs and promotes 

largely from within contributes to low 

turnover. In fact, when discussing an 

employee who had been with the company 

thirteen years, President Rick Johnson 

referred to him as “a newcomer.” 

What’s the secret to the company’s success? 

According to Rick Johnson, it’s simple. “Treat 

the customer as you would like to be treated 

yourself. It’s not just lip service—we do 

it.” That approach, coupled with the company 

philosophy of “Quality, Integrity and Service,” 

has ensured that MECO products can 

be found in all kinds of warehouses and 

storage facilities. 

But warehouses and storage facilities aren’t 

the only place you’ll find MECO products. 

In 1996 MECO was the exclusive provider 

of racing shell boat rack for the Olympics 

held in Atlanta, Georgia. College and 

professional rowing teams across the country 

also use MECO boat rack to store their 

equipment—usually custom-painted in the 

team colors. 

This willingness to customize products 

to meet specific customer needs is nothing 

new at MECO. In fact, entire product lines 

have been developed in response to customer 

demand. In 1993 MECO began producing 

self dumping hoppers in response to a 

customer request and a persistent sales team 

member who saw an opportunity for more 

growth. Now there is a newly erected facility 

on the MECO campus entirely dedicated 

to the efficient production of the company’s 

first-rate, leak-proof hoppers. 

How do these traditional values— 

commitment to quality, integrity, and service; 

knowledgeable sales staff; a sense of history; a 

sense of family—play out in the world of 

modern business? Pretty well, as it turns out. 

MECO is even able to advertise—truthfully— 

that it never misses a promised shipping date. 

As President Johnson points out, no one 

wants to be part of a missed shipping date. 

When a neighborhood-wide power outage 

occurred in 1994, breaking a string of 2,282 

consecutive workdays without a miss, 

workers were in the plant with flashlights 

pulling key orders for customers who couldn’t 

afford to wait one more day. Even the phone 

is answered with “MECO OMAHA—we never 

miss.” And if the staff has anything to say 

about it, MECO will never miss. 

✧ 

Above: MECO’s quality products are 

regularly shipped to all fifty states, Canada, 

Mexico, and most “Fortune 500” companies. 

Left: Self Dumping Hoppers manufactured 

by MECO since 1993 are one of the 

company’s fastest growing product lines. 


175

METROPOLITAN 

UTILITIES 

DISTRICT 

✧ 

Icing refrigerator rail cars was a major 

source of income for the M.U.D. Ice 

Department. In the 1930s, District 

employees made this machine, which 

crushed three-hundred-pound cakes of ice, 

to load train cars. 


176 

Omaha’s Metropolitan Utilities District has a 

rich history, rooted in the hopes and dreams of 

early civic “pioneers” who seemingly foresaw 

Omaha’s growth from a bustling frontier town 

into the burgeoning hub of business and 

industry we know today. They knew for a city to 

grow and prosper, it needed a reliable source of 

drinking water and fire protection. 

In 1879 those leaders began planning for a 

pumping station and water distribution system. 

A private company built and operated the first 

plant on the banks of the Missouri River, with a 

reservoir at Walnut Hill. However, it soon 

became clear these facilities would not be 

adequate, and planning began for a larger plant. 

The Florence Water Treatment Plant was 

completed and placed in service in 1889. 

During the ensuing years, frequent 

ownership and management changes, plus 

public outcry over high water rates and poor 

service, spawned a movement for public 

ownership of the system. After a lengthy legal 

battle, the city purchased the system in 1912. 

The next year, the Nebraska Legislature 

chartered the Metropolitan Water District as a 

subdivision of the State and the District as we 

know it today was born. 

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth 

centuries, gas service made inroads in Omaha. In 

1868 a private company sold gas as a fuel for 

streetlights and later, for ranges. However, when 

the time came to renew the city’s franchise with 

the gas company, citizens who had grown 

accustomed to the benefits of public utility 

ownership voted down the renewal. In 1919 the 

Legislature gave the District control of the gas 

system. In 1923 the District’s name was changed 

to the Metropolitan Utilities District (M.U.D.). 

Since then, M.U.D. has provided reliable and 

safe natural gas and water service to the Omaha 

area. The utility now serves more than 177,000 

water customers and 190,000 natural gas 

customers in the Omaha metropolitan area. 

As a public utility owned by its customers, the 

District’s mission is to provide customers with 

safe, reliable service at the lowest possible cost. 

By comparison, private utilities must maximize 

returns to shareholders. In effect, the District’s 

customers are its shareholders. Revenues in 

excess of operating costs are reinvested into the 

company to improve services, or returned to the 

customers in the form of reduced rates. From 

1997 through 1999, the District returned $13.5 

million to customer-owners in reduced gas rates.

M.U.D.’s residential natural gas rates are 

twenty-two percent below the national average. 

Water rates also are among the lowest in the 

Midwest. The annual cost of water for the 

average residential customer using 110,000 

gallons is only $162.09 (2000-2003). 

Public ownership also gives customer-owners 

a voice in operations. An elected, seven-member 

board of directors, meeting monthly, governs the 

District. All meetings are open to the public. 

Throughout the coldest winters, M.U.D. 

ensures an ample supply of natural gas, buying 

gas from a portfolio of U.S. and Canadian 

suppliers. By buying large volumes of gas from 

numerous suppliers and regions, the District 

ensures reliability while negotiating the most 

economical prices. 

Enhancing the savings are a liquefied 

natural gas plant and two propane plants that 

provide “peakshaving” supplies for peak 

heating days. Annually, these facilities save 

customer-owners $7.5 million in pipeline fees 

that otherwise would be required to reserve 

pipeline space for transporting additional gas. 

M.U.D. also provides a reliable supply of safe, 

high quality drinking water. The District pumps 

an average of ninety-seven million gallons per 

day, with a maximum daily capacity of 234 

million gallons, from two of its water treatment 

plants and several peakshaving wells. Fire 

protection also is an important service, with 

nearly twenty-three thousand hydrants 

maintained throughout the M.U.D. service area. 

M.U.D.’s treated water surpasses state and 

federal quality standards for drinking water. The 

District performs at least three hundred monthly 

tests for bacteria alone, plus tests for minerals 

and other substances. Although not mandated, 

tests also are conducted for parasites such as 

cryptosporidium and giardia. Whatever new 

standards may be required in the future, M.U.D. 

will meet these standards to ensure the quality 

customer-owners expect. 

The District continues to meet the water 

needs of the growing community by planning 

for a third treatment plant. The Platte West 

Project, anticipated to be operating in 2008, 

will add another one hundred million gallons 

to the District’s daily pumping capacity. 

