The Old Florence Main Street

This episode is going to explore a main street older than Omaha with more history per block than any other neighborhood in Omaha! The old Florence Main Street is packed with old buildings, interesting characters and good stories worth sharing. Included here is an overview of Winter Quarters landmarks, memories of buildings that have been lost, and highlights of the exciting history still in the former City of Florence. Our thanks to our patrons: Tony Rathgeber Don Goodrich Bridget Maryalice Matt Martin Michael Wagner Joseph Tingley Sarah Swanson Wattle and Daub Craftsman Jeff Rockwell Barb Naughtin Lonnie (Hansen) Dunbier Tim Reeder Jenna Smith Dan Hedrick Daniel Ammons Sara Rogers Troy Lewellen Joanne Ferguson Cavanaugh Jim Collison And The Great Plains Black History Museum. The North Omaha History podcast is a volunteer effort, but you can help us meet expenses by becoming a patron for as little as $1 a month. Go to https://www.patreon.com/omaha

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hi. This is Steve Sleep producer of the
North Omaha history podcast.
It's a volunteer effort, but You can help
us meet expenses by becoming a patron for
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go to patreon dot com
slash
Omaha,
the list of patrons and the link to

(00:21):
Patreon is in the show notes. You can
also
help by subscribing wherever you listen to podcasts
and give us a 5 star review.
Thanks.
Welcome to the North Omaha history podcast
with noted author at Historian Adam Fletcher Sassy.
Each week, Adam picks you on a guided

(00:41):
tour through Omaha dynamic past.
This episode is going to explore a main
street older than.
Omaha with more history per block than any
other neighborhood
in Omaha. The old Florence main street is
packed with old buildings,
interesting characters

(01:02):
and good stores
worth sharing
Included here is an overview of winter quarters,
landmarks, memories of buildings that have been lost
and highlights
of the exciting history
still in the former city
of Florence,
Adam.

(01:25):
You've been pulling your wagon behind you. It
was actually called a hand cart, and you
would either pull it or push it.
Was stuffed with all of your worldly possessions,
about a 4 by 4 box on wheels.
You've been pushing it for hundreds of miles
so far. It Your kid would ride on
top of it sometimes or they walk behind
the other times.

(01:45):
Maybe you were a pioneer woman with 3
kids on your own and the husband had
gone.
We you were part of the mormon traveling
troop that was moving from the east,
maybe from New York, maybe from Illinois, maybe
from
I
all those different places you were persecuted,
and you were going to the promised land
out in Utah, Salt Lake City Region

(02:07):
But to get there, you had to go
through Nebraska,
and nobody was excited to get across the
great plains
because they were barren and big.
The last sinus civilization
was this little town that was called winter
quarters.
It was started just a year earlier by
b of young himself and apparently a whole
tire 35, a hundred people were there at
1 point. But when you got there, there

(02:28):
was about a thousand people. But you were
part of a troop that maybe had a
couple 500
itself.
And you were all heading west.
So you hun down, you stayed in winter
quarters for a couple days,
and then you continued your journey after stocking
up
and the whole troop went out.
That town that you came across what it

(02:49):
had a main street. It actually had 2
main streets, and they were called first Main
Street and second Main Street. They were laid
out by Mormon engineers just the year earlier
in 18 46.
The axis was
north west to southeast,
meaning that the main street were slightly a
skew from north south,

(03:12):
They were more lined up with the river
than They were with the actual
compass.
Then there were cross streets, there were 30
cross streets that went from Weber all the
way north to Ferry Street,
and those streets went.
East to west approximately.
They led from the river up into the

(03:33):
hills, they crossed, you crossed the river on
a ferry,
a wooden ferry that was on a rope
that went from 1 side of the river
to the other,
and that crossing went over rock bottom at
called apparently, someday they put a bridge chair.
That was the rumor that you heard all
the way in 18 46 because the Mormon
engineers was looked at that spot and decided
on that plot because of that rock bottom.

(03:56):
Because they knew a bridge could be put
there. They just didn't know how long it
would take,
More than a hundred years, spoiler alert.
Before that bridge was put in though, that
century before.
That town that grew up right there, changed
its name from winter quarters to Florence.

(04:19):
The mormons who lived there eventually all moved
out
and moved away
and
settlers came in,
after they got permission from
the neighboring Omaha tribe to settle on the
land.
And the settlers... They took houses that the
mormons had built... They rebuilt some of them,
they built new, buildings along the old main

(04:39):
street. They used a lot of the same
buildings. Though. The They used a lot of
the same footprint. They used a lot of
the same lots and plots.
And they put up structures. They put up
buildings. They put up all kinds of different
things.
That was in the 18 fifties.
When a man named James C Mitchell,
bought up as many of the lots from
the original orders as he could. He bought

(05:00):
them from the mormon he bought them from
the spec who had gotten to them before
him.
He got them before the Nebraska territory was
opened up. And he put them all together
with the help of some investors,
and formally incorporated the town in 18 56
is the city of Florence,
Extending on North t street, the town went

(05:21):
from Weber up to Ferry.
Had those 2 main streets.
And as a developed, second main street became
most popular the 2. And by 18 85,
it was referred to singular as the main
street.
The street railway
came from Omaha
all the way up to Florence

(05:41):
in the 18 eighties.
And it ran all the way into the
19 tens and twenties.
But earlier than that for 50 years, the
route from Florence to Omaha.
Was a stage coach that ran twice a
day.

