by DCHSADMIN | Dec 17, 2020 | Blog
With all the talk of a COVID-19 vaccine circulating over the past weeks, we thought it would be timely to look at another vaccine story that captured Americans’ attention and imagination 65 years ago. In the 1940s and 50s, parents lived in fear of polio, and doctors...
by DCHSADMIN | Dec 11, 2020 | Blog
In 1857, just three years after Omaha was officially incorporated, the young city established an Omaha Library Association. They disbanded before they were able to open a facility, and it wasn’t until twelve years later, in 1872, that a public collection became...
by DCHSADMIN | Dec 4, 2020 | Blog
Today is National Cookie Day! Did you know that Omaha was once home to “America’s most modern bakery”? In 1932, it was announced that the National Biscuit Company and the Iten Biscuit Company would merge in order to fully occupy the Midwestern market. Otto Barmettler,...
by DCHSADMIN | Nov 20, 2020 | Blog
Those of you who follow us on Facebook may have seen a recent Veteran’s Day post featuring a photograph of a young man named Charles Jackson French. This week, we’d like to take the opportunity to tell a bit more of his story. French was born in Foreman, Arkansas in...
by DCHSADMIN | Nov 12, 2020 | Blog
Rose O’Neill was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania in 1874. When she was a toddler, her parents moved to Battle Creek, Nebraska to try their hand at farming. Her father, William, was a classic book salesman by trade, and the farming venture was fairly short-lived. By...
by DCHSADMIN | Nov 6, 2020 | Blog
This blog post was inspired by a letter the Douglas County Historical Society received from one of George Ronald Pierce’s children detailing his life and accomplishments. George Pierce was born in Sac City, Iowa in 1907. The eldest of five children, he learned the...
by DCHSADMIN | Oct 30, 2020 | Blog
In observation of this weekend’s holiday, today’s focus will be on Omaha’s oldest continuously maintained cemetery. For as long as people have been living on this land, people have been dying on it, too. Well before the city of Omaha was established, native tribes had...
by DCHSADMIN | Oct 23, 2020 | Blog
At last, we’ve arrived at the final installment of our annexation series. The town of Elkhorn was founded in 1865 and platted in 1867 by George Crawford and H.O. Jones. It was officially incorporated on December 30, 1886. The area had first been settled by...
by DCHSADMIN | Oct 17, 2020 | Blog
Like much of the rest of the Omaha area, Millard’s early origins date back to the mid-1850s. At this time, the “development” consisted of a small handful of farms along the Papio Creek about twelve miles southwest of Omaha. By the 1860s, the Union Pacific Railroad ran...
by DCHSADMIN | Oct 9, 2020 | Blog
Erastus Benson was born in Iowa in 1864, the same year as Omaha City. He came to Omaha as a young man and would play a very important role in the city’s early development. Over the course of his life, he practiced law, taught school, wrote poetry, edited a newspaper,...