Demand for natural gas also will grow as the 

District explores new uses for it, such as 

natural gas vehicles and fuel cells for electricity 

generation. The District supplies gas for 

fuel cells at First National Bank of Omaha’s 

data processing center, the world’s first, 

multi-celled, paralleled, fuel cell application, 

generating eight hundred kilowatts of clean, 

reliable electrical power. 

Through innovation and commitment to 

quality and service, the Metropolitan Utilities 

District will continue to meet the changing 

needs of customer-owners while capitalizing 

upon the benefits of public utility ownership. 

✧ 

Above: Transporting twenty-five pounds to 

her home was no problem for this woman. 

Two 300-pound cakes are on the dock 

behind her. M.U.D. began selling ice in 

1918, and by 1930, the District distrubuted 

“MUNY” ice from sixty jitney stations. 

Below: The Florence Water Works 

maintained its own cement mixer used for 

construction of coal pits, basin repair, etc., 

in the early 1900s. 


177

& 

ALLIED OIL 

SUPPLY, INC. 

ALLIED TIRE 

COMPANY 

Conrad Heinson is the visionary CEO of 

Allied Oil & Supply, Inc. In 1958, Heinson, a 

salesman for Interstate Oil in Kansas City, 

learned that his territory in Nebraska and 

Iowa would be dropped from Interstate’s 

service area. Recognizing opportunity where 

others might see failure, he decided to service 

the area himself by starting his own business. 

Allied first opened its doors at 1024 Dodge, 

using Ford Storage facilities. Within a year, 

they added a facility in Des Moines, and four 

years later, Kansas City. In the early years they 

focused strictly on lubricants and filters. 

Products were shipped by common carrier 

and stored in a public warehouse. 

The year 1965 found the company at 404 

Pierce, venturing into what would become the 

second and third jewels in the Allied crown: 

Allied Tire Company and Allied Construction 

Specialties. Heinson developed a network of 

retail tire outlets spreading from Omaha to as 

far as San Diego, California by 1968. Allied 

Construction Specialties was also established 

during this period, providing concrete 

accessories and supplies to building 

contractors in a hundred-mile radius of Omaha 

for many years. This portion of the business 

was sold in 2000. 

It was in 1975 that Allied took the lead in 

providing oil storage and dispensing 

equipment to its customers. Oil is purchased 

in bulk from several major oil companies, 

repackaged at Allied facilities, and distributed 

to end users throughout the Central United 

States. Allied was also a leader in distributing 

original equipment lubricants for Cummins 

and Caterpillar as well as marketing their own 

private label “Allied Premium Lubricants.” 

Allied has experienced substantial growth in 

oil and truck tire sales during the last twentyfive 

years. The corporate headquarters moved to 

its present location at 2209 South Twenty-fourth 

in 1975. The Kitty Clover potato chip factory 

across the street was purchased in 1991 for 

additional truck tire storage. In 1998, Allied 

opened a state-of-the art Michelin Retread plant 

at Twenty-first and Martha, which produces over 

three hundred and fifty truck retreads a day. 

Allied provides services and products in an 

eight state area from five branch locations: 

Omaha, Kansas City, Joplin, Sioux Falls, and 

Des Moines. Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, 

Oklahoma, Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, and 

South Dakota are all active territory for Allied 

sales. With 215 employees and 125 licensed 

vehicles constantly plying the roads, Allied’s 

colorful black and yellow “bumblebee” 

tankers are a common sight on the highways. 

Both of Heinson’s daughters, Tamara 

Heinson-Fowler and Debra Heinson-Thiesfeld, 

have been active in the business since 1979, 

and now serve as executive vice presidents. 

Allied Oil & Supply, Inc. can be found on the 

Internet at www.allied-oil.com. 


178

A good business begins with the idea that 

money can be earned by selling quality 

products and service. The Brewers, Bill and 

Lana, have built a business based on that 

assumption. Using his experience in the home 

improvement industry gained some forty 

years ago as a young man in Hawaii, the 

Brewers home improvement business grew 

to provide products and services in three 

states, doing business as Contractor’s Siding 

& Tools Supply and Hi-Tech Windows 

Systems, selling windows, siding, guttering 

and related tools. 

Bill’s entry into business began in 1967, as 

Brewer Home Improvements, working as a 

siding contractor. Omaha had begun its 

inexorable growth to the west and in 1975 a 

tornado struck, wreaking havoc on Omaha. 

This created an enormous demand for home 

repair. Like many Americans wanting to be 

self-employed, Bill took advantage of the 

opportunity and made the successful 

transition from installer and contractor to 

salesman and wholesale provider. With Lana 

running the first office at home as Millard 

Siding and Repair, they soon needed more 

space and opened a warehouse at 1346 South 

Twentieth Street under the name of 

Contractors Siding and Tool Supply. 

Presently, Contractors maintains offices in 

Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, and Sioux 

Falls. Growth has been steady. From 1980 to 

1985, business was conducted at 2319 North 

Eighteenth Street. The Grand Island 

warehouse was opened in 1983 and Lincoln 

in 1984. With business booming, Contractors 

purchased a fifteeen-thousand-square-foot 

facility in 1985 and moved its corporate office 

to 2031 St. Mary’s, where they stayed for 

seventeen years. They also acquired a storm 

window and door company at Forty-fifth 

and Cumming, which soon joined them at 

Twentieth and St. Mary’s. They began 

fabricating a top quality vinyl replacement 

window under the name Hi-Tech Window 

Systems. In 1986 the Sioux Falls warehouse 

opened and, in 1996, the Denver warehouse 

was placed in operation. Although additional 

space was added at the St. Mary’s location in 

1998, the Brewers moved west in 2002, to 

their present location at 4111 South Ninetyfourth 

Street. Also in 2002, Contractors 

Siding and Tool Supply closed the Denver 

store, ceased production as Hi-Tech Window 

Systems and changed the business name to 

Contractors Siding and Window Supply. 

Contractors Siding and Window Supply 

employs more than 40 employees and 

has annual revenues in excess of $7 million. 

Their wholesale catalogue features at least three 

brands of vinyl siding, state-of-the-art 

windows, doors, guttering, and numerous 

tools. With 2 tractors, 11 trailers, and local 

delivery trucks, they are constantly on the road, 

shipping and delivering products. Contractors 

Siding and Window Supply can be found on 

the Internet at www.contractorssiding.com. 

CONRACTORS 

SIDING & 

WINDOW 

SUPPLY 

A DIVISION OF WEB, INC. 


179

NEBRASKA 

MACHINERY 

COMPANY 

✧ 

Above: Nebraska Machinery Company was 

founded in 1938 by J. J. Swanson and 

W. A. Norris. 

Below: A rendering of the current Nebraska 

Machinery Company facilities at 11002 

Sapp Brothers Drive in Omaha. 


