North Omaha History Podcast, Omaha History, South Omaha History

Some places hold the memories of North Omaha’s past more eloquently than others. While some of North Omaha transitioned from country estates to suburban bliss, from commuter haven to neglected hood, one building has stood steady in the community throughout almost everything. It’s called The Sherman. Help us meet expenses and keep the light on at the North Omaha History Podcast by becoming a patron...

The town of East Omaha was south of the present-day Eppley Airport, west of Abbott Drive, and north and west of the Missouri River. Throughout the years, this town has been home to more than 2,600 homes, countless businesses, a school, the East Omaha River Rats, and now the Open Door Mission, the Omaha Correctional Center, the Omaha Immigration Court, and businesses like Monarch Oil and the FleetP...

Located on the southwest corner of 24th and Lake for more than 50 years, Duffy Drug was an iconic store in North Omaha. Before they were there, the site at 2424 North 24th Street was home to the farthest north drug store in Omaha. Then the first Black-owned business in Omaha was on the southwest corner of 24th – the Soul House music store opened in 1968. Help us meet expenses and keep the li...

Malcolm X was born in 1925 as Malcolm Little in Omaha to Earl and Louise Little, but lived in Omaha less than a year. His story in the city is longer though, where leaders have never managed to memorialize him with a building, street, park, library or museum. Adam Fletcher Sasse guides us through a biography of Malcolm X in Omaha. Help us meet expenses and keep the light on at the North Omaha Hist...

Did you know that North Omaha has been home to FIVE higher education institutions in its history? It was 1863 when the Town of Saratoga, now located in North Omaha, went to the Nebraska Territorial Legislature and secured a charter for the first-ever University of Nebraska. Unfortunately, their efforts amounted to nill—but their legacy did not! Help us meet expenses and keep the light on at the No...

Imagine a time when riding a streetcar was interesting, respected and almost a little glamorous. On the dusty, granite-covered streets of Omaha, that time was during the 1870s and 1880s. That new technology needed fanciful buildings to go along with the times, and the streetcar maintenance shop at 2606 North 26th Street in North Omaha was one of those buildings. Help us meet expenses and keep the...

There are several lost towns and villages located inside present-day North Omaha. Over time, they’ve been annexed, absorbed and otherwise soaked into the fabric of the city of Omaha and largely forgotten. Only Florence and Benson have retained distinctive identities as dedicated former towns. The rest are almost wholly missing from the public record. Help us meet expenses and keep the light on at...

North Omaha’s African American culture has grown and changed dramatically since its founding in 1854. One of the main drivers of the culture for more than a century has been the Black media. From the time Omaha’s first Black newspaper was published in 1889 through Shanelle Williams’ continued use of Facebook, Twitter and other social media today to build the African American community in Omaha, Bl...

The Belt Line railway was once a passenger service, then an industrial line for 75+ years. Today, there’s nothing left of it besides an empty rail bed. The railroad heading up the modern-day Sorensen Parkway was the Fremont, Elkhorn & Missouri Valley Railroad. Another railroad headed north from the Webster Street Station north to Florence and points beyond. It was the Chicago, St. Paul, Minnea...

In the 1860s, the Union Pacific established its shops north of downtown Omaha, and Scandinavians came to work there. The largest populations to settle in Nebraska were in North Omaha. Scandinavians also had homes in other parts of Omaha, but between 1860 and 1919, the vast majority lived north of Dodge and west of North 30th Street. Help us meet expenses and keep the light on at the North Omaha Hi...

Reed’s Ice Cream was a popular business that opened in Omaha in 1930, and operated into the early 1960s. Their signature bungalows were strategically spread throughout the community, and heavily anchored in several North Omaha neighborhoods. So, what happened to Reed’s? Adam Fletcher Sasse explains. You can help us meet expenses and keep the light on at the North Omaha History Podcast by becoming...

In 1927 a lawsuit tried to prevent the land that is now Eppley Airfield from usage as an airport. However, the judge ruled against that restriction, and the City declared the area as the new Municipal Airport and hangars were immediately built. An American Legion gathering in Omaha immediately drew crowds and it was referred to as the American Legion Airfield for a short time. The airport boomed i...

In 1907, the Royal Amusement Company developed plans for 40-acres of today’s Minne Lusa neighborhood. Royal paid $65,000 to an architect named J. B. Mason to design six buildings, including a pavilion, a 2-story dance hall, two dining halls, a boat house, club house and a roller rink. The amusement park never came to exist. But Minne Lusa became the biggest subdivision in Omaha at that time. Suppo...

