North Omaha, Nebraska has a recorded history spanning over 200 years, pre-dating the rest of Omaha, encompassing wildcat banks, ethnic enclaves, race riots and social change. North Omaha has roots back to 1812 and the founding of Fort Lisa. It includes the Mormon settlement of Cutler's Park and Winter Quarters in 1846, a lynching before the turn of the twentieth century, the thriving 24th Street community of the 1920s, the bustling development of its African-American community through the 1950s, a series of riots in the 1960s, and redevelopment in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Pre-European contact
Bands from the Pawnee, Otoe and Sioux nations were the first to occupy the area around Carter Lake. The Ponca were also situationally located in the area after 1600. After a short period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries when they were the most powerful Indians on the Great Plains, the Omaha nation settled in the vicinity of present-day East Omaha. After a smallpox epidemic killed much of its population, and encroaching American settlement further reduced their historic way of life, the Omaha sold their lands and moved to their present reservation to the north in Thurston County, Nebraska in 1856.
In 1879, Ponca leader Standing Bear was held captive by the United States government at Fort Omaha in North Omaha. During the trial, Judge Elmer S. Dundy ruled that "an Indian is a person" within the meaning of habeas corpus. Standing Bear was allowed to leave North Omaha and return to his homeland.
Mid-19th century
The first settlements in North Omaha were the 1812 Fort Lisa located near Hummel Park and the 1823 Cabanné's Trading Post along the Missouri River. Fort Lisa was built by famed fur trapper Manuel Lisa, a founder of the St. Louis, Missouri Fur Company (later known as the Missouri Fur Company). It was an important fur trading post for securing initial American investment in the Louisiana Territory. Cabanné's Trading Post belonged to John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company, which competed with many traders for the patronage of local Native American tribes. The American Fur Company later bought out Fontenelle's Post, founded by the Missouri Fur Company. Fontenelle's Post became the start of Bellevue, the first town in Nebraska.
Early towns
Founded in August 1846, Cutler's Park was an early tent settlement for pioneers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were on their way from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City, Utah.Gail Holmes, "Early Latter-day Saints - Settlement Cutler's Park", Early LDS, Sep 2006, accessed 2 Sep 2008 Although the Mormons had permission from the US government to occupy land temporarily, Native American tribes argued about whether they should pay a fee or taxes. The Mormons had been putting up hay for the winter from the grasslands.
The disagreement between the Oto and Omaha over the Mormons' use of the land persuaded the pioneers to move that fall east to a bluff by the Missouri River where the Oto did not demand a tax. There they created a settlement called the Winter Quarters. Here the Mormons built shelters for the winter: 800 cabins and sod huts. The settlement included a store, bank and town square, and by the spring a gristmill, which became called Florence Mill. The town effectively ceased to exist in 1848, after the entire population had continued their trek west.
In 1854 James C. Mitchell bought the site and founded Florence, which was incorporated two years later. The town was an important stocking point for settlers heading west on the California Trail. The early town included banks, a post office, a large mill, several bars, and other important businesses. Today the Bank of Florence is recognized as the oldest building in Omaha. Brigham Young was believed to have helped build the Florence Mill. Annexed by Omaha in 1917, the community is at the far north end of North Omaha.
South of Florence was a town founded in 1856 for speculators from New York. The Town of Saratoga was located in the proximity of North 24th Street and Ames Avenue. Its economy relied on its connection to the Saratoga Bend on the Missouri River, less than away. At its peak the town had its own post office, a hotel and several businesses, including its own brewery, along with more than 60 homes. For a few years, it was regarded as being larger than either of its neighboring towns of Omaha City or Florence.
In between Saratoga and Florence was a wide, smooth plain. In the mid-1850s a large group of Irish immigrants built dugouts and sod houses in this area, which other settlers derisively labeled "Gophertown." Residents of Florence and Gophertown skirmished violently in 1856; however, no major change resulted.Bristow, D. (2002) A Dirty, Wicked Town: Omaha in the 19th Century. Caxton Press. The Irish became well-established in Omaha, building economic and political power before the waves of European immigrants and black migrants arrived at the end of the 19th century. Many created an ethnic enclave in Sheelytown in South Omaha, near work at the stockyards and meatpacking plants.
Scriptown was an area of North Omaha bound by 16th street on the east, 24th on the west, and Lake Street to the north. It was originally platted in 1855 to provide land to Nebraska Territory legislators who voted for Nebraska statehood. Consequently, the area was developed quickly, and included a number of prominent homes.(n.d.)"Andreas' History of Nebraska: Douglas County". From its development following the Scriptown platting, North Omaha was the dominion of a mixed European immigrant community that mingled extensively with the African-American community that grew around the start of the 20th century. The Jewish community in the area was rich, with several synagogues the provided social and cultural activities. The B'nai Jacob Synagogue was located at North 25th and Nicholas Streets; the B'nai Israel Synagogue was at North 18th and Chicago Streets; and the Adass Yeshuren Synagogue was at North 25th and Seward Streets. There are several Jewish cemeteries in the area as well.(1948) Checker Cab Directory. p. 26. Retrieved 8/4/07.