180 

J. J. (Joe) Swanson and W. A. Norris founded 

Nebraska Machinery in 1938. Swanson was 

a highway engineer for the Wyoming 

Department of Transportation and Norris 

worked as a Wyoming general contractor. The 

Great Depression had yet to loosen its grip, and 

both men saw the machinery business as a 

good way to make a living as Roosevelt’s WPA 

programs were moving dirt throughout the 

country, building dams, highways, courthouses, 

swimming pools and federal office buildings. 

Swanson purchased his partner’s interest 

ten years later. Upon his death, his two sons, 

J. L. (Jerry) and J. D. (Duane) Swanson, took 

over the helm. Jerry started in 1953 as a 

sales/promotion coordinator and is now chairman 

of the Board of Directors. Duane joined 

the company in 1959, and was elected president 

in 1992. Both men live in Omaha. 

Nebraska Machinery is the Caterpillar dealer 

for the State of Nebraska. In the early years they 

sold only Caterpillar equipment, but have since 

expanded their offering to include other manufacturers. 

The company has 410 workers at 

seven locations and provides a wide range of 

services. Gone is the singular focus on earthmovers. 

In 1978 a new facility was built in North 

Platte. 1983 saw the acquisition of Missouri 

Valley Machinery Company serving Northeast 

Nebraska. With additional stores in Omaha and 

Norfolk, Nebraska Machinery opted to adopt 

Omaha as their corporate headquarters. Thirty 

counties were added in Southeast Nebraska with 

the addition of stores in Lincoln and Doniphan, 

giving them a presence in ninety-two Nebraska 

counties. They also serve Council Bluffs and 

Pottawattamie County in Iowa. 

By providing sales and service second to 

none, Nebraska Machinery experienced phenomenal 

growth. Products and services were 

added until it became necessary to divide into 

five divisions: the lift truck division is now 

Nebraska Lift Systems, the engine division is 

High Plains Power Systems, and the heavy 

equipment division retained its name of 

Nebraska Machinery Company. Nebraska 

Rents handles rental needs and the company’s 

agricultural division offers agricultural equipment. 

All five divisions are represented at 

branch locations in Lincoln, Scottsbluff, 

North Platte, Norfolk, and Doniphan. 

As the business has grown, so has the need 

for space. Nebraska Machinery recently 

moved into a 170,000-square-foot facility at 

11002 Sapp Brothers Drive, conveniently 

located at I-80 and Highway 370. It is a stateof-the-art 

facility with concrete heated floors, 

28,000-square-foot parts warehouse, 20,400- 

square-foot heavy equipment service area, 

6,729-square-foot specialized repair area, 

11,500-square-foot industrial engine area, 

and 16,000-square-foot truck repair area, all 

designed and wired with the future in mind 

and serving our customers’ needs.

There are few Omaha businesses with the 

pedigree of Omaha Print. In 1858, nine years 

before Nebraska statehood, E. F. Schneider and 

H. J. Brown unloaded a small printing press on 

the wilderness banks of the Missouri River. 

After hauling it into Omaha, they established a 

tabloid called the Nebraska Republican, a newspaper 

aimed at promoting the causes of the 

Republican Party. Nebraska at this time was a 

frontier state of 12,000, inhabited by fur 

traders, Indians, gold seekers and those traveling 

west along the Oregon Trail. James 

Buchanan was president and Omaha was the 

capital of the Nebraska Territory. 

The Nebraska Republican was the 

cornerstone of what later became the Omaha 

Printing Company. The first edition was 

printed May 5, 1858. The paper changed 

hands many times, and by 1865 it had 

doubled its circulation and was called the 

Omaha Daily Republican. In 1884 it branched 

out to form the Omaha Republican Printing 

Company. In 1890 the daily paper was 

retired, Republican was eliminated from the 

name, and the business became the now 

familiar Omaha Printing Company. 

In 1909, Frank Johnson, a long time 

employee, was chosen to pilot Omaha Printing 

Company. In 1913 he received permission 

from George Joslyn to erect a building at 

Thirteenth and Farnam and built a six-story 

building capable of handling the tons of heavy 

equipment and paper used in the firm’s 

operation. Johnson transformed a small 

commercial printing company into a highly 

successful business and became a powerful 

political force in the Omaha community. 

During the ensuing years, the company 

expanded into office supplies, stationery, 

business forms and furniture. The geographical 

territories for customers also expanded to 

banks and county governments throughout 

Nebraska and the Midwest. 

In 1974, then-President Harvey Hayes Jr. 

developed a plan that would be the beginning 

of Omaha Print, as we know it today. A fiftythousand-square-foot 

plant was built in the 

newly developed Foxley Industrial Park at 

Forty-seventh and F Street. It was an efficient 

open architecture manufacturing plant and 

office facility, and one of the first all-electric 

manufacturing facilities built in Omaha. 

In the late eighties computers and new 

technology began to revolutionize the printing 

industry. Newly appointed president, 

Steve Hayes, continued to refashion the company 

to meet the changing needs of customers. 

By 1999 they had implemented 100% 

digital workflow processes and were offering 

complete fulfillment services. In 2000 they 

installed the area’s newest heat set web press, 

which allowed them to service customers on a 

regional and national basis. Their vision is to 

help companies “Get there. Faster” in any way 

related to your company’s marketing efforts. 

Old fashion values that still work in their 

third century of business. 

Omaha Print can be found on the Web at 

www.omahaprint.com. 

OMAHA PRINT 

✧ 

Above: Omaha Print’s current headquarters 

at 4700 F Street. 

Below: Omaha Print City Championship 

Team with Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. 


181

UNITED 

SEEDS, INC. 

United Seeds is a truly historic business with 

roots extending back to 1887, founded as 

Nebraska Seed Company by Henry Windheim. 

The 1208 Jones Street location served the 

company until 1944 when it moved to its 

present location at 7500 Burlington in Ralston. 

Nebraska Seed was purchased by John 

Nicolson of Shenandoah, Iowa, in the 1920s. 

Nicolson had visions of becoming a leading 

international seed company and led Nebraska 

Seed to be a pioneer in hybrid corn seed as well 

as popcorn, alfalfas and a wide range of turf 

and field grass seeds. The company also 

controlled Henry Field Nurseries. 

Nicolson’s grand vision was not a financial 

success, however, and Nebraska Seed had 

reduced its scope of operations at the time of 

his death in 1957. Shortly thereafter Arthur 

Berry, along with partners William and James 

Fitzgerald, purchased the turf and field seed 

operations of Nebraska Seed and renamed the 

company United Seeds, Inc. 

