From Omaha Commons

The history of Omaha begins before the settlement of the city, with speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa staking land across the Missouri River illegally as early as the 1840s. Before it was legal to claim land in Indian Country, William D. Brown was operating the Lone Tree Ferry to bring settlers from Council Bluffs to Omaha. A treaty with the Omaha Tribe allowed the creation of the Nebraska Territory, and Omaha City was founded on July 4, 1854. With early settlement came claim jumpers and squatters, and the formation of a vigilante law group called the Omaha Claim Club, which was one of many claim clubs across the Midwest. During this period many of the city's founding fathers received lots in Scriptown, which was made possible by the actions of the Omaha Claim Club. The club's violent actions led to the U.S. Supreme Court trial, Baker v. Morton, which led to the end of the organization.

Surrounded by small towns and cities that competed for business from the hinterlands farmers, the city suffered a major setback in the Panic of 1857. Despite this, Omaha quickly emerged as the largest city in Nebraska. After losing the Nebraska State Capitol to Lincoln in 1867, many business leaders rallied, creating the Jobbers Canyon in downtown Omaha to outfit farmers in Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and further west. They also won the placement of the Union Pacific Railroad during this period. These leaders built several mansions in Kountze Place and the Old Gold Coast neighborhoods.

With the development of the Omaha Stockyards in the 1870s, several workers areas, including Sheelytown, developed around South Omaha. Its growth happened so quickly the town was nicknamed the "Magic City". The latter part of the 19th century also saw the formation of several fraternal organizations, including the formation of Knights of Aksarben, and Omaha University, which eventually formed in 1908. city leaders rallied for the creation of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in 1898. During the Expo, famous madames Anna Wilson and Ada Everleigh were making a living from the crowds. At the same time, political boss Tom Dennison compounded the city's vices in the notorious Sporting District, with the full support of eight-term mayor "Cowboy" James Dahlman. Many of these early pioneers are buried in Prospect Hill Cemetery.

Contents 1 About 2 Native American history 3 European settlement 4 Founding: 1853 to 1867 4.1 Nebraska Territory Capitol 4.2 Business 5 1868 to 1900 6 1900-1941 6.1 Sports 6.2 Greek Town riot 6.3 Easter Sunday Tornado 6.4 Omaha Race Riot 6.5 Social and cultural developments 6.6 Tom Dennison 6.6.1 World War II 6.6.2 Civil Rights Movement 7 1950-1999 8 2000-present 9 Historic landmarks 10 References 11 External links

[edit] About

Since the 1600s, the Pawnee, Otoe, Sioux, the Missouri and Ioway all variously occupied the land that became Omaha. The word "Omaha" (actually U-Mo'n-Ho'n) means "Dwellers on the Bluff". The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed by the riverbanks that would later become the city of Omaha in 1804, and met on Council Bluff at a point about 20 miles (30 km) north of present-day Omaha, at which point they met with the Otoe. That same area saw the development of Fort Lisa in 1806; Fort Atkinson in 1819, and; Cabanne's Trading Post, built in 1822. The Mormons built a town called Cutler's Park in the area in 1846.

[edit] Native American history

Omaha's location near the confluence of the Missouri River and Platte River has long made the location a key point of transfer for both people and goods. Since the 1600's, the Pawnee, Otoe, Sioux, and Ioway all variously occupied the land that became Omaha. During the late 1700s and early 1800s when they were the most powerful Indians along the stretch of the Missouri River north of the Platte, and later the Omaha nation moved on the western edge of present-day Bellevue.

Prior to the establishment of the city, the area had been inhabited by numerous American Indian tribes, who had adapted to a semi-nomadic lifestyle necessary for survival on the Great Plains. The Pawnee and Otoe tribes had inhabited the region for hundreds of years by the time the Omaha tribe had arrived from the south in the early 1700s. Translated, the word "Omaha" (actually U-Mo'n-Ho'n) means "Dwellers on the Bluff". Usually the word for some reason is translated "against the current", but in those cases without quoting any source.

After a smallpox out-break, and their continued cultural degradation, disease, the elimination of the American bison, and continued property loss the the Omaha sold the last of their claims and relocated to their present reservation north in Thurston County, Nebraska in 1856.

