There is an unbelievable wealth of historical information at the Durham Museum. I really enjoyed the time line (copied below) of Nebraska and then more specifically, the Omaha area. There were some cool photos along with the timeline information as well.
One set of photos that I did not get good shots of were all of the same area, photographed from approximately the same location of the massive changes in the downtown Omaha area. It was really cool since the first one was in the late 1800s, then the early 1900s, then the 1940s and finally early 2000s. Amazing!!
Anyway, here is a timeline from the museum with some photos following:
1800—The Omaha Indians, who occupied this land for nearly a century, are stricken with a smallpox epidemic which claims the life of Chief Black Bird
1803—In the Louisiana Purchase, the United States buys from France a tract of land stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Northwest.
1804—The Lewis and Clark expedition reaches present-day Nebraska. Moving north, the explorers meet with the Otoe and Missouria tribes at the Council Bluff.
1807—A party of Missouri Fur Company traders, led by Manuel Lisa, travel up the Missouri River.
1811—Maryland attorney and naturalist Henry M. Brackenridge, accompanying Manuel Lisa on his second excursion up the Missouri River, records in great detail the site on which Omaha stands.
An American Fur Company party led by Wilson P. Hunt ascends the Missouri River past where Omaha now stands. Naturalist John Bradbury accompanies this expedition, recording his observations.
1819--Major Stephen Long’s party, aboard the steamer Western Engineer, passes the plateau on which the City of Omaha would later be located.
Manuel Lisa establishes the first of many trading posts for the new Missouri Fur Company. Located at the old Council Bluff, the post is dubbed “Fort Lisa.”
1820—Joshua Pilcher takes over management of the Missouri Fur Company post at the old Council Bluff.
Fort Atkinson is established near the old Council Bluff. It is abandoned in 1827 when its troops are transferred to Fort Leavenworth.
1822—Traders found the town of Bellevue with the establishment of a second Missouri Fur Company post.
1825—John P. Cabanne establishes a trading post for the American Fur Company near the entrance of modern-day Hummel Park.
1832—The Office of Indian Affairs establishes an Indian agency at Bellevue for the Pawnee, Omaha, Oto and Missouria tribes.
1833—Baptist missionaries Moses and Eliza Merrill begin their work among the Oto Indians at Bellevue.
1836—In the Bellevue Treaty, the Omaha Indians cede their lands east of the Missouri River to the United States and agree to settle near Bellevue.
1838—Jesuit missionary and keen Indian observer Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet arrives in Missouri River country.
1845—Fur trader Peter Sarpy begins operating a ferry across the Missouri River.
Presbyterian missionaries arrive in Bellevue.
1846—Mormons under Brigham Young take up winter quarters in Florence, Nebraska.
1848—The settlement that is now the city of Council Bluffs, Iowa is named Kanesville in honor of Thomas L. Kane, a military officer who was influential in the western migration of the Mormons. The settlement had previously been called either Miller’s Hollow or Miller’s Hill.
1854—The Omaha tribe cedes their Nebraska lands in exchange for a reservation at Black Bird Hill.
The Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company begins making regular trips by steamer across the Missouri to the future site of Omaha.
The Kansas-Nebraska Act officially declares Nebraska a territory. Omaha City opens for settlement.
William and Rachel Snowden become Omaha City’s first permanent white residents.
1855—The Nebraska Territorial Legislature holds its first meeting in Omaha, and votes it the territorial capitol.
1858—The Herndon House Hotel opens for business.
1859—Omaha becomes a major outfitting center for the Colorado Gold Rush.
1860—The first telegraphic communication between Omaha and the east is made.
1861—America erupts in Civil War.
Edward Creighton begins constructing a telegraph line from Omaha to the west coast.
1863—The Union Pacific Railroad breaks ground in Omaha.
1865—Civil War ends.
1867—Nebraska becomes a state, and moves the capitol to Lincoln.
Omaha Horse Railway Company begins operation.
1869—Omaha High School is constructed on the grounds of the old territorial capitol.
1871—Ezra Millard lays out the town of Millard.
Edward Rosewater begins publishing the Omaha Bee.
1872—After 5 years of construction, Union Pacific rail bridge opens.
1874—Grasshopper plague hits Nebraska.
1878—Creighton College is founded.
1879—In a landmark trial, Ponca Indian Chief Standing Bear wins rights establishing Indians as persons within the meaning of the law.
Telephone service comes to Omaha.
1883—Northwester Electric Light Company provides Omaha’s first electric illumination.
1884—City of South Omaha is laid out and the Union Stockyards are founded.
1885—Gilbert M. Hichcock founds the Omaha World newspaper.
1888—The first passenger bridge across the Missouri River between Omaha and Council Bluffs opens charging 5 cents per person, 5 cents per horse, and 5 cents per wagon.
George W. Lininger opens an art gallery in his home at 224 North 18th Street.
1889—Omaha’s first black newspaper, The Progress, publishes its first issue.
1890—Thomas Henry Tibbles covers the Battle of Wounded Knee for the Omaha World-Herald.
1892—Omaha’s “boss” Tom Dennison moves to Omaha and establishes a political machine.
1893—The Panic of 1893 wreaks havoc on Omaha’s economy.
1894—William Jennings Bryan becomes editor-in-chief of the Omaha World-Herald.
Knights of Ak-Sar-Ben crown their first king and queen.
1898—The Prague Hotel, a center of social activity for the Czech community, is constructed.
Omaha hosts the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition to promote the agricultural and economic progress of the region.
1905—Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company is established.
Building trades strikes in downtown area known as “Jobbers Canyon” provoke public opposition to organized labor by Omaha Businessmen’s Association.
