Historic Omaha

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Woodmen employees pose in front of their
headquarters office at Fifteenth and Howard
Streets in 1905.
WOODMEN OF THE WORLD
LIFE INSURANCE SOCIETY
Farmers had barely recovered from the
blizzard of 1888 when the drought of the
early 1890s took hold. Even in Douglas
County’s fertile bottomland, total crop failure
became the rule rather than the exception. It
didn’t seem to be an auspicious time to create
a new fraternal society.
But none of that deterred Joseph Cullen
Root. He had recently moved to Omaha and
saw a bright future for this bustling river town,
which, from its beginnings 40 years earlier,
had grown to a city of 80,000 people. Root
decided that this was the place to create the
kind of organization he had long imagined.
On June 6, 1890, in the Paxton Hotel at
Fourteenth and Farnam Streets, Root founded
Woodmen of the World Life Insurance
Society. Root and business associates from 10
states met to establish the structure and
mission of the new fraternal society.
Root’s idea for the name “Woodmen” is
thought to have come from a sermon he heard
years earlier that mentioned “woodsmen
clearing away the forests to build homes for
their families.” Root wanted to build an
organization that would shelter its members
with life insurance protection and also reach
out to help others in the spirit of brotherhood
and fraternalism.
The new Society began business operations
a short time later in a one-room office in a
building at 15th and Howard Streets known
as the Sheely Block. Woodmen grew rapidly
and by 1901, the Society boasted a
membership of more than 194,000. By 1910,
that number had tripled to almost 600,000.
In addition to providing life insurance for its
members, Woodmen promoted fraternalism in
a variety of ways. One of its earliest efforts, in
1903, was to create a youth program called
Boys of Woodcraft that emphasized outdoor
activities. Today, the program is known as
Woodmen Rangers ® , and includes more than
123,000 boys and girls who participate in
many fun and educational activities.
In 1912, Woodmen moved to its new
headquarters at Fourteenth and Farnam
Streets. The nineteen-story Woodmen of the
World Building was the tallest office structure
between Chicago and the West Coast.
With an eye to the future, Woodmen
founded one of the nation’s first radio stations
in 1923. Originally called WOAW, it was
renamed WOW (Woodmen of the World) in
1926. In the beginning, the station only
broadcast a few hours a day, from studios
located on the top floor of Woodmen’s
headquarters. In 1927, WOW joined the new
NBC radio network.
Woodmen later sold the station to Meredith
Publishing of Des Moines, Iowa, and in 1947,
used the proceeds to establish a National
Fraternal Service Fund to help its lodges
conduct civic and charitable activities in their
local areas. That same year, Woodmen
instituted a Patriotic Program featuring the
presentation of U.S. flags to schools, churches
and other civic organizations. The program,
which continues today, also includes the
presentation of American Patriot’s Handbooks
to schools and to newly naturalized citizens;
and awards to students for proficiency in
American history. A milestone was reached in
2001 as Woodmen passed the one-million
mark of U.S. flags presented.
By the mid-1960s, with the Society’s
membership steadily growing, it was clear
that Woodmen needed a more spacious
headquarters. In 1966, ground was broken for
the Woodmen Tower. The work was
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