The Market House was a controversial fresh produce, meat and fish outlet on Capitol Avenue from North 12th to North 14th Avenues in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. After almost 40 years of debate and delays in building it, the City of Omaha built the Market House in 1904. The local National Guard squatted in the building for almost 20 years, and afterward it was entirely demolished by 1930.
History
The market square is a feature of many European and colonial towns.The World's Best Squares, PPS website, Making Places, December 2005 It is an area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading of a variety of goods, commonly on one particular day of the week known as market day. In Omaha, there was agitation for a market square as early as 1860, but nothing happened for more than two decades. The 1846 plat for Winter Quarters and the 1856 plat for the town of Florence both included market squares. Today, the North Market Square Park in Florence commemorates the historic location.(1975) Omaha North Freeway Completion, Lake St. to I-680, and Airport Connector Serving Eppley Airport, Douglas County: Environmental Impact Statement. Federal Highway Administration. p. 2-82.
1860s
Jefferson Square was platted as a park in the original Omaha City plat of 1854. Despite being the only park in city limits, it was often the target of ambitious politicians and others. For instance, in 1858 the Omaha City Council passed a resolution to build the first public school in Omaha in the park. In 1867, the city council changed its mind and recommended the building be removed, and it was. The next January, the first proposal for a market house in Omaha came from J. L. Williams, a government director with the Union Pacific Railroad. The city council accepted the measure with the stipulation that the City of Omaha could buy the building in six years. However, the offer was never enacted.James Woodruff Savage and John Thomas Bell Munsell (1894) History of the City of Omaha, Nebraska. p. 435.
1870s
In 1870, an industrialist named Lyman Bridges first came forward with a proposition to build a market house on the square, which proposition was indefinitely postponed by the council.James Woodruff Savage and John Thomas Bell Munsell (1894) History of the City of Omaha, Nebraska. p. 438. In 1877, the city council held an election for voters on whether to establish two market houses, including one on Jefferson Square and the other south of Farnam Street. Many of the young city's leaders jumped on board with Lyman's idea. Experience Estabrook advocated the universal building idea, with one structure housing the market house, public offices, city hall and the police court. John A. Creighton suggested the market house could be beautified with trees, while John I. Redick suggested rent could bring in $40,000 annually."Century flashback: Citizens consider building," Omaha World-Herald. April 16, 1970.
Voters opposed the plan and no further action happened.James Woodruff Savage and John Thomas Bell Munsell (1894) History of the City of Omaha, Nebraska. p. 438.
1880s
In 1881, a former Union Pacific official named Webster Snyder proposed that he would personally secure money for a market house be built in Omaha's first park, Jefferson Square.James Woodruff Savage and John Thomas Bell Munsell (1894) History of the City of Omaha, Nebraska. p. 438. Costing US$200,000, Snyder said he could get "enough money out of New York and Boston to build a half dozen market houses [in Omaha].""A Pretty Pile the Jefferson Square Market House to Cost Two Hundred Thousand Dollars Interview with Webster Snyder," Omaha Daily Herald. August 12, 1882. Snyder's plan included housing the market house with a new city hall, and he committed to contracting popular Omaha architect Louis Mendelssohn to design the building.
The plan was quickly dismissed by the city council. Snyder's plan hitched the concept to a 50-year-lease, and apparently the idea of forcing city offices to be located in the building for so long was unappealing. In early 1882, the issue was put to a public vote in which the ballot asked, "' 'Shall the city lease Jefferson Square for the erection of a market house and city hall. Yes or No." The popular vote passed.[nebnewspapers.unl.edu/lccn/sn99021999/1882-06-08/ed-1/seq-4.pdf "Market house and city hall,"] The Daily Bee. June 8, 1882. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
However, Snyder reportedly withdrew his offer due to the drawn out nature of the process, and the plan went nowhere. He also moved away from Omaha.James Woodruff Savage and John Thomas Bell Munsell (1894) History of the City of Omaha, Nebraska. p. 435. Snyder's proposal was cited by the proponents in the early 1900s effort to get a market house built."The Market House: Councilman Prince Gives His Ideas on the Subject," September 4, 1893.
