South Omaha, Nebraska

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South Omaha, Nebraska is a former city and present-day neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska.

1 History
- 1.1 Cultural diversity
2 References
3 External links

[edit] History

The area that would become South Omaha was rural until the early 1880s, when cattle baron Alexander Hamilton Swan decided to establish a stockyards operation just south of Omaha. The South Omaha plat was registered on July 18, 1884; two years later, South Omaha was incorporated as a city. By 1890, the city had grown to 8,000 people, a rate of growth that earned it the nickname of "The Magic City". In less than 10 years, South Omaha had become a stockyards and meat packing center, drawing in large numbers of immigrants, mostly from southern and eastern Europe. (The traditional border: North Side: Vinton Street, South Side: Harrison Street, East Side: The Missouri River, West Side: 42nd Street.)

South Omaha was annexed by Omaha on June 20, 1915. At that time it was 6.4 mi² and had 40,000 residents.^[1]

[edit] Cultural diversity

South Omaha was, and continues to be, culturally diverse. Many residents are descended from the Polish, Czech, Lithuanian, Italian, Irish, and Latino immigrants who made up the original workforce. This diversity is most evident in the Roman Catholic churches established by the various ethnic communities, including:

Lithuanian – St. Anthony's
Polish – St. Stanislaus and St. Francis of Assisi
Irish – St. Mary's and St. Bridget's
Croatian – Sts. Peter and Paul
German – St. Rose
Hispanic – Our Lady of Guadalupe
Czech – Assumption

In addition, there were Orthodox churches (Serbian – St. Nicholas, Romanian – Holy Cross and Greek) and a synagogue established in South Omaha in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Lithuanian community also published a newspaper, known as the Bell of the West, in the early part of the twenthieth century.

In recent decades, South Omaha has seen an influx of Hispanic and Sudanese populations.