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TheNear North Side ofOmaha, Nebraska is the neighborhood immediately north of downtown. It forms the nucleus of the city's historicAfrican-American community, and its name is often synonymous with the entireNorth Omaha area. Originally established immediately after Omaha was founded in 1854, the Near North Side was once confined to the area around Dodge Street and North 7th Street. Eventually, it gravitated west and north, and today it is bordered by Cuming Street on the south, 30th on the west, 16th on the east, and Locust Street to the north. Countless momentous events in Omaha's African American community happened in the Near North Side, including the 1865 establishment of the first Black church in Omaha,St. John's AME; the 1892 election of the first African American state legislator,Dr. Matthew Ricketts; the 1897 hiring of the first Black teacher in Omaha, Ms. Lucy Gamble, the 1910Jack Johnson riots, theOmaha race riot of 1919 that almost demolished the neighborhood and many other events.
The vernacular term "North North Side" fell out of favor in Omaha in the 1970s when theUrban League of Nebraska insisted the media and politicians stop using it, as it was a synonym for white misconceptions of Black people in Omaha. Today, it is not used within the city anymore. Instead, several smaller areas within the old boundaries are identified as neighborhoods including the Long School neighborhood, the Concord Square neighborhood and the Conestoga Place neighborhood. The24th and Lake Historic District and theNicholas Street Historic District are both within the former boundaries of the Near North Side, as well.[1]
Bordered by several historic neighborhoods, includingBemis Park,East Omaha,Kountze Park andSaratoga, the Near North Side is perhaps the oldest, and most significant, of each of these. The community was originally platted in 1855 asScriptown and lots were awarded toNebraska Territory legislators who voted for Nebraska statehood. Consequently, the area was developed quickly, and included a number of prominent homes.[2]
The area grew throughout the last half of the 1800s as Omaha's suburb, with the first streetcars running up and down its main thoroughfares of 24th and 30th Streets. After theTrans-Mississippi Exposition occurred just north of the area in 1898,Kountze Park was developed to serve the area's widely varied racial and ethnic populations.Omaha's Jewish community was founded by eastern European immigrants in the Near North Side neighborhood. Two Jewish synagogues provided social and cultural activities. Other families were secular and Socialist, as were renowned authorTillie Olsen's parents. Olsen worked in the meatpacking plant as a young woman and became a labor organizer in the 1930s before being able to write full-time.Holy Family Catholic Church served successive congregations of German, Irish, Italian and Czech immigrants in the area.[3] There was such a substantial community ofSwedes in the area that a portion of the neighborhood was called "Little Stockholm."[4]
The bustling 24th Street corridor also served these communities, with mixed European immigrant communities mingling with the African American community. Many African Americans moved to Omaha from 1910 to 1950 as part of theGreat Migration.St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church andCalvin Memorial Presbyterian Church were among the churches founded to serve the black community.
TheEaster Sunday tornado of 1913 destroyed much of the Near North Side's businesses and neighborhoods.[5] The Idlewild Pool Hall at 2307 North 24th Street in the heart of the neighborhood was the scene of the greatest loss of life. The owner, C. W. Dillard, and 13 customers were killed as they tried to take shelter on the south side of the pool hall's basement. The victims were crushed by falling debris or overcome by smoke from fires begun when wood stoves used for heating overturned. The postcard image shows the slow process of removing the debris to recover the bodies. The victims were then removed to theWebster Telephone Exchange Building at 2213 Lake Street. More than 50 people died at one intersection during the storm.[6] One report identified this building as a central headquarters in recovering the community, as the many operators went to work despite the building missing all of its windows.[7]
In September 1919, afterRed Summer, a mob of white ethnics, chiefly immigrants and immigrant descendants fromSouth Omaha, lynched an African-American worker namedWill Brown. The riot followed weeks of increasing tensions inflamed by local newspapers and vice boss Tom Dennsion. Brown's body was burned after his death. After the mob was done with Brown, they attacked police cars and blacks on the street. They were prevented from invading the Near North Side by soldiers called in fromFort Omaha.[8] In addition, the military commander stationed troops in South Omaha to prevent any more mobs from forming.
Throughout its history, students attended a variety of area schools, includingOmaha High andTech High, both just outside the community's boundaries.
After the riot, landlords and developers began using race-restrictivecovenants. Properties for rent and sale were restricted on the basis of race, with the primary intent of keeping North Omaha "black" and the rest of the city "white". These agreements were held in place withredlining,[9] a system of segregated insuring and lending reinforced by the federal government. These restrictions were ruled illegal in 1940.
During the Depression, the federal government built theLogan Fontenelle Housing Projects in Near North Omaha to improve housing for working families. In 1938 it was a significant improvement over where most had been living, as was a counterpart project in South Omaha. The first residents were Eastern European immigrant families.