[edit] European settlement

On July 21, 1804 the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed by the riverbanks that would later become the city of Omaha. The expedition stopped at a point about 20 miles (30 km) north of present-day Omaha, at which point they first met with the Otoe, and had a council meeting with members of the tribal leadership on the west side of the Missouri River. The first recorded instance of a black person in the Omaha area is "York", who arrived as a slave of William Clark on the Expedition.

The Astor Expedition came through in 1811, and Stephen Long passed through the Omaha area in 1819 on his Platte River Expedition. A decade later, adventurers and fur traders were frequenting the region, trading at Fontenelle's Post in present-day Bellevue; Fort Lisa, built by Manuel Lisa in 1806; Fort Atkinson, built in 1819 as a military outpost adjacent to the location of the earlier council meeting, and; Cabanne's Trading Post, built by the American Fur Company in 1822. The Mormons built a town called Cutler's Park in the area before resuming their westward migration on the Mormon Trail.

In 1854 Logan Fontenelle and the Omaha Tribe sold the majority of their tribal land, four million acres (16,000 km²), to the United States for less than 22 cents an acre. This allowed the settlement of Nebraska Territory and the founding of Omaha City. That year the formation of the Territory in the Kansas-Nebraska Act was presaged on the condition that it remain slave-free.

[edit] Founding: 1853 to 1867

In 1853 William Brown operated the Lone Tree Ferry to shuttle California Gold Rush prospectors and Oregon Trail settlers across the river between Kanesville, Iowa and the Nebraska Territory. The Lone Tree Ferry eventually became the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company. "Omaha City" was organized by the owners of the Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Company to lure the proposed transcontinental railroad to Council Bluffs. Alfred D. Jones, Omaha City's first postmaster, platted the town site early in 1854, months after the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Nebraska Territory. The first black person to live in Omaha arrived in 1854.

While the city was young, there was no formal police or sheriff, or at least one with any significant authority. Compensating for the absence of the law, many early Omaha pioneers formed a claim club to create and enforce a legal system to their advantage. The Omaha Claim Club took authority over many areas of the new city, generally focused on land-related issues. In the 1860s, ten years after its formation, early citizens also formed the Old Settlers' Association in order to record the early history of the city.

Aside from Omaha, other early settlements and towns in the area include Fontenelle's Post founded in 1806; Fort Lisa founded 1806; Culter's Park, founded 1846; Bellevue, settled in 1804 and founded 1853; Omaha, founded 1854; East Omaha, founded 185?; Florence, founded 1856, and; Saratoga, founded 1857.

The first minister in Omaha was Moses F. Shinn, a Methodist Episcopal Church leader from Council Bluffs. Most of Omaha's early pioneers, including Nebraska Territory politicians, soldiers from Fort Omaha and the early African American American community was buried at Prospect Hill Cemetery in North Omaha. Starting in 1887 Douglas County officials started recording the burials of poor people and people without a known identity in Potter's Field. Located in far North Omaha, today Potter's Field is maintained by Forest Lawn Memorial Park, which is located nearby. There is speculation that Mormon pioneers were buried there in the 1850s, as well.

The Nebraska State Capitol was moved from Omaha in 1867.

[edit] Nebraska Territory Capitol

Late in 1854 Omaha was chosen as the territorial capital for Nebraska. In 1855 during a land grab a group of businessmen formed the Omaha Land Company and platted Scriptown to reward Nebraska Territory legislators for their votes for statehood. After Baker v. Morton in 1857 this type of land baron-like behavior was made illegal; by that time lots had been developed and Scriptown quickly became part of several neighborhoods, including Gifford Park, Prospect Hill and the Near North Side.

The small city suffered greatly in the economic Panic of 1857; however, the presence of the capital is credited for keeping the town alive. For several years Omaha enjoyed its status as the capitol of the Nebraska Territory, although not without contention. In January, 1858 a group of representatives illegally moved the Nebraska Territorial Legislature to Florence following a violent outburst at the State Capitol in Omaha. After repeatedly being dogged out of voting on the removal of the Capitol from Omaha, a skirmish pitted representatives from Nebraska City, Florence, and other communities to convene outside of Omaha. Despite having a majority of members present for the vote to remove the Capitol and all agreeing, the "Florence Legislature" did not succeed in swaying the Nebraska Territory governor, and the Capitol remained in Omaha until 1867 when Nebraska gained statehood. When Omaha eventually lost the capital to Lincoln in 1867, the city was by then strong enough to maintain economic growth for a period of time.

