History of Omaha area by the Decade from Durham Museum

This history does not start at the beginning.  There is history before 1800, geologic and Native American.

1800s  Lewis and Clark travel up the Missouri after the Louisiana Purchase.  Manuel Lisa leads a group of men up the Missouri representing the Missouri Fur Company

1810s  Fort Lisa is established in the north Omaha area

1820s. Fort Atkinson established north of Omaha.  Second trading post of Missouri Fur Company established in Bellevue.  First American Fur Company Post established north of Omaha.

1830s  Office of Indian Affairs established in Bellevue.  Baptist missionaries establish mission near Bellevue.  Treaty of Bellevue the Omaha Indian cede land east of the Missouri River for land near Bellevue

1840s. Peter Sarpy establishes ferry near Bellevue.  Presbyterian mission is established in Bellevue.  Mormons under Brigham establish temporary residence in Winter Quarters, now Florence, and Kanesville, now Council Bluffs.

1850s. Nebraska becomes a territory and Omaha becomes the capital.  Omaha becomes a major outfitting point for the Colorado Gold Rush

1860s. Civil War takes place, Telegraph and Railway construction begins.  Nebraska becomes a state and the capital is moved to Lincoln.

1870s   Union Pacific railway bridge is completed over the Missouri River.  Creighton University is established in Omaha.  Ponce Indian Chief wins landmark case in Omaha establishing Native Americans as people.  Telephone service comes to Omaha.

1880s Northwestern Electric Light Company brings electricity to Omaha.  First passenger bridge across the Missouri charges 5 cent toll per person.  South Omaha established as meet packing area.

1890s Tom Dennison establishes political maching in Omaha.  Knights of Aksarben crown first king and queen.  Prague Hotel becomes community center of Czech citizens.  Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition takes places in north Omaha.

1900s  Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company established.  J.L. Brandeis & Sons modern department store established.  James C. Dahlman is elected mayor.

1910s tornado hits Omaha.  WWI begins and is ater joined by the United States.  Dundee, South Omaha, Florence and Benson communities are annexed by Omaha.  Father Flanagan opens first boys home.  1919 riots and lynching of William Brown.

1920s radio begins broadcasting. Orpheum Theater is built.  Henry Fonda takes the stage at Omaha Community Playhouse.  Malcolm X is born in Omaha.

1930s. The film Boys Town premiers in Omaha.  WWII begins in Europe.  Omaha Union Station opens.

1940s. Pearl Harbor attacked and AMerica joins WWII.  Martin Bomber Plant at Offutt in Bellevue employs 14,000 people and produces B-29s including those that dropped nuclear bombs in Japan.  National scrap drive is initiated in Omaha.  After the war Offutt becimes Strategic Air Command.  Elizabeth Davis PIttman is first black woman to graduate from Creighton University and practice law in Nebraska.  Television comes to Omaha.

1950s. Omaha stockyards surpass Chicago for busiest in the world.   Omaha's centennial is celebrated.  Street cars discontinue service in 1959.

The meat packing companies in Omaha begin to close.  Bob Boozer wins gold in basketball at the Olympics in Rome becoming the only African American from Omaha to do so.

1898 The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition: Model at Durham Museum

 As I noted in a different b log, most of the world's fair from 1898 is gone except for a small portion that was made into a park.  Durham Museum has a model of the exposition.  A large lagoon was created with surrounding buildings.  The construction was not meant to be permanent and was removed after the exposition.

A model replica under glass

This replica is of larger size and you can walk through the arch.

Music Review: Joanne Shenandoah, Orenda: Native American Songs of Life

 This can be found on Your Tube

Joanne Shenandoah, Orenda: Native American Songs of Life, with Lawrence Laughing, AllMusic, 1998.

This is some beautiful music.  They sing in their native language, Mohawk.  However there is included a type of written narration which gives some idea of what is being said.  These are songs for the long house.  The music and harmony are very nice. They sing alone, and then sing together and it makes for a nice blend.  There are a couple times when they have narration under the vocal or instrumental and this I didn’t care for.  It was usually too soft to actually hear. 

My favorite song is “In Love.”  It has a lively celebratory tone.  You can feel the happiness of being in love.  This is the Mohawk rabbit Song, a traditional dance in which the women select their partner and they dance around the singers.  An elder said the Rabbit Dance was like a marriage ‘two steps forward, one back.”

Dundee Was a Street Car Subdivision Before Being Annexed into Omaha

 Dundee has a nice memorial to the street car.  It is at Underwood and Happy Hollow.  Dundee centered around the street car because you could work in Omaha and take the street car back and forth.  Such communities were quite common.  There was even a street car bridge over the Missouri River to Council Bluffs.  As the car became more popular the street cars faded into history.

Documentary Review: CNN Tribute: America Remembers: The Events of September 11 and America's Response (2007)

 This documentary is about the reporter's different stories of 9/11.  We all have our own 9/11 story and have seen the after effects over the past 24 years.  Many of these people were closer to the actual action and share some interesting insights.  They focused a great deal on the people who perished, and the memorials.  They also focused on the reaction of President Bush.  They reviewed going to war in Afghanistan and the Taliban quickly fleeing.  There was a subsequent anthrax attack in the United States.

Native American Biography: Tantoo Cardinal

 Tantoo was born in Canada.  She is of mixed Cree and Métis through her mother and has a white father.  Her mother taught her the Métis way and Tantoo learned to act from her.  She grew up in a city without electricity so used lots of imagination in her play.  Her name Tantoo is a nickname given her by her mother after the mosquito repellant they used.

She has been in numerous movies, including: Dances with Wolves, Loyalties, Smoke Signals and Killers of the Flower Moon.  She has also had recurring roles on television, Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman, North of 60 and Moccasin Flats.  She was nominated for Genie Award for best actress for Loyalties.  She is also honored as Aboriginal Walk of Honor in Canada.

She has been an environmental advocate and was arrested for protesting the Keystone pipeline. 

 

Japanese Incendiary Device Exploded Over Omaha; Dundee

 After Doolittle's Raid, in which 16 B-25 B Mitchell Medium Bombers bombed the Japanese mainland in April of 1942, the Japanese retaliated by sending over 6300 floated incendiary devices towards the United States.  About 1000 of them reached the coast and of those 250 were accounted for.  The idea was they would float on the prevailing wind currents and wreak havoc over the U.S.  Some of them exploded.  In the casse of the bomb over Omaha, no one was injured.  However in Portland a family was killed.  The devices were not reported for fear the Japanese would gather information based on the sitings.  As they were not reported the Japanese became discouraged and stopped sending them.  

This is the corner in Omaha where a bomb exploded.  5003 Underwood.