In 1930, 200 acres of land on the southwest corner of River Drive and Ponca Road were donated to the City of Omaha to become a park. It was named after Joseph B. Hummel, the long-time superintendent of Omaha’s Parks and Recreation Department, and one of the most influential parks advocates ever in Omaha. Adam Fletcher Sasse tells us all about Hummel Park, including Manuel Lisa’s time there. Suppor...

Imagine its December 2, 1863, and you’re standing in the cold with major dignitaries like A. J. Poppleton, Augustus Kountze, Ed Creighton, John Redick and A. J. Hanscom. Everyone’s here to break ground on the much anticipated Union Pacific railroad, which will provide the first transcontinental railroad in the U.S. You’re in Carter Lake, at the end south of Locust, in an area that doesn’t ex...

Nestled between the Miller Park neighborhood and Sorenson Parkway is a 150-year-old institution that’s been a powerhouse, a prison, a balloon school and neglected surplus. But at one time, it was the main destination for all troops and stores for the western side of the Missouri River. Tell us about Fort Omaha Adam. Support the North Omaha History podcast. Please go to Patreon.com/Omaha and become...

One of the first suburbs in Omaha is the Walnut Hill neighborhood. Bounded by Cuming Street on the south, Northwest Radial Highway and Saddle Creek Road on the west, N. 40th Street on the east, and Lake Street on the north, the Walnut Hill neighborhood has a lot of unique features and a rich history. Support the North Omaha History podcast. Please go to Patreon.com/Omaha (https://northomahahistory...

Located in the middle of the hustle and bustle is a spectacularly beautiful, formerly consecrated rental facility that few people in the entire city know about. For more than a century there was a monastery for Catholic nuns located at N. 29th and Hamilton Streets. Adam, tell us about one of North Omaha’s hidden holy grounds. Support the North Omaha History podcast. Please go to Patreon.com/Omaha...

The history of Florence begins with the tangled clopping of horse hooves and rattling of the sideboards on beat up wagons. The story of the town begins with people leaving, people coming back, a town booming, a town shrinking, and then getting annexed into Omaha and calming down. It’s a story that’s still being written every day, and lately things are on the up and up! Support the North Omaha Hist...

After long, busy weeks in hot downtown Omaha offices, business leaders wanted to relax and enjoy the splendor of their wealth. Crammed against busy urban streets and filled with reminders of work, their swanky Gold Coast homes weren’t perfect settings. Instead, they built lavish country estates as getaways for their families. Far North Omaha’s bucolic settings included the rolling hills west of Fl...

Before Gottlieb Storz, a few other entrepreneurs tried their hand at brewing beer in North Omaha. Afterwards though, Storz dominated. For more than 75 years, his family ran Omaha’s beer industry, and even though the brewery closed in the 1970s, it left a major mark on the city that still stands today. Support the North Omaha History podcast. Please go to Patreon.com/Omaha (https://northomahahistor...

The Walnut Hill Reservoir was built as part of the original Omaha Water Works in 1882. Working with gravity, the reservoir drew water from Missouri River near downtown, bringing it uphill to N. 40th and Hamilton Streets. Within a decade of construction, that system was changed so that water was drawn from the Florence Water Works to Walnut Hill and distributed from there. Support the North Omaha H...

The waters of the Missouri River roared wild and free over its valley for thousands of years before Omaha was settled. Even after pioneers gathered on Capitol Hill for a picnic to found Omaha City in 1854, the Missouri still whipped around, flooding the area, shifting its channel and moving willy-nilly. During this time, a little nest of water in East Omaha was created. When European settlers saw...

Lynchings, shootings and hangings occurred in Omaha City before the Nebraska Territory was founded in 1854. The Omaha Claim Club, made up of the city’s founding fathers, was notorious for using intimidation, threats, and drownings in order to enforce their will. In 1860, the US Supreme Court made their actions illegal, so they had to find other means to enforce their notions of justice. In 1863, t...

For years, we’ve been told the buildings of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition were demolished right after the event ended in the fall of that year. But they weren’t destroyed! Instead, after all the success Omaha had with the Expo, a group of investors decided they needed to keep the buildings up and start another grand event. Working together, they raised enough money to buy...