United Seeds was to dramatically change 

again in the next decades. Through the 1950s 

and 1960s United Seeds remained one of the 

largest harvesters and sellers of Kentucky 

bluegrass, which grew wild. The bluegrass 

harvest would begin in southern Missouri and 

proceed north until the roads ended in Canada. 

Production of top quality seed was soon to shift, 

however, to the ideal climate of the Pacific 

Northwest. Soon thereafter the production of 

nationally promoted varieties began. 

United Seeds adapted by changing into the 

business it is today, a regional wholesaler/ 

distributor of turf grass, native grass and 

wildflower seeds. A diverse customer base has 

grown and United Seeds opened a Des Moines 

warehouse and sales operation in 1993. The 

Berry family consolidated its ownership 

position in 1986 when Richard Berry returned 

to manage the company. Berry and partner, 

John Jones, controls the business today. United 

Seeds has nine employees and serves a 

customer base of about 1,000. 

United Seeds has a reputation of high ethical 

standards, excellent service, and an exceptional 

product. They are known for a variety of 

proprietary mixes and blends, but always 

accommodate custom blends specified by the 

customer. Antelope brand is the trademark they 

have made famous and it is a guarantee of 

superior quality. Unlike most companies, 

United routinely takes the extra step of 

“certifying” its mixes and blends to ensure the 

customer gets exactly what is specified on the 

label. This insistence on quality and high levels 

of performance has resulted in consumer 

satisfaction and repeat business. 


182

PAXTON & 

VIERLING 

STEEL 

It is impossible to look at the Omaha Skyline 

without acknowledging the contribution of 

Paxton and Vierling Steel. Virtually any 

structure of importance—buildings, hundreds 

of bridges and highway overpasses, and railroad 

bridges—were built with their steel products. 

The Civic Auditorium, Mutual of Omaha, the 

Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum, Union Pacific Center, the 

Zorinsky Federal Building, the Woodmen 

Tower, and most recently, the First National 

Bank Tower and portions of the new convention 

center are only a few of the notable buildings 

constructed with their steel columns and beams. 

Founded in 1885, with only thirty 

employees, by Omaha business pioneer 

William Paxton, along with Chicago brothers 

A.J. and Robert Vierling, Paxton & Vierling Iron 

Works was the primary source of iron and steel 

in Omaha. By the turn of the century, the 

company became Paxton & Vierling Steel 

Company. Omaha’s historic Jobbers Canyon 

near the Missouri River, nearly a square mile of 

towering red brick warehouses and 

wholesalers, was built with PVS iron and steel. 

In 1930 the Chicago Vierlings sent 

employee Fred Owen to Omaha to help 

manage PVS. With the stock market crash of 

’29 and the ensuing Great Depression, Owen 

was able to purchase the Vierling interest in 

the business. Fred brought his son Edward F. 

Owen into the company, who rose to become 

chairman. In 1979 the reins were handed to 

his eldest son, Robert E. Owen, who is 

currently president of Paxton & Vierling Steel 

and chairman of Owen Industries, which is 

headquartered in Omaha. 

Today, as part of Owen Industries, Paxton & 

Vierling Steel is one of the primary steel 

fabricators in the world. It employs more than 

400 people, and annual sales are in excess of 

$100 million. It produced more than ten 

thousand tons of structural steel for the Quezon 

Power Project in the Philippines and is 

currently at work producing equivalent 

tonnage for a nuclear waste facility in 

Washington state. But PVS is only one of 

Owen Industries’ divisions. A large network 

of steel service centers and manufacturing 

plants meet stringent production and schedule 

requirements. Advanced technologies and stateof-the-art 

equipment is standard in processing 

steel for the manufacturing, agriculture, 

railroad, and construction industries. 

The Owen Foundation, established in 

1957, has endowed $4.5 million to 

scholarship funds and more than 50 

community groups. The Foundation and 

Owen family have invested generously in 

Omaha and Nebraska by building facilities at 

Mahoney State Park, and Omaha’s Henry 

Doorly Zoo as well as helping renovate the 

Omaha Community Playhouse. They donated 

money to build Camp Owen at Platte River 

State Park, and have nurtured the cultural 

scene in Omaha by supporting Opera Omaha, 

Boys and Girls Clubs of Omaha, Boy Scouts, 

and the Omaha Millennium Lights Display. 

✧ 

Above: Paxton & Vierling Iron Works and 

its employees, 1886. 

Below: The forty-five-story First National 

Tower in Omaha, 2001. 


183

✧ 

The Ak-Sar-Ben Coronation program 

from 1896. 




