1918 Influenza pandemic

Douglas County has endured the tragedy of a pandemic multiple times since its beginning in 1854.  Records provide some idea of how the influenza pandemics of 1889, 1899, 1957, 1968, and the H1N1 influenza pandemic of 1997 affected our community. The catastrophic...

Ribbon of Destruction: The 1913 Douglas County Tornado

Sunday, March 23, 1913 marked the happy religious celebrations of both Easter and the Jewish holiday of Purim.  The joy ended at 6 pm when a monster tornado, one of six in Eastern Nebraska, virtually obliterated the new industrial suburb of Ralston and cut a wide...

Boyd Opera House

“Whoever causes a smile to ripple upon the lips, whoever causes a gleam of joy in the eye where a tear drop is about to fall, has done something for humanity,” said J.M. Thurston responding to James E. Boyd’s speech at the opening of the Second Boyd’s Theater.[i] Boyd...

The Benson Bank Robbery

“Finn Brothers Will Resist Extradition” (5 January 1920), Omaha World Herald, pg. 4. Many things happened in Omaha, Nebraska in 1920. Public transportation, mostly streetcars, reached 61 million riders. Omaha’s population reached 191,601 which included 10,315 African...

St. Joseph’s Day

On Sunday, March 15, 2020, the Omaha Polish Club at 201 E. 1st  Street in Papillion, Nebraska celebrated their St. Joseph’s Day Celebration. Traditionally, Polish Catholics celebrate this holiday on March 19. St. Joseph’s Day celebrates St. Joseph, Patron Saint of,...

Bishop James Miles O’Gorman

Priests of the Society of Jesus were the first missionaries to Native Americans in the Nebraska Territory. In 1859, around 35 Catholic families lived in Omaha, but only 20 were tiding to the Church.[i] Governor Thomas Cummings (1827-1858) wrote Archbishop of Kansas,...

Metropolitan Community College’s Telecommunication Tower

On June 27, 1991, Metropolitan Community College (Metro) broke ground on a controversial 199-foot telecommunications tower on the northwest corner of the Fort Omaha campus. The tower’s purpose was to support the distance-learning program so that students could take a...

John Kerns’ Saloon

John Kerns’ Saloon On 215 South Fourteenth Street, in the Third Ward, sat a cramped saloon. Patrons knew the proprietor, John Kerns, for selling good liquor and maintaining a, “gentleman’s saloon.” The Excise Board granted him a liquor license on January 3, 1896....

USS Hazard

USS Hazard Along the Missouri River, Freedom Park sits at 2497 Freedom Park Road. Opened in 1974, it comprises a 12-acre tract of city-owned land near the Greater Omaha Marina. On exhibit are the cold-war era submarine USS Marlin (SST-2), Douglas A-4C Skyhawk, and LTV...
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