H.W.S. Cleveland was head of the parks in Omaha from 1889-1894 and designed a comprehensive park system.
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| This plaque is from Hanscom Park. The same plaque is at Elmwood Park. These are two of the original six large parks which were connected by a boulevard system. River View Park is now Doorly Zoo. Others included Miller Park, Kountz Park, Bemis and Fontanelle Parks. It also includes Fontanelle Boulevard and Carter Lake Parks. |
Spotlight on Native Americans: Muscogee (Creek) by Ralph Waterby, Rosen Publishing Group, New York, 2016,
This trib prefer to call themselves Muscogee, their traditional name. Europeans called them Creek because they lived near creeks in the southeast, Georgia and Alabama. Europeans prized their land, and eventually the government forced all of the Muscogee in Georgia to move, and most in Alabama. They moved to the reservation in Oklahoma. The were forced to move in the winter of 1836-37. The Indian removal Act called for Native Americans to leave voluntarily. Those who did not leave voluntarily were forced to go. 20,000 were moved to Oklahoma. 3500 died on the trail. William McIntosh had agreed to sell Muscogee land. In this he broke the law as there was no council. He was put to death.
During the Civil War the Muskogee tribe was divided, some supporting the Union and others fought with the Confederacy. Those fighting for the Confederacy killed many Muscogee.
The traditional Muscogee had an abundant life. The had good soil for raising crops, corn, squash and beans. There was also game to hunt. They lived in rectangular houses built from wood. The enjoyed the Green-corn ceremony every year. Corn was their sustaining crop which never failed, even in times of drought.
Today the Muscogee people seem to thrive. There are nearly 100,000. The greater portion are in Oklahoma with their capital being Okmulgee. There is also a significant group in Alabama, the Poarch Band of Creek.
Joy Harjo and Cynthia Leitich Smith are authors of poetry and children's books and are members of the Muscogee Nation.
This book provides background information and introduces themes bearing further study such as the Trail of Tears.
Strategies and Stories of the Omaha Stockyards by James P. Leary and Stephen Berigan, RRH Creation Printing and Book Publication, Monee, Illinois, 2025.
I found parts of this book very fascinating, and another part not so much. However the book starts with the ins and outs of the Stockyard business from the perspective of a broker. The process of selling cattle, without a paper contract but a handshake was very interesting. The Omaha Stockyards were the largest in the world for a time, and then the bubble burst as people started building meat packing plants closer to the cattle rather than shipping cattle great distances. The stockyards went form 1883 to 1997. The livestock exchange building still stands and is a medical clinic and apartment building with two dance floors. The property is now Metro Community College.
Willie Brown was murder in 1919, lynched by a mob of rioters outside the courthouse in Omaha. He had been accused of raping a white woman, which he denied. He never received any type of trial. The mayor was taken and threatened with death if he did not give up Will Brown. The court was started on fire threatening those in the courthouse. The mayor was hung, but rescued. Finally the mob was able to get ahold of Will Brown, and they hung him. After he was dead the riddled his body with bullets, and then they burned his body. No one was made to account for these deeds. These displays are from the Great Plains Black History Museum.
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| death certificate |
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| Mob Boss Tom Dennison may have been behind the riot, using newspapers to enflame hatred. He wanted to put the mayor in a bad light. |
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| Will Brown burned |
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| The court house was burned |
There have been two Bellevue Universities. The first was on Elk Hill in Bellevue close to the downtown area. The second is at its current location close to Fort Crook and Harvel. When the college was being build the remains of Big Elk were remove and moved to Bellevue Cemetery. The tornado of 1908 hit the college and caused significant damage to several of the buildings. After this is never really recovered and closed a few yeas later. It served veterans after WWI and then was used as housing during WWII in support of the plane factory at Offutt.