184

INDEX 

# 

311, 87 

355th Infantry Regiment, 52 

A 

“Above All Others on a Stream,” 16 

Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum, 57, 64, 69, 78-79, 

85-88 

Ak-Sar-Ben Field, 37, 70 

Allen, Thomas, 15 

Allen, William, 15 

Allied Slate, 48, 55-56 

Alzaldo, “Subby”, 82 

Ambrose, Stephen, 22 

American Expeditionary Forces, 52 

American Federation of Labor, 42 

American Fur Company, 10 

American Gramaphone Records, 85, 87 

Ammons, Cary, 83 

Anzaldo, Sebastian, 91 

Apache, The, 36 

Armour Meat Packing Company, 31, 74 

Armstrong, George Robert, 91 

Astaire, Fred, 61 

Astor, Jacob, 10-11 

Atkinson, Henry, 9 

B 

Barker Hotel, 34 

Baum, Frank L., 43 

Bechel, William F., 91 

Belden, David Douglas, 91 

Bellevue, 11-12, 15-17, 24, 70 

Bemis Foundation/Alternative 

Worksite, 87 

Bemis Park, 49 

Bemis, George Pickering, 91 

Benson High School, 68 

Benson, 33, 36, 45 

Bibins, George, 83 

Big Elk, 11, 16 

Big Sioux River, 7 

Blackbird, 8 

Blackstone Hotel, 75 

Blizzard of ’75, 78 

Blumkin, Rose, 72 

Bockscar, 70 

Bodmer, Karl, 10-11, 87 

Boozer, Bob, 86 

Boyd’s Opera House, 34 

Boyd’s Theater, 34 

Boyd, James E., 34, 91 

Boyle, D. Michael “Mike”, 82, 91 

Boyle, Mike, 82 

Boys Town, 52-53, 55, 67, 73 

Boys Town, 53, 62, 78 

Brandeis Department Store, 74 

Brewer, William M., 91 

Briggs, Clinton, 91 

Broatch, William J., 91 

Brokaw, Tom, 70 

Brown, Charles H., 91 

Brown, Mildred, 77 

Brown, William, 56-57, 76 

Brown, William D., 15 

Brown's Ferry Company, 15, 16 

Bryan, William Jennings, 42-45, 47 

Buffalo Bill, 36 

Buffett, Warren, 73, 86 

Burlington Railroad, 27 

Burlington Station, 61, 67 

Butler, Dan Bernard, 91 

C 

Cabanne, Jean-Pierre, 7, 9-11 

Café de Melody, 62 

Cahn, Albert, 56 

Caldwell, Smith Samuel, 82, 91 

Callinger, Walt, 82 

Calloway, Bertha, 77 

Candlewood, 70 

Capitol City, 24 

Carson, Johnny, 70 

Carter Lake, 42, 49 

Carter Lake Club, 49 

Carter Lake Club House, 42 

Catholic Voice, 84 

Cavanaugh, John, 82 

Center for Aging, Alzheimer’s Disease and 

Neurodegenerative Disorders, 90 

Center Mall, 74 

Central Pacific Railroad, 23, 25 

Central Park Mall, 90 

Chambers, Ernie, 78 

Chase, Champion S., 91 

Chicago and Northwestern Railroad, 31 

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 

58, 61 

Chief Theater, 67 

Child Saving Institute, 49 

Children’s Hospital, 90 

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day 

Saints, 12, 90 

Civil War, 15, 21-24, 33, 41 

Clark, William, 8-9, 18 

Clarkson College, 88 

Clarkson, Robert, 21 

Cody, Buffalo Bill, 87 

College of St. Mary, 88 

College World Series, 75, 85-86 

Columbia Fur Company, 10 

Columbus, 23, 41, 78 

Committee of Five Thousand, 48 

ConAgra, 73, 90 

Concerned Citizens for Omaha, 88 

Congress of Industrial Organizations, 42 

Conley, Fred L., 82, 91 

Coronation and Ball, 70, 184 

Council Bluff, 9 

Council Bluffs, 12, 15, 22, 26, 49, 71, 78, 

85 

Council Bluffs Street Railway Company, 

45 

Courtland Beach, 49 

Cox Cable, 84 

Cozzens Hotel, 23 

Crawford, Bruce, 87 

Credit Foncier of America, 23 

Credit Mobilier of America, 23 

Creech, Jimmy, 89 

Creighton Preparatory High School, 79 

Creighton University, 24, 77-78, 86, 88, 

90 

Creighton, Bridget, 19 

Creighton, Edward, 19-21, 23 

Creighton, James, 19-20 

Creighton, John, 19-20 

Creighton, Joseph, 19 

Creighton, Mary Lucretia Wareham, 19,21 

Crete, 41 

Crook, General George, 27-28 


185

Cross of Gold, 43, 45 

Crossroads, 70 

Crossroads Mall, 75 

Crouch, Eric, 86 

Cudahy Meat Packing Company, 31, 74 

Cuming, Thomas B., 17 

Cunningham, Glenn, 71, 91 

Cunningham, Robert G., 82, 91 

Curtis Horse, 21 

Curtis, Glen, 37 

Curtiss, Elden F., 89 

Cushing, Richard C., 91 

Cut-Off Lake, 49 

D 

Dahlman, James C., 46-48, 55, 57, 91 

Daily Record, 85 

Dakota, The, 7 

Daub, Hal, 82, 91 

Davis, Chip, 78, 85, 87 

De Porres Club, 77 

De Smet, Pierre, 10, 11 

Dennison, Tom, 46-48, 57, 61 

Department of the Platte, 28 

Desdunes, Dan, 51 

Desert Dome, 87 

Dissected Till Plains, 7 

Dodge, General Grenville M., 24 

Douglas County Historical Society, 87 

Douglas County Hospital, 60 

Douglas County Post-Gazette, 85 

Dreamland Ballroom, 62 

Dundee, 33, 41, 68 

Dundy, Elmer J., 27-30 

Durant, Thomas “Doc”, 23, 25 

Durham Western Heritage Museum, 26, 

87 

Dusek, Emil, 72 

Dusek, Ernie, 72 

Dusek, Joe, 72 

Dusek, Rudy, 72 

Dust Bowl, 64 

Dworak, James, 91 

E 

Easter Tornado, 48-49 

Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, 88 

Elk City, 36 

Elkhorn, 24, 73, 81 

Elkhorn River, 7, 61 

Elmwood Park, 41, 60 


186 

Embassy Suites Omaha Downtown/Old 

Market, 90 

Engineers Cantonment, 9 

Enola Gay, 70 

Eppley Airfield, 91 

Eugene Leahy Park Mall, 81, 90 

Everleigh, Ada, 38 

Everleigh, Minna, 38 

F 

Fahey, Mike, 82, 91 

Father Flanagan’s Boys Band, 51 

Federal Writer’s Project, 41 

Firehouse Dinner Theater, 76 

First National Bank of Omaha, 21 

First National Bank Tower, 86, 90 

First Nebraska Volunteers, 21 

First United Methodist Church, 89 

Flanagan, Edward J., 51-53, 55, 67 

Flood of 1952, 70 

Florence, 7, 11-12, 15, 17, 50, 90 

Fontenelle, Lucien, 11 

Fontenelle, New Moon, 11 

Fontenelle, Shongaska/Logan, 11-12, 

16-17 

Fort Atkinson, 9, 10, 11 

Fort Calhoun, 9 

Fort Crook, 67 

Fort Kearny, 20, 24 

Fort Laramie Treaty, 27 

Fort Omaha, 22, 28-29, 42, 49, 52-53, 87 

Fort Omaha Balloon Training School, 

52-53 

Fort Randall Dam, 71 

Fourteenth Amendment, 28 

Franklin Community Federal Credit 

Union, 83 

Fremont, 78 

French Company, The, 10 

Furstenberg, Roy, 37 

G 

Gallup Organization, 90 

General Crook House, 29, 87 

German-American Home, 41, 52 

Geronimo, 36 

Gibson, Bob, 86 

Gibson, William, 78 

Gilmore, Addison R., 91 

Girls and Boys Town, 55 

Girls and Boys Town National Research 

Hospital, 90 

Glen L. Martin Aircraft Company, 70 

Godfather’s Pizza, 75 

Golden Spike Days, 62, 78 