Construction begins on St. Cecelia’s Cathedral designed by Omaha architect Thomas Kimball. (The building is completed in 1959, 25 years after Kimball’s death.)
1906—J. L. Brandeis & Sons, a modern department store, opens for business at 16th and Douglas Streets.
James C. Dahlman is elected to his first of many terms as mayor of Omaha, through the efforts of Tom Dennison’s political machine.
1908—The University of Omaha is established at 24th and Pratt Streets.
1913—The Easter Sunday Tornado devastates sections of the city.
1914—World War I begins in Europe.
1915—Omaha annexes the Dundee and South Omaha communities. Development of the Happy Hollow area begins.
1916—Fort Omaha becomes a United States Army balloon school.
Noble Johnson founds the Lincoln Film Company, a black film production company dedicated to combating racial stereotypes.
1917—Omaha annexes the Florence and Benson communities.
US enters World War I.
Father Flanagan’s first Home for Boys opens at 25th and Dodge Street.
1918—From its beginnings in the black community, the Dan DesDunes Band becomes the official Chamber of Commerce band, leading the Ak-Sar-Ben electric parades.
1919—Many African-Americans immigrating north take jobs as strike breakers. Racial tension erupts in courthouse riots and the lynching of William Brown.
1920—Peony Park opens.
1921—Father Flanagan moves Boys Town to Overlook Farm, between present-day 132nd to 144th and Dodge Streets.
1923—Omaha’s first commercial radio station WOAW, now WOW, begins broadcasting.
James Jewel, Sr. build the Jewell Building at 2221 North 24th Street. As Dreamland Ballroom, it becomes the entertainment center for Omaha’s African-American community, attracting big bands such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie.
1925—Henry Fonda makes his stage debut at the Omaha Community Playhouse in You and I.
Black activist Malcolm X is born Malcolm Little in Omaha.
1927—Orpheum Theater opens.
1931—Union Pacific’s Union Station on South 10th Street opens.
1937—The film Boys’ Town premiers in Omaha.
Rose Blumkin founds Nebraska Furniture Mart.
The University of Omaha’s Arts and Sciences Hall is built, partly with WPA funds.
1938—Mildred Brown begins publishing The Omaha Star.
1939—Omaha hosts the world premiere of the film, Union Pacific, in conjunction with celebration of “Golden Spike Days.”
Benson High School graduate Nile Kinnick wins football’s Heisman Trophy while playing for the University of Iowa.
World War II begins in Europe.
1941—Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. United States enters World War II. Over 25,000 Omahans serve during the war.
1942—The Martin Bomber plant, employing over 14,000 people, begins building bomber planes for the war. The B-29s that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Enola Gay and Bock’s Car, are eventually built here.
The Omaha World-Herald initiates the National Scrap Drive to collect needed materials for the war effort.
1948—Packing house workers strike against all of the “Big Four” meatpackers.
Elizabeth Davis Pittman becomes the first black woman to graduate from the Creighton Law School and also the first black woman to practice law in Nebraska.
Offutt Air Force Base becomes the home of the Strategic Air Command.
1949—Television comes to Omaha. A young Johnny Carson begins hosting a daily 15-minute local show on WOW-TV.
1950—NCAA College World Series begins its long association with Omaha.
1952—As flood waters crest at 31 feet, workers rush to save Omaha and Council Bluffs from destruction.
1954—Omaha celebrates its centennial with the “historic spectacle” Omaha! Chuck Wagon of America which features a cast of 1500.
1955—The Omaha Stockyards surpass Chicago’s as the busiest in the world.
Omaha’s streetcars make their final run.
1960—At the Rome Olympics, basketball great Bob Boozer becomes the only African-American Nebraska athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.
1961—Interstate 80 comes to Omaha.
1967—Cudahy Packing Company, one of the Big Four meatpackers, closes its Omaha operation. Armour, Swift, and Wilson soon follow.
1968—Omaha native and St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson wins the first of his two National League Cy Young Awards.
Racial tensions surrounding George Wallace’s presidential bid and visit to Omaha erupt in riots.
Development of the Old Market area begins through the efforts of Sam Mercer.
1969—Omaha Royals play their first game at Rosenblatt Stadium.
Woodman Tower is erected.
1971—Elizabeth Davis Pittman becomes the first African-American—as well as first female—judge for the Omaha Municipal Court.
Omaha annexes the town of Millard.
Amtrak takes over the nation’s passenger trains. Omaha Union Station closes.
1973—Omaha City Council votes to appropriate $2,375,000 to begin construction of Central Park Mall.
1975—Omaha is paralyzed by a blizzard in which the National Guard rescues 400 stranded motorists. Five people die is storm-related incidents.
A tornado decimates a two thousand square-block area of Omaha, causing $121 million in damage.
The Western Heritage Museum is founded and takes up residence at Union Station.
1980—Downtown Brandeis store closes.
1985—Telemarketing becomes an 11,000 employee business in Omaha.
1988—ConAgra breaks ground on its new campus following the destruction of the city’s abandoned “Jobber’s Canyon” district.
1989—Union Pacific opens the Harriman Dispatching Center on South 10th Street.
1994—Joslyn Art Museum opens a $15.9 million, 58,000 square-foot addition.
1996—The Western Heritage Museum begins a multi-million dollar restoration and renovation.
1999—The Omaha Stockyards close.
2002—The First National Tower, the tallest building between Minneapolis and Denver, Colorado, is completed.
2003—Qwest Center Omaha opens.
2005—The Holland Performing Arts Center opens.
2006—Omahan Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest people, announces plan to donate most of his wealth in the largest charitable contribution in United States history.
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