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| Parking where the University use to be. |
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| Bellevue College On October 16, 1880, this Presbyterian Liberal Arts College was organized, first classes were held September 10, 1883 with 26 students. The original college contained 264 acres. 200 acres were sold in 1920 to the St. Columban's seminary. In 1900, college enrollment was over 200 students under the leadership of Rev. David R. Kerr. In 1910 The Presbyterian Church withdrew its support and the college became known as University of Omaha Bellevue. The college had hopes of leading theological institution, but suffered a lack of financial support forcing it to close in 1919. Its assets and records were given to Hastings College, Nebraska. The building were latter used to educate World War I veterans. |
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| Looking towards Columban Mission which use to be part of the college. |
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| looking towards Missouri River |
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| screen shot of map shows three buildings from old Bellevue University. However I think they have now been torn down. |
Romance of a Village: Story of Bellevue: The first permanent continuous settlement in Nebraska by William J. Shallcross, Centennial Souvenir Edition, Roncka Brothers Printers, Omaha, Nebraska, 1954.
This book is limited by when it was published, but it does provide some interesting information about the history of Omaha up until Offutt was created as the Strategic Air Command. It starts with the Lewis and Clark expedition, and then continues onto early trading posts and trapping. Manuel Lisa gave the area its name because of the view he observed long ago. Peter Sarpy was also an early trade post operator but after Lucien Fontanelle. Sarpy also ran a ferry. He talks about relationships with the Omaha Indians, Chief Big Elk. Bellevue had an early Indian agency.
Early visits to Bellevue included Prince Maximilian and Karl Bodmer the artists. Also Friederich Kurz the Swiss artist visited the area. Mormons came through the Bellevue area in 1846, and gold miners soon after. There was also a significant missionary effort to the Native Americans from the Baptists and Presbyterians. This ended when the Omaha left to their permanent reservation in 1856.
Bellevue could be considered the first territorial capitol, located at the mission; but the governor lived only one day after being sworn in. The people of Council Bluffs and the Lieutenant Governor preferred the Omaha area. So Bellevue missed out on the capital, and a few years later would also missed out on the railroad and the first bridge over the Missouri. In missing the bridge this was partly because flooding had wiped out the footing on the Iowa side opposite Bellevue. The bone tossed to Bellevue was that of the county seat, when Douglass county was divided and Sarpy County made. However this was given to Papillion to create a more central location.
Bellevue lost out on much, but began to establish itself as an education site with Bellevue University, a Christian University. However after the tornado of 1908, the school never really recovered and closed. After this the town of Bellevue struggled with few residents, until WWII. At this time a bomber manufacturing plant was established at Fort Crook. This added greatly to the population of the area, and was responsible for the creation of a downtown commercial area on Mission. However it was feared at the end of the war the city would dry up. This was adverted when the federal governemnt decided to place the SAC at the location of the old plant and Offutt was created from Fort Crook.
As mentioned this history is limited by its publication date. Much more history and expansion has taken place since the 1950s and Bellevue is now the third largest city in Nebraska.
Shoshone, Native American Nations by F.A.Bird, Checkerboard Library, and Imprint of Abdo Publishing, North Mankato, Minnesota, 2025.
This is a small book in a series which deals with the Shoshone. The Shoshone had a wide area with many different bands, but shared the same language. There territory extended from Wyoming and Montana, through Idaho and northern Utah and into Nevada and then into the Death Valley area of California. There were many different types of land, desert of the Great Basin and Death Valley, mountains of the Rockies, and Uintahs, valleys and canyons. Those of the easter Shoshone would hunt buffalo, in the north they would catch salmon.
The housing would vary based on season and location. In the summer brush huts would often suffice, and be left up from year to year. However during the winter teepees were more common. They would often make lean-tos to keep off the sun in the summer.
In addition to buffalo and salmon they would eat other small game they would hunt with bows and arrows. They would also hunt smaller animals they would trap with snares. The would also gather nuts and berries as well as camas root which they would make into a flower. Pine nut gathering is an annal tradition among Shoshone where pinyon pine was prevalent.
Craft were are and important activity. Porcupine quill decorations were common. Traditionally they made awls of bone and thread of sinew. Shoshone women would often wear am awl around their neck kept in a leather pouch.
Babies were often kept in cradle boards from which they found comfort when they were wrapped tight. Children had time to play and swim. Older children helped with chores.
Adults would teach children, often through stories about coyote.
Chief Washakie was a chief of the eastern bands. However his influence extended throughout all of Shoshone land. His statue is outside the Wyoming State Capitol.