In 1859 a local newspaper reported that a "...bill introduced in [the Omaha City] Council, for the abolition of slavery in this Territory, was called up yesterday, and its further consideration postponed for two weeks. A strong effort will be made among the Republicans to secure its passage; we think, however, it will fail. The farce certainly cannot be enacted if the Democrats do their duty.

[edit] Business

While Council Bluffs was chosen as the eastern terminus of the United States' first transcontinental railroad in 1862 with the passage of the Pacific Railway Act, construction on the railroad began west from Omaha to avoid the difficulties of constructing a bridge across the Missouri River, effectively ensuring that Omaha would become a major transportation center for the entire country in the years to come.

The Omaha Cable Tramway Company was the first and only cable car company that ever operated in Omaha. Founded in 1884, it operated cars until 1894.

[edit] 1868 to 1900

Towns founded during this period include Benson, founded 1887, Chalco; Dundee, founded 1880; Elkhorn, founded 1865; Papillion, founded 1870; Ralston, founded 1888; South Omaha, founded 1886, and; Millard, which was founded in 1871.

Omaha's growth was accelerated in the 1880s by the rapid development of the Union Stockyards and the meat packing industry in South Omaha. There were several breweries established throughout the city during this period. The "Big 4" Omaha breweries included the Storz, Krug, Willow Springs and Metz breweries.

In the 1880s, Omaha was said to be the fastest-growing city in the United States. Thousands of immigrants from central and southern Europe, as well as African Americans moving from the South, came to Omaha to work in the Union Stockyards and slaughterhouses of South Omaha. They created Omaha's original ethnic neighborhoods, including Greek Town, Little Italy, Little Bohemia and Little Poland. Other neighborhoods founded during this period included Bemis Park, Country Club, Dog Hollow and Field Club. The Near North Side also developed greatly during this period, with high concentrations of Jews, African Americans and Germans.

In 1876 the trial of Standing Bear v. Crook was held at Fort Omaha. During the trial General Crook testified on behalf of Standing Bear, leading the court to recognize American Indians as persons, the first time this occurred in a U.S. Federal Court.

Culture in Omaha grew extensively during this era. There were many social, fraternal and advocacy organizations formed in Omaha in the late 1800s. The city's premier newspapers, the Omaha Bee and the Omaha World-Herald were founded in 1874 and 1885, respectively. Omaha was the location of the 1892 convention which formed the Populist Party, with its aptly-titled Omaha Platform written by "radical farmers" from throughout the Midwest. The Ladies Axillary of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, a nationalistic Irish Catholic|Irish-Catholic fraternal organization, was founded in Omaha in 1894. The first African American fair ever held in the United States took place in Omaha in 1894, also. The Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben were founded in 1895.

The Trans-Mississippi Exposition was held in North Omaha from June 1 to November 1, 1898. It drew over 2 million visitors and involved construction of attractions spanning over 100 city blocks including a shipworthy lagoon, bridges and magnificent (though temporary) buildings constructed of plaster and horsehair. The Exposition also attracted a number of sideshows, including Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and the Everleigh House. Run by Ada and Minna Everleigh, the women closed the house in 1900 when they moved to Chicago.

This period also saw the rise of formal crime in Omaha that presaged the arrival of Tom Dennison. The Sporting District was an area in downtown Omaha where many of the city's vice activities happened, including gambling, prostitution and grafting. Anna Wilson was an early madame who got her start in Omaha during this time, eventually opening a 25-room mansion brothel at Ninth and Douglas Streets. She was the longtime romantic partner of Dan Allen, a well-known and successful riverboat gambler in Omaha. The 1900 kidnaping of Edward Cudahy, Jr. in the Old Gold Coast neighborhood caused a national uproar, eventually making its perpetrator, Pat Crowe, a nationally renowned author and lecturer on criminal justice reforms.

[edit] 1900-1941

In the decades before World War II, Omaha went through a prosperous period marked with rapid development, cultural growth and massive growth of population throughout the city. A number of new residents established communities throughout the city, older immigrant populations became further assimilated into the city's culture, and new neighborhoods were built to the north and south of Downtown Omaha. The city also suffered greatly during the Great Depression, and was only relieved through strong federal intervention throughout the 1930s.

[edit] Sports

Omaha University was founded in the Kountze Place neighborhood in 1908, moving to their present campus in 1929. Their football team played on the Saratoga School fields until 1952.

