Omaha Landmark: Flat Iron Hotel and Restaurant.

 The Flat Iron was constructed in 1912 as an office building.  It is on a diagonal street, 1722 St. Mary's, a block from the Orpheum Theater.  In 1912 it had 10 storefronts on the bottom floor.  The upper floors had 96 bachelor rooms.  After only a couple years it was remodeled as a hotel and restaurant.  It catered to men only.  It was when it reopened that it sported a restaurant.  It is four stories.  It is a triangle shaped building with the point of the triangle constituting a tower.  The upscale restaurant is on the lower floor.  It now features 30 luxury apartments.  There were rumors that during the 20s and 30s it harbored a criminal element.  The novel "King of Broken Things" is about gangsters using the Flatiron and using tunnels under the building.  It has an iron spiral staircase.  During the 50s and 60s it fell on hard times, as did the neighborhood.  For a time there was talk of demolition and building something new.  However it survives and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It is an Omaha landmark.  The restaurant has gone through several iterations.  Recently it housed the restaurant Dirty Birds.  It now houses an upscale restaurant.  

Buffett Family Grocery Store in Omaha; as per Durham Museum

The Buffett store was owned by the grandfather of Warren Buffett.  The doscent shared that when Warren was young he would buy soda at the store at 6 for 25 cents.  He would then go around his neighborhood and sale soda door-to-door at 5 cents a bottle.

Personal Service Cornerstone of Buffett Business
In 1869, Sidney Buffett opened his grocery business in the young city of Omaha.
S.H. Buffett Grocery Store in 1869
The S.H. Buffett Gro ery Stor occupied a small storefront at 315 s. 14th Street in Omaha.
Getting fresh food and staples to stock the store was a challenge.  Food sold at the market came from local farmers, by steamship, and by rail.  Most goods in the store were bought and sold in bulk.  Wild game was plentiful.
Eggs cost 10 cents a dozen and butter sold for 15 cents a pound.  Wild duck was available at two for 25 cents.  Jackrabbits were 10 cants each.

 

Book Review: The World of Native Americans

 The World of Native Americans by Marion Wood, consultant Colin Taylor, Peter Bedrick Books, New York, 1997.

This b ook starts with talking about the history of the Native Americans in preColumbian times.  This includes talking of the mound builders.  

It then divides the Native American world into eight geographical regions:

Southeastern Woodlands. The Natchez is one group that was completed wiped out, to war and disease when the white man came.  Other groups adjusted to white ways.  This included the Cherokee, Creek and Choctaw.  The Seminole resisted White encroachment be moving further south into the swamps.  Many were removed to Oklahoma.

Northeastern Woodlands were generally farmers.  The Iroquois were great farmers.  They relied mostly on the "three sisters" corn, squash and beans.  The league of Iroquois was made up of five tribes, Mohawk, Cayuga, Oneida, Seneca and Onandaga.  The Tuscarora later joined.  This region also included Great Lakes tribes.  The Iroquois lived in great lodges.  Several lodges were included in a walled in community.

The Northern Forests region includes most of canada and into Alaska.  People in this area had to adjust to dolc temperatures and snow.  They used snow shoes and toboggans.  

The Plateau and Basin. This area includes the Columbia River Basin and the Great Basin in Nevada and Utah where the water drains inward into salt lakes.  The Basin Indians faced much hardship.  The hunted smaller game and dug for roots.

California The area of California has many different native American groups.  

Northwest Coast. Native American in this area were dependent on what the could produce from the ocean.  Their were whaling groups in specially constructed kayaks.  They would make totems as special spiritual symbols.  

The Great Plains. The area between the Mississippi and the great basin saw many native American groups whose primary resource was the buffalo.  This would require a nomadic lifestyle.  Some groups followed the buffalo, while others would have permanent homes, but temporary homes when the went on the annual buffalo hunt.  The Sun dance would also sometimes be part of the buffalo hunt.  The Sioux, Blackfoot and Pawnee are examples of Great Plains tribes.

Southwest. This is again a desert area.  Very fine pottery comes out of this area.  The Hopi had many special spiritual customs incluing the Kachina doll.  The Navajo became very adept at weaving blankets.

Very good book for general information.   

Book Review: Omaha's Easter Tornado of 1913

 Omaha's Easter Tornado of 1913: Images of America. by Travis Sing, Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, South Carolina, 2003.

A very informative book of what took place in Omaha Easter Sunday March 23, 1913 in the early evening.  As part of a cluster of tornadoes in the midwest, a level F4 tormado hit Omaha, starting in Ralston (84th and 275) and heading northeast passing Dodge Street at about 40th and then going through Bemis Park, going through the neighborhood of ake Street at 24th and continuing on to Carter Lake passing just south of Kountze Park.  The tornado caused 135 deaths (according to the book AI says 103) and over 350 injuries.  An F4 tornado has winds over 200 mph and can cause significant damage.  It had a path about 5 blocks wide.  It caused millions of dollars in damage at 1913 prices.  This book offers about a paragraph in every chapter, and then provides lots of pictures.

