Historic Omaha
An illustrated history of Omaha and the Douglas County area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
An illustrated history of Omaha and the Douglas County area, paired with the histories of companies, families and organizations that make the region great.
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✧<br />
The new First National Bank Tower rises<br />
high above the <strong>Omaha</strong> skyline in 2003. It is<br />
the tallest building between Chicago<br />
and Denver.<br />
COURTESY OF TIM FITZGERALD, UNO.<br />
HISTORIC OMAHA<br />
86<br />
is second only to the “March Madness”<br />
basketball tournament in popularity.<br />
<strong>Omaha</strong>’s Rosenblatt Stadium has seen<br />
many updates and renovations designed to<br />
help the city retain the College World Series<br />
and, despite interest from several larger cities,<br />
it seems likely that <strong>Omaha</strong> will remain the<br />
home of the Series for years to come. In 1991,<br />
Creighton University became the first<br />
Nebraska team to earn a spot in the elite,<br />
eight-team tournament. They won two games<br />
before being eliminated by Wichita State and<br />
finished in third place in the final national<br />
rankings. More recently, in 2001 and 2002,<br />
the University of Nebraska at Lincoln has<br />
earned a spot in the tournament.<br />
In addition to serving as the home of the<br />
College World Series, Rosenblatt Stadium is<br />
also the home field for the <strong>Omaha</strong> Royals. The<br />
team, the Kansas City Royals’ AAA affiliate,<br />
has won the American Association<br />
Championship several times. When it looked<br />
like the team might leave town in the early<br />
1990s, several members of the <strong>Omaha</strong><br />
business community partnered to buy the<br />
team and keep it in <strong>Omaha</strong>, including<br />
billionaire Warren Buffett and the Union<br />
Pacific Railroad. Rosenblatt is now considered<br />
one of the best minor league ballparks in<br />
the country. In an attempt to establish a<br />
stronger local connection, the Royals briefly<br />
changed their name to the “Golden Spikes”<br />
to reflect <strong>Omaha</strong>’s railroad heritage. However,<br />
in 2001, the fans overwhelmingly requested<br />
the team return to calling itself the Royals.<br />
Both Creighton University and the<br />
University of Nebraska at <strong>Omaha</strong> have seen<br />
their share of athletic success. Creighton’s<br />
men’s basketball team has qualified for the<br />
March Madness tournament several times,<br />
and its men’s soccer team made their sport’s<br />
“Final Four” two years in a row, finishing<br />
second in the nation in 2000. UNO has done<br />
even better. Its women’s volleyball team won<br />
the NCAA Division II national championship<br />
in 1996, and its women’s softball team won<br />
the Division II national title in 2000. UNO’s<br />
men’s football and wrestling teams have been<br />
highly ranked for many years. Although it<br />
competes in Division II in all other sports,<br />
UNO has had a Division I hockey team since<br />
1997. The team has become a crowd favorite,<br />
with a hundred consecutive sellouts.<br />
<strong>Omaha</strong> is the hometown of many famous<br />
athletes, including baseball’s Bob Gibson,<br />
basketball’s Bob Boozer, and football’s Gale<br />
Sayers. It is also home to two Heisman Trophy<br />
winners, Johnny Rodgers (1972) and Eric<br />
Crouch (2001).<br />
For those who prefer to participate, there<br />
are over two dozen public and private golf<br />
courses in the area, plus three dozen soccer<br />
fields, and enough bowling lanes to support
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