Goldstein Chapman, 74 

Gomez, Edward, 70 

Goodman, Johnny, 60 

Gouttierre, Thomas, 89 

Grace College, 88 

Grace University, 88 

Grain Dealers Association, 44 

Grand Island, 67, 78 

Grand Opera House, 38 

Grande Olde Players Theater, 85 

Grant County, 67 

Great Depression, 37, 42, 57 

Great Plains Black Museum, 77 

Greater America Exposition, 38 

Greek Riot, 45 

Greene, Bob, 92 

Guide To The Cornhusker State, 92 

H 

H. C. Nutt, 22 

Hagel, Chuck, 82 

Hanscom Park, 43, 61 

Hanscom, Andrew, 43 

Harper, Mike, 73 

Harper’s Bazaar, 46 

Harper’s Magazine, 34 

Hastings, 67 

Havlicek, Joseph, 64 

Heartland of America Park, 91 

Henningson, Durham & Richardson, 71, 

72 

Henry Doorly Zoo, 87 

Herndon House, 17-18, 24 

Hilton Hotel Omaha, 38, 90 

Hiroshima, Japan, 67, 70 

Hoagland, Peter, 82 

Holdredge, 67 

Hoop It Up, 87 

Hopkins, John H., 91 

Hot Shops, 87 

House of Hope, 50 

Hummel Park, 11 

Huntsman Echo, 19 

I 

Indian Congress, 36 

Indian Territory, 27

Indian Wars, 38, 52, 87 

Insurance Building, 58 

Irene, 22 

Irvington, 45 

Irvington Hotel, 45 

Iowa, The, 7-8 

J 

Jefferson, Thomas, 8 

Jewell Building, 62 

Jewish Community Center, 41 

Jewish Press, 85 

Johnson, Hadley, 12 

Johnson, J. A. C., 29 

Johnson, Joe Ellis, 15-16, 19 

Jones, A. D., 15 

Joslyn Art Museum, 10, 57, 87 

Joslyn, Sarah, 57 

Joubert, John, 83 

K 

Kanesville, 12 

Kansas City Royals, 86 

Kansas River, 9 

Kansas Territory, 15 

Kansas-Nebraska Act, 15 

Kearney, 20, 41, 78 

Keen, Thomas E., 21 

Kennedy, Benjamin Eli Barnet, 91 

Kerrey, Bob, 82 

KETV, 70, 84 

KFAB, 73, 84 

Kimball, Thomas R., 35 

King, Lawrence, 83 

Kinnick, Nile, 68 

KKAR, 84 

KMTV, 70, 84 

Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben, 34-35, 41, 70 

KOIL, 84 

Korean War, 70 

Kountze Park, 49 

KPTM, 84 

Kratville, Bill, 73 

Krug, Frederick, 32, 45 

KXVO, 84 

KYNE, 84 

L 

Landmark Center, 90 

Lapidus, Harry, 61 

Latey, Henry, 19 

Leahy, Eugene A., 82, 90-91 

Leeman, Charles W., 91 

Legislative Bill 662, 88 

Leighton, George, 46 

Leo A. Daly, 72 

Lewis and Clark Landing, 91 

Lewis, Meriwether, 8-9, 18 

Lied Jungle, 87 

Lincoln, 16, 25, 67, 82, 86 

Lincoln, Abraham, 19, 23, 25 

Lisa, Manuel, 9, 10 

Little, Earl, 57 

Lloyd, Harold, 61 

Lone Tree Ferry, 15 

Long, Stephen, 9 

Love, Preston, 62 

Lowe, Jesse, 16, 91 

Lozier Imax Theater, 87 

M 

MacArthur, Douglas, 55 

Mad Dads, 83 

Malcolm X, 57, 77 

Mallet Brothers, 8 

Mannheim Steamroller, 85, 87 

Markoe, John P., 76-77 

Martin Bomber Plant, 67-68 

McCollister, John Y., 82 

McKelvie, Samuel, 65 

McKinley, William, 35-36, 43 

McShane, John, 30-31 

Mead, 67 

Medium Magazine, 85 

Megeath, James G., 43 

Memorial Park, 78 

Mercer, Samuel D., 30, 75 

Merchant Bank, 34 

Metcalfe, Richard Lee, 91 

Metropolitan Community College, 88 

Metz Brewery, 26 

Meyer, Julius, 21 

MGM, 53 

Midland’s Business Journal, 85 

Miles, Nelson, 36 

Millard, 21, 24, 70 

Millard Bank, 34 

Millard Hotel, 34 

Millard, Ezra, 21, 91 

Millard, Joseph H., 91 

Miller, George, 17 

Miller, Lorin, 91 

Missouri Pacific Railroad, 27, 61 

Missouri River, 7-13, 15, 17-18, 

22-24, 32, 38, 41-42, 61, 70-71, 82, 

84-85, 91 

Missouri, The, 9, 15 

Mitain, 9 

Moores, Frank E., 91 

Morehead, John, 49 

Morgan, P. J., 82 

Morgan, Paul J. (“PJ”), Jr., 91 

Mormons, The, 12, 15, 90 

Mulqueen, James, 71 

Murphy, Patrick F., 91 

Music Box, 62 

Music Masters, 64 

Mutual of Omaha, 15, 72 

Myers, John, 15 

N 

N. D. Munson, 22 

Nagasaki, Japan, 67, 70 

Natelson’s, 74 

Neal, Ed, 94 

Nebraska City Conservative, 38 

Nebraska Clothing Company, 74 

Nebraska College of Business, 88 

Nebraska Consolidated Mills, 73 

Nebraska Cornhuskers, 73, 84 

Nebraska Culture, 7 

Nebraska Furniture Mart, 72 

Nebraska Methodist College, 88 

Nebraska Palladium, 16 

Nebraska Sports America, 85 

Nebraska State Medical Society, 30 

Nebraska Territory, 12, 15-16, 20 

Nebraska Volunteers, Second Regiment, 

First Battalion, 21 

Nelson, Ben, 82 

Ninth Infantry Regiment, 28 

Niobrara Reservation, 30 

Niobrara River, 27, 28 

Norfolk, 41 

North Platte, 25, 68, 78, 92 

North Platte Canteen, 78 

Northwest High School, 78 

Northwestern Railroad, 27 

Nothing Like It In The World, 22 

NP Dodge Park, 9 

Oak View Mall, 75 

O 

INDEX 

187

Offutt Air Force Base, 22, 70, 78 

Old Market, 75, 90, 128 

Old Market & Downtown Encounter, 85 

Omaha and Northwestern Railroad, 21 

Omaha Arrow, 15-16, 19 

Omaha Barracks, 22 

Omaha Bee, 16, 34 

Omaha Bee-News, 73 

Omaha Central Labor Union, 42 

Omaha Chamber of Commerce, 34, 51 

Omaha Children’s Museum, 87 

Omaha City, 15, 18 

Omaha Civic Auditorium, 76-77 

Omaha Civic Opera Society, 76 

Omaha Commercial Club, 34, 51 

Omaha Community Playhouse, 60, 75 

Omaha Golden Spikes, 86 

Omaha Guard, 29 

Omaha Herald, 16, 28 

Omaha High School, 41 

Omaha Institute for Information Science 

and Technology, 88 

Omaha Magazine, 85 

Omaha Marriott Hotel, 90 

Omaha Medical College, 30 

Omaha Performing Arts Center 

Corporation, 76 

Omaha Playhouse, 85 

Omaha Public Schools, 88 

Omaha Public Schools District 29, 2 

Omaha Railway System, 45 

Omaha Republican, 16 

Omaha Reservation, 16 

Omaha Royals, 75, 86 

Omaha School Board, 88 

Omaha Star, 77, 84 

Omaha Summer Arts Festival, 87 

Omaha Symphony, 76 

Omaha Township Claim Association, 16 

Omaha Trade Exhibit, 55 

Omaha Union Stockyards, 42, 74 

Omaha University, 41, 74 

Omaha Weekly, 85 

Omaha Weekly Reader, 85 

Omaha Women’s Club, 50 

Omaha World, 16 

Omaha World-Herald, 16, 43, 48, 51, 56, 

67, 68, 73, 78, 84-85, 90 

Omaha, The, 7-9, 11-12, 15-17 

Once Upon a Town, 92 

Opera Omaha, 76 


188 

Orchard and Wilhelm, 74 

Orpheum Theater, 56, 76 

Oto, The, 7, 8, 9, 15 

Overland Airways, 37 

Overland Sport Trainer, 37 

Overland Telegraph Company, 20 

Overlook Farm, 52 

P 

P. F. Geisse, 22 

P-M Airways, Inc., 37 

Pacific Railroad Act, 23 

Pacific Telegraph Company, 20 

