This list of street names is the start of what we hope
will be a continuously
evolving resource. It was compiled through the efforts of
Orville D. Menard,
Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska at Omaha
Member, Douglas County Historical Society Board of Directors |
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See end page for
bibliography. |
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ABBOTT DR.
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Chris
J. Abbott was a supporter of improving the roadway to Eppley Air
Field. The goal was to replace an eyesore entryway to Omaha with an
attractive and modernized main corridor between the Air Field and
downtown Omaha. Its unofficial name is “String of Pearls,” for the
beauty of its illumination. |
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AMES AVE.
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Oakes
Ames was a heavy investor in the Union Pacific Railroad and a
Congressman from Massachusetts. His involvements with the U.P., the
Credit Mobilier, and contracting led to a congressional censure in
1873. He died ten weeks later. At the highest point of the
railroad, Sherman, Wyoming, a large granite monument was built in
his memory. |
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ARBOR ST.
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Arbor Street was
named for the family vineyard by the daughter of Issac Hascal, a
pioneer lawyer and politician. |
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ARCADIA AVE.
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Arcadia is
a region in Peloponnesus in Greece, north of Messenia and east of
Olympia. King Arcas, the son of Zeus, was made immortal and placed
among the constellations as Bear Watchers. |
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BANCROFT ST.
|
George
Bancroft, historian, statesman, and Secretary of the Navy in the
cabinet of James Polk, is best known for his ten volume History
of the United States. |
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BARKER AVE.
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Joseph
Barker was a minister who came to the United States from England
in 1851. He came to Omaha in 1856. Active in real estate and
banking, his sons, Joseph Jr., and George, built the Barker Block
and the Barker Building. The Douglas County Historical Society has
published two volumes of letters, titled Their Man in Omaha,
that Joseph Jr. wrote to family members in England between 1868 and
1876. The street may be possibly be named for his brother George. |
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BAUMAN ST.
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Otto Bauman worked in a bank, engaged in real estate, and was
once a hotel proprietor. He was a Deputy County treasurer
from
1923 to
1943. During those years the County Court House was a Democratic
Party stronghold, and Bauman never lost an election for the office.
He was a delegate to the 1928 and 1932 Democratic Party National
Conventions. |
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BEDFORD AVE.
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Jefferson W. Bedford was a city councilman, county commissioner,
state senator and mayoral candidate. Bedford chaired the
construction of the Douglas County Court House in 1912 and laid the
cornerstone for the building. He owned the land that was subdivided
and later formed Bedford Avenue. |
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BLAINE ST.
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James
G. Blaine of Maine was a Congressman, Senator, and Secretary of
State in the cabinets of James Garfield, Chester Arthur, and
Benjamin Harrison. |
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BLONDO ST.
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Perhaps named for Maurice Blondeaux, a nineteenth
century French fur trader. |
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ROSE BLUMKIN DR.
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An impoverished child native
of Russia, Rose Blumkin founded the Nebraska Furniture Mart
in 1937 and built it into the nation’s largest furniture and carpet
store. Her motto was “sell cheap, tell the truth, and don’t cheat
nobody.” Small in stature, she started her furniture store with
$500 she borrowed from her brother and became a business giant. She
died at age 104. |
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BOB BOOZER
DR.
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Robert “Bob” Boozer was a basketball star at
Technical High School who helped the U.S. Olympic team win a gold
medal in Rome in 1960. Boozer was an NBA All-Star who enjoyed
success with the Chicago Bulls, Seattle SuperSonics and Milwaukee
Bucks. Following his playing days, he became a business executive
with Northwestern Bell Telephone. |
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BOYD ST.
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Ireland-born James E. Boyd, came to Omaha as a
carpenter, but became a leading businessman, politician and patron
of the arts. He was an organizer and president of the
Omaha and Northwestern Railroad and the Central National Bank. Politically, he was a member
of the state constitutional conventions, was twice mayor of Omaha
in the 1880s, and was elected governor of Nebraska in
1890. His election as governor was contested on the grounds he was
not a citizen, and it took a U.S. Supreme Court decision to resolve
the issue in his favor. (Boyd vs. Thayer.) He built two opera
houses in Omaha to enrich its cultural life. |
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BROWN ST.
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Born in Alabama in 1915, Mildred Brown was a civil
rights activist and founder of the Omaha Star newspaper, the
only African-American paper currently published in Nebraska. She
championed the African-American community in Omaha and challenged
racial discrimination. By means of scholarships she provided,
pressing for employment opportunities, and advocating a positive
approach for her community, she earned widespread admiration and
countless awards. President Lyndon Johnson appointed her a Goodwill
Ambassador to East Germany, and she was inducted into the Omaha
Business Hall of Fame, the Omaha Press Club Hall of Fame and in 2007
posthumously to the Nebraska Journalism Hall of Fame. |
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BURDETTE ST.
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Robert Burdette, 1880s preacher and lecturer, wrote that “There are
two days of the week which I never worry about: one is yesterday and
the other is tomorrow.” |
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BURT ST.
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Newly appointed first territorial governor of
Nebraska, Francis Burt arrived in Bellevue, Nebraska, on October 6,
1854. He died a few days later on October 18, 1854, only forty-five
years old. See Cuming Street. |