Development of the market house stalled by 1884, and nothing was built. The issue was raised again in 1887, this time with a glass and steel building rising in the middle of Capitol Avenue over a full basement, all of which would be packed with vendors. It didn't take off, either."Market house project," Omaha World-Herald. December 9, 1887
1890s
Beginning in the early 1890s, some advocates began calling for a market house to sell their wares. When the Omaha Commercial Club began canvassing local sources, they discovered many prominent Omaha families were shipping their own produce and wares directly to Omaha from Atchinson, Kansas, where there was a market square. They wanted that access to fresh produce and more for more Omahans, and began canvassing the county. A national survey of cities with market houses done by the Omaha World-Herald in 1894 shared responses from Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; St. Joseph and Kansas City, both in Missouri. Each city reported wild success with their markets, quickly recuperating the cost of building them and easily maintaining their success over a number of years."Ghost of a Market House It Rises up and Walks Once More into Open," Omaha World-Herald (Published as Morning World-Herald), December 20, 1894. Only the Pittsburgh Market Square still operates today, more than 120 years later. Later, the citation of Boston's Faneuil Hall earning $85,000 annually around 1890 assuaged many concerns for the future of Omaha's market house."The Market House: Councilman Prince Gives His Ideas on the Subject," September 4, 1893. An Omaha City Councilman named Prince championed the cause.
There were initial plans made to construct a temporary market to test the concept, but were killed within a month of the proposal to the city council. The next plan involved building a two-story brick building in the middle of Capitol Avenue, but after learning that other cities designated entire blocks to their market houses, that idea was nixed. In November 1892, the Omaha Commercial Club received permission from the City of Omaha to build the market house. In 1893, the Omaha Commercial Club set the cost to the city at $200,000 to secure the land and build. The market house itself was going to be 50 feet wide by 260 feet long. Made of local red brick, it was set to be two stories tall."The Market House: Councilman Prince Gives His Ideas on the Subject," September 4, 1893. Consensus on the location of the market house supported the Capitol Avenue location, with approval from a variety of figures including Alvin Saunders, the last Governor of the Nebraska Territory, who suggested there would "probably be three" market houses within a decade."A Market House Popular the Lower Part of Capitol Avenue Agreed upon as a Site," Omaha World-Herald. May 18, 1893.
The 1887 City of Omaha Board of Trade reported that residents in the city still wanted a market house. People believed they would save money on produce and meats, and they thought a market house would bring those savings.<.City of Omaha Board of Trade. (1887) Annual Report of the Trade and Commerce of Omaha. p 17.
1900s
The topic of building a market house didn't ever quite go away. A 1900 editorial suggested that the construction of the Omaha Auditorium should dovetail with the erection of a market house, perhaps even combining the two. It wound up being built in 1904 almost a mile from the site of the market house.Omaha Public Library. "Omaha Auditorium," Gateway to the West. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
In early 1902, the Omaha Grocers' Association stated their firm opposition to a market house. They were the force behind the present-day Old Market, which was housed in Dr. Mercer's buildings almost a mile away. Harry Fisher, the organization's leader, said that retail grocers would "fight the building of the market house to the bitter end.""Combat Market House; An Injunction Threat Retail Grocers and Certain Property Owners Propose to Prevent," Omaha World-Herald. November 13, 1902
A long editorial in the December 1901 edition of the Omaha World-Herald advocated locating the Market House in the middle of Capitol Avenue again in order to avoid the cost of land acquisition. Citing the advice of Senator Charles F. Manderson of Omaha, the writer was a grocer who signed the article L.V. Morse, and they had a concrete plan. Capitol Avenue was 146 wide at this point. The writer proposed two market house buildings, each 264 feet long, or taking a total of two city blocks, that were 40 feet wide. They wanted four rows of stalls in each one totally 176 stalls that were 12 feet wide and eight feet long. The lots would extend 40 feet into the street, leaving one lane on each side of the market for wagon traffic on market days. Advocating for two stories, Morse suggested the initial structure should cost no more than $30,000 to build.
In October 1892, Dr. Samuel D. Mercer again led the opposition. He and a group of opponents sought an injunction against the Commercial Club building the market house. The group contested that there were four main issues: The lifespan of the building's roof wouldn't be long enough; Traffic on Capitol Avenue would be restrained too much by the location of the building; The cost of the building was too high, the City didn't have the right to use general funds to build it, and the city's funds were too low;"That $15,000 for Market House City Attorney Connell Says City Has Legal Right to Take," Omaha World-Herald. May 28, 1902. and The City government didn't have the right to change the usage of the land from the original owner's intentions. They believed the land it was sited on wasn't intended for usage as a market house in the original plat of the city made by the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company
Dr. Mercer and his crew quickly pounced on the opportunity to launch a trial, which quickly veered public sentiment and legal favor against the market house. In early November 1902, the courts awarded Mercer an injunction against the market house by ruling that the City of Omaha effectively could not build on that specific land "in perpetuity." It probably wasn't a coincidence that Mercer was a property owner in the area where the city's early markets were located around South 11th and Jackson Streets. However, on November 27, 1902, a local judge named Dickinson found against the injunction and approved the project. Mercer's group dropped their objections."City Can Build Market House on Capitol Avenue Judge Dickinson Dissolves the Mercer Restraining Order," Omaha World-Herald. November 27, 1902.
However, another court case arrived within a year.
Construction