Parlor Theater, 61 

Paul, J. S., 17 

Pearl Harbor, 55, 64, 67, 70 

Peony Park, 190 

Peony Park Ballroom, 62 

Pershing, John J., 52 

Peter Kiewit Conference Center, 90 

Peter Kiewit Institute, 88 

Peter Kiewit Sons', Inc., 72, 90 

Petersen, Armand, 55 

Physicians Mutual Insurance Company, 72 

Pioneer Block, 19 

Platte River, 7-9, 18, 20, 24-25, 61 

Ponca Creek, 7, 10 

Ponca, The, 27-30 

Pony Express, 20 

Poppleton, Andrew Jackson, 27-28, 91 

Populist Party, 33 

Prohibition, 45, 47-48 

Pulitzer Prize, 67 

Q 

Qwest Center Omaha Convention Center 

and Arena, 84, 90, 92 

Qwest Communications, 90 

R 

Rae, William F., 26 

Ralston, 61 

Ralston Recorder, 85 

Reader, The, 84, 85 

Red Cloud, 36 

Regency, 70 

Renville, Joseph, 10 

Rinehart, F. A., 36 

River (Nebraska), 19 

River City Roundup, 94 

River City Star, 91-92 

Riverview Park, 87 

Roberts, George, 91 

Rock Island Railroad, 27 

Rocho, Ellen, 60 

Rodgers, Johnny, 86 

Rooney, Mickey, 53 

Roosevelt, Franklin, 42 

Rose Theater, 85 

Rosenblatt Stadium, 78, 86 

Rosenblatt, John R., 73, 91 

Rosewater, Edward, 34 

Rourke Park, 62 

Rourke, William, 62 

Roy Young’s Howard Street Livery 

Stable, 20 

Roye, T. B., 10 

S 

Sacred Heart Catholic Church, 89 

Salem Baptist Church, 89 

Salt Lake City, 20 

Sarpy County, 11, 83 

Sarpy, Peter, 10 

Saunders, Alvin, 23 

Sautter, Genevieve, 50 

Saxe, John G., 34 

Sayers, Gale, 86 

Scott, W. W., 48 

Shakespeare on the Green, 85 

Sharp, P. H., 32 

Sheehan, Daniel, 89 

Sheely Town, 41 

Sherman Avenue Meat Market, 55 

Sherman Barracks, 22 

Shroder, Jack, 89 

Simon, Bernard R., 91 

Simon, Bernie, 82 

Simpson, A. J., 20 

Sioux, The, 7-8, 11-12, 17, 20, 27-28, 36 

Smith, Dennis L., 88 

Smith, Edward, 55, 57 

Smith, Edward Parsons, 91 

Smith, Jeffrey, 76 

Sokol Hall, 41 

Sorenson, Alexander V. “Al”, 72, 91 

Sorenson, Arthur, 8 

Sorenson, C. A., 57 

South High School, 60 

South Omaha, 30, 41, 76, 82 

St. Anthony’s Church, 69 

St. Cecilia’s Catholic Cathedral, 65, 87-89

St. John’s Catholic Church, 24, 68 

St. Joseph’s Hospital, 98 

St. Mary Magdalene Church, 41 

St. Patrick’s Church, 51 

Standing Bear, 27-30 

Stanford, Leland, 25 

Stinson, Joseph, 58 

Sun Newspapers, 73 

Sunday, Billy, 65 

Swanson, C. A., 72 

Swift and Company, 31, 58, 74 

Swigart, Warren, 71 

T 

Taurog, Norman, 55 

Taylor, John, 78 

Ta-zha-but, 28 

Terry, Lee, 82 

Thayer, John B., 21 

Thiessen, Willy, 75 

Third Ward, 47 

Thirteenth Street Gallery, 87 

Thomas, Atwood, 69 

Thomas, Joe, 62 

Thone, Charles, 82 

Thurston Rifles, 63 

Thurston, John M., 63 

Tibbles, Thomas, 28-30 

Today’s Omaha Woman, 85 

Tomasek, Stephen H. , Jr., 82, 91 

Tonight Show, 70 

Towl, Roy Nathan, 91 

Tracy, Spencer, 53, 55 

Train, George Francis, 23 

Translucent Fabric Company, 38 

Trans-Mississippi and International 

Exposition, 34-38, 91 

Trans-Mississippi Congress, 34 

Truman, Harry S., 55 

Truman, Nevajo, 47 

Tuesday Musical Concert Series, 76 

Turner Park, 15, 78, 94 

Turnquist, Nils, 45 

Turnquist, Roy, 58 

U 

Union Pacific, 62, 78 

Union Pacific Railroad, 17, 22-27, 32, 42, 

73, 86, 90 

Union Station, 26, 57-58, 61, 67, 78 

Union Stockyards, 30 

United States National Bank, 34 

United States Strategic Command 

Headquarters, 22 

University of Nebraska at Omaha, 42, 74, 

78, 85-86, 88 

University of Nebraska at Omaha College 

of Information Science and Technology, 

88 

University of Nebraska College of 

Medicine, 52 

University of Nebraska Medical Center, 

83, 88, 90 

University of Nebraska System, 88 

Upstairs Dinner Theater, 76 

Upstream People, 7, 16 

Urban League of Nebraska, 41 

Utah Territory, 12 

V 

Valley, 24, 61 

Vennelyst Park, 41 

Veys, Albert L. “Al”, 82, 91 

Vietnam War, 70, 74, 78 

von Wied, Alexander Philip Maximilian, 

10-11 

W 

W. Dale Clark Library, 90 

Walker, C. Howard, 35 

Walnut Hill, 30 

Walter and Suzanne Scott Kingdom of the 

Seas Aquarium, 87 

War of 1812, 9 

Washington County, 7, 9 

Waterloo, 24, 61 

Wattles, Gurdon W., 35, 45 

Weaver, James B., 33 

Webster, John L., 27-28 

Wentworth, William, 56, 63 

West Omaha, 32 

West Point, 41 

Western Baseball Association, 62 

Western Engineer, 9 

Western Union, 20 

Westroads Dinner Theater, 76 

Westroads Mall, 75 

Westroads Shopping Center, 72 

Westroads Six Theater, 75 

Westroads Theater, 76 

Westward by Rail, 26 

Wilbur, Reuben H., 91 

Wilde, Oscar, 34 

Wilson and Company, 74 

Wilson, Jimmy, 83 

Winter Quarters, 11-12, 15, 17 

Wood River, 16 

Woodlands Culture, 7 

Woodmen of the World, 36 

Woodmen of the World Insurance 

Building, 58 

Woodmen of the World Life Insurance 

Society, 72 

Woodmen Tower, 72 

Workingman’s Hotel, 51 

World War I, 42, 52, 61, 68 

World War II, 41, 53, 67, 69-70, 74, 76, 

78, 81, 92 

WOAW/WOW, 84 

WOWT, 70, 84 

Y 

Yellowstone, 10 

Young, Brigham, 12, 15 

Z 

Zimman, Harry B., 91 

Zorinsky, Edward, 82, 91 

INDEX 

189

✧ 

Peony Park, a well-remembered local 

amusement park, on its last day in 1994. 




190

SPONSORS 

Allied Oil & Supply, Inc. and Allied Tire Company ................178 

American Red Cross ...............................................................119 

Anderson Amoco Food Shops ................................................150 

Baird Holm ............................................................................144 

Best Western Redick Plaza Hotel ............................................160 

Borsheim’s Jewelry Company, Inc. ..........................................158 

C&A Industries, Inc. ..............................................................170 

Candlewood Suites.................................................................138 

Carlisle Insulation..................................................................154 

Centris Federal Credit Union ...........................................97, 161 

The Chicago Lumber Company of Omaha..............................159 