The Omaha Omahogs was a baseball team started in 1900 as part of the new Western League. Their name changed to the Omaha Indians in 1902. In 1904 the team was fielded as the Omaha Packers, and in 1906 as the Omaha Rourkes. They kept that name until 1921, when the name changed to the Omaha Buffaloes, which stuck until 1928 when it changed to the Omaha Crickets. In 1930 the team changed its name back to the Omaha Packers, and kept that name until 1935, when they moved to Council Bluffs and subsequently folded. A new team called the Omaha Robin Hoods formed in 1936, but moved to Rock Island, Illinois late in the year. The team reformed shortly thereafter as the Omaha Cardinals, remaining as such for several years.

[edit] Greek Town riot

In 1909 a mob of 1,000 Omahans almost lynched a South Omaha Greek man for being involved with a "white" woman. After their efforts were thwarted, a mob of 2,000 swarmed upon Greek Town in South Omaha, destroying homes, businesses and a school, beating Greek immigrants, and completely destroying all of the area by burning it to the ground. No person was ever indited for a crime related to the incident.

[edit] Easter Sunday Tornado

Main article: Easter Sunday Tornado

In 1913 a devastating tornado ripped through Omaha, becoming known as the Easter Sunday tornado. It killed more than 100 people, destroyed hundreds of homes, and struck the heart of North Omaha's African American commercial district, which suffered the most damage. In July of that same year U.S. President Gerald Ford (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr.) was born at 3202 Woolworth Avenue. He spent his first 16 days there, later growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

[edit] Omaha Race Riot

The Omaha Race Riot of 1919 occurred after a black man named Will Brown was arrested and accused of raping a white woman. A mob formed and removed him from the Douglas County Jail, on the top floor of the Douglas County Courthouse. Brown was hanged from the lamppost on the south side of the courthouse, his body was dismembered, burned and dragged through the streets by a crowd of European-born immigrants and European Americans. The mayor attempted to intervene and was hanged himself; he survived only in a last minute rescue by federal agents. The city courthouse was set on fire and seriously damaged. This incident was dramatized by playwright Max Sparber and produced by the Blue Barn Theatre in 1998 at the Douglas County Courthouse, the site of the riot.

[edit] Social and cultural developments

Job's Daughters International, a Masonic youth organization for girls, was founded in Omaha in 1920. Aleph Zadik Aleph, the men's Order of B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, began in Omaha as a college fraternity in Omaha in 1923.

In 1925 Malcolm X was born (as Malcolm Little) at 3446 Pinkney Street in North Omaha. His family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin when he was a year old after threats on their lives from the Ku Klux Klan.

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

[edit] Tom Dennison

The reign of Omaha political boss Tom Dennison ended in 1933. For more than thirty-five years he controlled gambling, drinking, prostitution and other criminal interests throughout Omaha, particularly in his seedy Sporting District. He controlled bootlegging operations in Little Italy through the Prohibition Era, as well as the performance of James Dahlman, Omaha's only eight-term mayor. Dennison was also likely the root cause of the Omaha Race Riot in 1919.

[edit] World War II

In 1945 the Enola Gay and Bockscar were two of 536 B-29 Superfortresses manufactured at the Glenn L. Martin Company Aircraft Factory (now Offutt Air Force Base) in Bellevue near the end of World War II.

That same year a Japanese fire balloon exploded over Dundee. The incident was part of a large World War II campaign by the Japanese military to cause mass chaos in American cities. However, the story was suppressed by the American military until after the war was over. Nobody was hurt in the explosion.

[edit] Civil Rights Movement

Civil rights activism in Omaha began in 1912 with the formation of a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. It continued through the coming years under the local-grown influence of Whitney Young, George Wells Parker and Harry Haywood, as well as the leadership of Citizens Civic Committee for Civil Liberties (4CL), Creighton University's DePorres Club, and the student-led Black Association for Nationalism Through Unity, also known as BANTU. Mainstream organizations including the Urban League of Nebraska also supported the movement. Their successes eventually led to the end of redlining and race-based neighborhood covenants, as well as the implementation of a school integration plan.

[edit] 1950-1999

In 1950, the NCAA moved the College World Series to Rosenblatt Stadium, which was then known as Omaha Municipal Stadium. The event has been held continuously at Rosenblatt ever since, despite bids from several cities to move the CWS to another venue. More than 6,000,000 fans have attended CWS games in Omaha, and the City of Omaha has continuously expanded and renovated the stadium to accommodate fans, teams, and media covering the event. ESPN televised every game of the event from 1980 through 1987, and again since the championship series went to a best-of-3 format in 2003. From 1988 through 2002, the championship game was a winner-take-all single game televised by CBS.