Other early communities in the area included Casey's Row, an early community of housing for African-American families, most of whose men were employed as porters at the Union Pacific railyards to the east.(1981) "Project Prospect: A youth investigation of blacks buried at Prospect Cemetery" Girls Club of Omaha Squatter's Row was another residential area, located between North 11th and North 13th Streets, from Nicholas to Locust Streets, behind the Storz Brewery. For more than 75 years this area was inhabited solely by squatters.Federal Writers' Project. (1939) Nebraska: A guide to the Cornhusker state Nebraska State Historical Society. p 243.
Late 19th century
The rest of the area comprising modern-day North Omaha developed in spurts. The Near North Side, closest to downtown, developed quickly in this period with many homes for working-class European immigrant and African American families.
Early businesses and housing were propelled by the introduction of a horse-driven street railroad in the 1870s, and electrical streetcar lines operated in North Omaha until 1955.(n.d.) Transportation Page Omaha Exchange Many early businesses in North Omaha were established by Jewish immigrants,Olsen, T. (1995) Tell Me a Riddle (Women Writers : Texts and Contexts) Rutgers University Press. who became part of the larger community of successful business people who built downtown Omaha.
In 1875, the Omaha Driving Park Association purchased a parcel of land located between Laird and Boyd Streets, and 16th to 20th Streets for horse racing, specifically, trotters. A fair association leased it, added some features, and held the Douglas County Fair and the Nebraska State Fair there for many years. The park fell into disuse by 1899; there is a report that this area was re-opened as Sunset Driving Park in 1904.(n.d.) Omaha Driving Park Track Info The GEL Motorsport Information Page.
During this period early Omaha banker Herman Kountze owned a large parcel of land in North Omaha, which he platted as a subdivision called Kountze Place. On May 17, 1883, Buffalo Bill founded his famous Wild West, Rocky Mountain and Prairie Exhibition in that area, making its first appearance at the aforementioned Omaha Driving Park.(n.d.) Omaha Timeline 1880-1889 Douglas County Historical Society More than 8,000 people attended the first exhibition at a location near 18th and Sprague Streets. Buffalo Bill's Wild West show later returned to North Omaha for the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in 1898.(n.d.). Nebraska State Historical Society. Held in conjunction with the Expo, the Indian Congress drew more than 500 American Indians representing 35 tribes to the area, as well.
Kountze Place developed after the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, with developments including large homes and several mansions built around the Expo's only remnant, Kountze Park. Lake Nakoma, now known as Carter Lake, was a hotbed of local sporting in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The lake and surrounding park featured sailing events, rowing clubs, Bungalow City, and the Omaha Gun Club.Historical postcard from the Omaha Gun Club Miller Park was an early site for golfing and boating, and Kountze Park featured several outdoor activities, as well.
Also in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many European Jewish immigrants became involved in the Progressive and socialist movements. Some later became labor organizers in the meatpacking industry, which after two efforts, finally organized in the late 1930s and early 40s.
Catholic parishes grew extensively with new Irish and German immigrant families."A Street of Dreams," Nebraska Public Media. Air Date, 08/01/1994. Retrieved April 8, 2024. The importance of several arterial streets was confirmed in a prominent business journal in 1890, that noted, "North Sixteenth, Cuming and North Twenty-fourth streets on the north and northwest are... prominent business streets, radiating from the commercial center into the resident portions of the city."(1890) Nebraska State Gazetteer Business Directory & Farmer's List . Activities in North Omaha, particularly the locating of the Nebraska State Fair at the Omaha Driving Park, led to the formation of the civic and business association Ak-Sar-Ben in 1895.(n.d.)"History of Ak-Sar-Ben" , Ak-Sar-Ben
20th century
North Omaha has suffered in severe Plains weather. In 1902 a major early spring storm demolished a lot of the neighborhood in the Monmouth Park neighborhood. The tornado-like activity destroyed the original Immanuel Hospital and closed North Omaha's Franklin School."Big storm at Omaha," New York Times. March 12, 1902. Retrieved 1/18/08. The most significant weather-related event to hit Omaha was the Easter Sunday tornado of 1913 that destroyed many of the area's businesses and neighborhoods. It cut a path of destruction through the city that was long and a quarter of a mile wide. In the city as a whole, 140 people died and 400 were injured. Twenty-three hundred people were homeless; with 800 houses destroyed and 2000 damaged.