Children’s Hospital .................................................................122 

Clarkson College....................................................................126 

Commercial Federal Bank ......................................................157 

Contractors Siding & Window Supply ...................................179 

The Cornerstone Mansion Inn................................................167 

Creighton Preparatory School.................................................118 

Creighton University ..............................................................123 

The Douglas County Historical Society...................................124 

Family Service........................................................................127 

Farm Credit Services of America ............................................163 

First Data Resources...............................................................168 

First National Bank................................................................146 

First Nebraska Educators & Employee 

Groups Credit Union.........................................................152 

Ford Moving & Storage Company ..........................................133 

Fringes Hair Salon .................................................................140 

Gross, Iwersen, Kratochvil & Klein ........................................110 

Heafey, Heafey, Hoffman, Dworak and Cutler 

Mortuaries and Crematory.................................................169 

Holland Basham Architects.....................................................164 

Homewood Suites by Hilton ..................................................148 

Johnson Hardware Company..................................................156 

Koleys, Inc. ............................................................................165 

Methodist Hospital.................................................................100 

Metropolitan Community College ..........................................120 

Metropolitan Utilities District .................................................176 

Mid-American Benefits, Inc. ...................................................155 

Millard Public Schools ...........................................................112 

Miracle Hill Golf and Tennis Center .......................................114 

Modern Equipment Company................................................174 

Montessori Educational Centers .............................................102 

National Equity......................................................................132 

National Safety Council, Greater Omaha Chapter ...................121 

Nebraska Machinery Company...............................................180 

The Nebraska Medical Center ................................................116 

Neon Products Company, Inc.................................................171 

NP Dodge Company ..............................................................130 

The Omaha Home for Boys ....................................................106 

Omaha Print ..........................................................................181 

Omaha Public Schools ...........................................................125 

Oriental Trading Company.......................................................97 

Parsow’s Fine Clothing ...........................................................162 

Paxton & Vierling Steel ..........................................................183 

Recorp Corporate Relocation Services, Inc. ............................134 

Sapp Bros...............................................................................136 

Standard Nutrition Company .................................................166 

United Seeds, Inc. ..................................................................182 

University of Nebraska Medical Center...................................117 

Visiting Nurse Association......................................................104 

Westside Community Schools ................................................108 

Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society.......................142 

SPONSORS 

191

ABOUT THE AUTHORS 

Hugh Reilly, assistant professor of communication at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, has written numerous 

articles for national and regional publications. He is the president of the Nebraska Writers Guild, and has written 

one book and co-authored two others. 

His sister, Pegeen Reilly, currently a technical writer at Compaq Computer Corporation, holds a juris doctorate 

from the University of Washington and is working on her MBA at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. For several 

years she was a professional singer and actress, and facilitated workshops for business professionals. 

Their father, Bob Reilly, professor emeritus, University of Nebraska-Omaha, has published fourteen books, along 

with thousands of articles, short stories, newspaper columns, and film scripts. 


192

About the Authors 

Pegeen Reilly, Bob Reilly, and Hugh Reilly 

Hugh Reilly, assistant professor of communication at the University of Nebraska- 

Omaha, has written numerous articles for national and regional publications. He is 

the president of the Nebraska Writers Guild, and has written one book and coauthored 

two others. 

His sister, Pegeen Reilly, currently a technical writer at Compaq Computer 

Corporation, holds a juris doctorate from the University of Washington and is 

working on her MBA at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. For several years she was 

a professional singer and actress, and facilitated workshops for business professionals. 

Their father, Bob Reilly, professor emeritus, University of Nebraska-Omaha, has 

published fourteen books, along with thousands of articles, short stories, newspaper 

columns, and film scripts. 

ISBN: 1-893619-30-3

Historic Omaha

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?