Hose Company #12, and later Hose Company #11, hired the first African-Americanfirefighters to serve the Near North Side. One of the two stations was located at 20th and Lake Streets.[10]
During the height of theJazz Age, theDreamland Ballroom was the highlight of what is widely regarded as Near North Omaha's golden years. It was the largest venue for performances by local and national musicians. From the 1920s through the early 1960s, the neighborhood's cultural scene was vibrant. When the Dreamland Ballroom closed in the 1960s, it was an indication of changing tastes in music and the influence of television, but also of decline.
Wallace Thurman, widely considered one of the great writers of theHarlem Renaissance, grew up in the Near North Side, along with jazz saxophonistPreston Love, political leaderGeorge Wells Parker and military heroAlfonza W. Davis.Malcolm X's father Earl Little was a pastor in Near North Omaha when Malcolm was born there in 1926, but the family moved away when he was small.
The mid-century loss of 10,000 industrial jobs from restructuring of railroads and the meat processing industry meant increasing poverty among people who stayed. The demographics of the housing projects changed along with conditions in the city. By the late 1960s, the Logan Fontenelle Projects were inhabited almost entirely by poor andlow-income African Americans. By the early 2000s both of the projects were torn down and replaced with other public housing schemes, including developments with a mix of market-rate housing.
In July 1966 theNational Guard was called in fromFort Omaha to quell two days of rioting in North Omaha after local youth burnt down several area businesses along the 24th Street corridor.[11] That same yearA Time for Burning, a documentary featuring North Omaha, was filmed. Later it was nominated for anOscar award for best documentary.
In April 1968, the National Guard quelled North Omaha riots that erupted after theassassination of Martin Luther King Jr. In the summer of 1969, riots broke out after a white Omaha police officer fatally shot a 14-year-old girl namedVivian Strong in the back, in the Logan Fontenelle Projects. Three days of rioting effectively destroyed the Near North Omaha business area.[12]
Construction of theNorth Omaha Freeway in the 1970s is regarded as having added to the decline of Near North Omaha. Research showed that the area experienced a 30 percent housing loss and major increase in crime following construction of the freeway, which broke up the neighborhood.[13] Additional street planning efforts to disrupt the community are believed to include the construction of a large hotel blocking 16th Street and the conversion ofNorth 24th Street to only one-way traffic.[14]
In 1976,Omaha Public Schools began court-ordered busing to achieve integration, which led many Near North Omaha students away from their community for the first time.[15] This period of social activism was when another generation of leaders emerged, such asErnie Chambers,Brenda Council and Rev.Ken Vavrina.
Since 1975, the community's historic legacy and the larger story of African Americans in the Great Plains has been interpreted by theGreat Plains Black History Museum, started by activistBertha Calloway. This followed her founding of the Negro History Society in 1962. Her nephew has run the museum since Calloway's sickness has caused her retirement.
The bi-annualNative Omaha Days and the long-runningOmaha Star newspaper continue to celebrate the community's culture.
Recently theOmaha Storm Chasers proposed building a $54 million stadium as part of a $170 million redevelopment near the Near North Side Omaha'sQwest Center andCreighton University.[16] However, while the stadium plan went through, the Storm Chasers chose to pull out of the project, feeling that the capacity of 24,000 was too large for the team's needs. The newTD Ameritrade Park Omaha, opened in 2011, will now be used primarily for theCollege World Series, and as the new home for Creighton's baseball program. The Storm Chasers openedtheir own new stadium in the southern suburb ofPapillion in 2011.
Currently the neighborhood has a population of 37,727 and is roughly 65% African-American.
The City of Omaha has recognized many buildings and homes on the Near North Side as landmarks. Several have been recognized as nationally significant as well and listed on theNational Register of Historic Places.[17]
| Name | Year | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Memmen Apartments | 1889 | 2214, 2216, 2218, and 2220 Florence Boulevard | The earliest building included on the NRHP in this neighborhood |
| Broomfield Rowhouse | 1913 | 2502-2504 Lake Street | Built after theEaster Tornado of 1913. |
| Webster Telephone Exchange Building | 1906 | 2213 Lake Street | Site of theGreat Plains Black History Museum. |
| St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church | 1921-56 | 2402 North 22nd Street | |
| Calvin Memorial Presbyterian Church | 1910 | 3105 North 24th Street | |
| Dreamland Ballroom | 1923 | 2221 North 24th Street | |
| Lizzie Robinson House | 1910 | 2864 Corby Street | |
| Holy Family Catholic Church | 1883 | 915 North 18th Street | |
| The Sherman | 1897 | 2501 North 16th Street | |
| Harry Buford House | 1929 | 1804 North 30th Street | |
| Zion Baptist Church | 1913 | 2215 Grant Street | Built after the Easter Tornado of 1913. |
41°16′37″N95°56′30″W / 41.27694°N 95.94167°W /41.27694; -95.94167