In order the districts mentioned, Ralston.  The small village of Ralston was mostly destroyed.  Ralston is surrounded on three sides by Omaha.  The stove works in town lost their roof.  Many factories sustained heavy damage.  Six people saved themselves by crawling into a large freezer.

West Farnam also suspended heavy damage.  Many homes were off their foundation.  Even a Trolley was over turned.  Homes lost roofs and windows were shattered.  

Cathedral District.  The Joselyn Castle was hit, but only sustained minor damage because of the fine construction.  The grounds and green house however suffered heavy damage.  St. Cecilia's which was under construction did not suffer any damage, but the associated parochial school and the bishop's house did.  

The Bemis Park area hard hit.  The park had many fallen trees, as did the residences.  Many were injured and killed in the area.  Many homes came crashing down.  

The area with the most killed was the Lake and 24th area.  Passengers of a street car were saved when the conductor stopped and sent eople to seek shelter.  All the windows were blown out and many injured.  Diamond Theater collapsed, but none killed.  Idlewood Pool Hall was picked up by th storm, and then crashed back down to earth.  25 perished but three were pulled alive from the rubble.  The Kountze Place neighborhood was also hard hit.  A round house was destroyed in a train yard, and a bridge over Carter Lake was destroyed.

There was some luck with the tornado.  There was rain with the storm which limited the damage from fires.  The fires were mostly caused by ruptured gas lines.  

Relief and recovery efforts following the tornado were extraordinary and heroic.  People gave up time to volunteer and work and communication, clean up and eventuall rebuilding.  

Book Review: These Were the Sioux

 These Were the Sioux by Mari Sandoz, Illustrations from Amos Bad Heart Bull and Kills Two, University Of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1961.

Mari Sandoz was a neighbor to the Sioux and she writes from her experience as a friend to the Sioux.  This is a very good book about Sioux culture.

Some examples of Sioux culture that I found interesting:  The often had second parents assigned and would keep the birth parents from having to provide harsh discipline.

The book provides insight into Sioux custom with regards to gender roles.  There is a large party after a young woman has her first period.  The children play together until about ten when boys and girls have separate activities.  There are specific guidelines for courtship, which is mostly done by the watering hole when the young women get water.  There are also rules around marriage.  Th more formal is done via gifts, while there are those who just go off together.  

This book describes the Sun Dance which was performed in conjunction with the buffalo hunt.  Part of the ritual was to bring on dreams.  Sitting Bull had such a dream where he saw many whites coming into camp.  This was shortly Before Cusger and his men attacked the camp and were destroyed.  

John J. Pershing Memorial, North Omaha

 On John J. Pershing Drive in north Omaha is the John J. Pershing Memorial, who was the general of the Allied forces in WWI.  It is on the river side just north of Craig.

John J. Pershing
General of the Aries of the United States
This marker commemorates dedication of Pershing Drive
November 11, 1941

Book Review: The Cherokees: A First Americans Book

 The Cherokees: A First Americans Book by Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, illustrated by Ronald Himler, Holiday House, New York, 1996.

The original Cherokee territory included northern Georgia and Alabama and then most of Tennessee and also parts of South and North Carolina.  They had different homes in summer and winter.  Winter homes were circular and larger.  They had a fire burning in the center day and night.  Summer homes were oblong and smaller.  A village would have 30-60 homes.  There was no chief of all the Cherokee, thee would be council meetings with several communities.

The men enjoyed sports.  Villages were built around squares which were used for dancing or games.  The men participated in stickball, a game similar to lacrosse.  There were 50 en per team and villages would play eachother.  Games were often accompanied by dances.

Women also participated in government and there were female councils held.  women were considered sacred.  The planted and raised crops, cared for livestock, smoked meat, tanned hides and made and repaired clothing.

Children, boys and girls played together until about ten years ole.  Then the participated in gender related activities, boys learning to hunt and girls to help their mothers.  Listening to stories was a common pastime for children.

Ceremony and dance were important to Cherokee communities; especially the green corn dance.  Part of this ceremony was starting new.  They would clean their home, get rid of or repair torn and old clothing,  They would also put ut their fires.  Then a medicine man would start a new fire and torches would go from that to all the homes to start new fires.

Contact with white men brought change.  Many tried to adopt white ways.  They were "civilized."  However the Cherokee land kept shrinking with whites taking more and more.  Cherokee became literate based on Sequoyah's alphabet.  Many of them also dressed in White man clothes.

Even so President Jackson decided the Cherokee had to move, and Congress voted with him.  Major John Ridge who was the elected chief at the time accepted the treaty of New Echola.  He was afraid Georgia would just take their land with no recompense.  They were to receive $5 million to move west.  Many did not want to leave, but 17,000 Cherokee left for Indian Territory.  This was the Trail of Tears.  Four thousand Cherokee died on the trek.  

There are still Cherokee in the east.  A band of 400 were left in North Carolina.  This became the eastern Cherokee.

In Oklahoma there is no longer a Cherokee reservation, but there is a government.  Their land was allotted, giving each family land but also making some available to white settlers.