In 1955 the Omaha Cardinals joined the AAA American Association, and thrived until the late 1950s. That team folded in 1959. In 1961-62 the Omaha Dodgers were the farm team for the L.A. Dodgers, and after six years without a professional team, the Omaha Royals started in 1969. They have continued since.

The 1960s saw the Omaha Stockyards become the world's largest livestock processing center, taking that distinction from Chicago's Union Stock Yards in the late 1950s. As improved truck and boxcar refrigeration capabilities encouraged the slaughtering process to move closer to feedlots, all centralized stockyard activity declined and the Omaha Stockyards were closed in 1999.

In January 1975, the city was paralyzed by a devastating blizzard which dumped several feet of snow on the city. The Omaha Tornado of 1975 is another grim day in Omaha's past. An F4 tornado ripped through neighborhoods along 72nd Street on May 6, 1975, killing 3 and injuring 133. In terms of damage, it was the most costly tornado in American history to that date, with damage estimates between $250 million and $500 million.

[edit] 2000-present

Omaha demolished a downtown district of brick warehouses called "Jobbers Canyon" in 1988, which was once listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The delisting and demolition of Jobbers Canyon made way for the campus headquarters of ConAgra Foods and the city's Heartland of America Park.

On August 20, 2001, Nebraska Methodist Health Systems demolished the Indian Hills Theater, a "super-Cinerama" movie theater containing the largest indoor screen of its type in the world. The location of the Indian Hills Theater now serves as a parking lot.

The downtown area has experienced a resurgence in the late 1990s and early 2000s, with several billion dollars of new construction. The new developments include the Qwest Center Omaha arena/convention center complex, the Holland Performing Arts Center, the Gallup University campus, the River City Star riverboat landing, National Park Service Midwest Region Headquarters, new high-rise headquarters towers for First National Bank of Omaha and Union Pacific Railroad, and hundreds of condominium units. The First National Bank of Omaha tower is the tallest building between Denver and Minneapolis, including its direct rival to the south, Kansas City, passing its tallest by 1 foot.

[edit] Historic landmarks

Omaha has numerous historic landmarks that date from before the city's founding. The site of Fort Lisa and Cabanne's Trading Post, both located in the city's far northside, were first occupied in the early 1800s. Landmarks from the mid-1800s include Culter's Park, or "Winter Quarters" located in Florence, and Fontenelle's Post located south of the city. Downtown is the location of historical plaques marking the first building in Omaha and the first burial, and historical landmarks in North Omaha number in the dozens, including the former town of Saratoga and Kountze Park, the site of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition. South Omaha, Dundee and Benson also have numerous historical landmarks.

[edit] References

• John Joseph Mathews, The Osages: Children of the Middle Waters (University of Oklahoma Press 1961), pages 110, 128, 140, 282.
• Federal Writers' Project Staff (1939) Nebraska: A guide to the Cornhusker state. Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Nebraska. p. 222.
• Multiethnic Guide. Greater Omaha Economic Partnership.
• Reeves, R. (n.d.) Douglas County History University of Nebraska.
• Douglas County. Andreas' history of Nebraska. Retrieved 8/11/07.
• Bristow, D. (1997) A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tale of 19th Century Omaha. Caxton Press.
• A Daily Nebraskian newspaper editorial from 1859, as quoted in Bristow, D. (2002) A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tale of 19th Century Omaha. Caxton Press.
• Larsen, L.C. and Cotrell, B.J. (1997) The Gate City: A History of Omaha. University of Nebraska Press. p 144.
• Nebraska Writers Project (1938) Negros in Nebraska Workers Progress Administration.
• (1993) A History of UNO. University of Nebraska at Omaha. Retrieved 5/29/07.
• (2004) "Omaha Was Bombed During WWII: Keeping Secret Was Some People's Effort To Help War," KETV.com. 7/14/07. Retrieved 7/7/07.
• Dundee Bombing. HistoricOmaha.com. Retrieved 7/7/07.</ref>

[edit] External links

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

This article uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at History_of_Omaha,_Nebraska. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the CC by-sa 3.0 License.

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