(06:06):
And that stage coach went all the way,
Florence is just to stop on its longer
route up to Des soda
from Omaha to Des soda.
But when those travelers got to Florence, they
knew that they could stop because the town,
the main street was packed with
a number of hotels,
a couple of banks, are several restaurants, Tavern,

(06:26):
blacks smith stores,
drugstore stores,
and all kinds of things for those western
travelers or those north south travelers.
The businesses over the years those first 50
years boomed and busted with all kinds of
financial panic and gold russia's,
government
legislation that made Western migration in the United
States more or less attractive. They were giving

(06:48):
away native American lands, so they were a
little bit jealous at generous with it.
When the first horse drawn street car lines
started running in Omaha 18 sixties,
street cars didn't actually get all the way
up to florence. It didn't happen until 19
o 3 for real.
And then it ran all the way along

(07:09):
t.
Up to Fort,
and then from Fort up to Fill more.
By then, Florence Main Street was home to
more than 3 dozen businesses
The first concrete sidewalks reported in 19 o
4 before that, they have wooden sidewalks that
line the front of every business.
It was 19 10 before the city of

(07:31):
Florence paved the main Street.
The pavement was originally,
check this out, Steve, it was originally wooden
blocks.
All along Florence its main street.
And eventually, they poured on
stones,

(07:51):
and then eventually they port on asphalt.
And today it's the street that it is.
In 19 10, though, the city of Florence
had a hard time. They were flounder. The
leaders had to take drastic measures.
In 19 17, the city of Omaha went
on a huge
annexation binge
and annexed

(08:12):
Sara,
East Omaha, Bolt, Benson Dundee,
Briggs and
Florence.
Soaked them all right in and took their
population with them.
Now fast forward another 50 years.
Another 40 years and you get the Mormon
bridge
across the Missouri River to replace the

(08:33):
old ferry in the 19 fifties. The second
part of the span
was built 19 seventies
with the construction of I 6 80.
I 6 80 took out several streets that
were in downtown Florence,
move the buildings over to
where North 30 Street ends today.
1 of the most popular of those buildings

(08:54):
was the old
florence
depot.
I
on omaha
from
28
and
South of Abundance all the way up North
of Abundance.
And today it's Museum, worth visiting
all the time.

(09:16):
But after that annexation
after, and before the
interstate went through,
Street car service operated on 30 Street until
19 41 when buses took their place.
Between 20 o 7 and 20 16, the
city of Omaha Best at almost 500000
dollars in streets scape improvements in Florence.

(09:38):
They put in new sidewalks and street lights
and all kinds of things. So
Downtown Florence was, given a, a, quote, intensive
level of survey or preservation resources,
in 20 17 by the Omaha,
Landmark Heritage
Preservation Commission,
and they found that dozens of buildings work
candidates for the historical

(09:58):
status.
So what were some of those old buildings,
Steve? Well, 1 of them was the 19
10 price and sun's building.
That's an 80 607 north t.
Today, it's home to the price apartments in
the Florence Mexican market
but for more than 60 years, it had
at Hardware stores, grocery stores and different things
than
Mc cash store was billed around 18 90.

(10:21):
And today, it has a church in it.
There was home to studio 24 for several
years. It's at 80 601 or t.
Of course, the florence mills stands tall,
just off Kin and t.
Between Mc kin and the interstate.
It's owned by woman named Linda Mead who
made it into a museum in Art loft

(10:43):
gallery.
And it's listed on the national register historic
places. It's a truly cool space that has
old human logs carved by the mormons in
18 46.
Before Sea I mentioned was built in 18
87 moved in 19 76. It's at the
end of t Street today.

(11:04):
And then, of course, I'd be remiss not
to mention Zest
opened in 19 53.
Z has been at 80 608 north t
ever since
for 70 years now. The original cream machine
in the building was called the Zest mat.
That's where the name came from, Ses.
Another ancient building in the community is the

(11:24):
Bank of Florence, the bank of florence has
built in 18 56,
And it's on the national register historic places
and was designated an official Omaha landmark in
19 80, it's been a hit through museum
since 19 69,
and you can visit it today at 80
502 north t.
A beautiful building is Masonic temps the Florence
Bay Masonic Temple was originally built as independent

(11:45):
phone company building. In 19 13.
Mormons built on it 19 21, but they
moved out in 0 5. It was
repurposed into an apartment building and standing strong
today at 82 23 north t.
Other cool buildings in the community include
the old Florence building
that today is home to the Universal college

(12:05):
of healing arts.
That's an 80 702 north 30 Saint Near
Church the original Saint. Folks is gone.
It was built 19 o 4,
but the current structure is still beautiful and
has lots of value right there
t in greed.
The J s Paul building at 80 601

(12:25):
north t still stands.
That was built by a former mayor of
Florence.
The Crayon castle building
that I know it as was originally K
pharmacy.
Actually, that was only 19 45.
The entire corner
right there,
at 85 24 north t,

(12:46):
was originally opened as a drugstore store in
18 fifties.
Doctor Levi Hart opened it himself.
The odd fellows built the current building in
19 10, and Cup moved in in 19
45 and stayed there until 73.
So what a wonderful
history that that building has. Florence drug was

(13:07):
built at 85 17 north t, and there's
a historical marker there today.
But the building itself has gone. Florence Park
home to the mormon tree
was flat out in 18 46 by the
Mormons.
Harold coffee houses and other beautiful building at
eighties 03:27

(13:28):
still operates today since 19 68
The florence standard station doesn't look... Anything like
its original self, but it still stands tall,
and it has a cool little boutique inside
of it. Is say 85 21 north t.
The boutique is called prairie piece goods and
rock bottom goods and antique.
The Jj coal building, the Pic Wiggly store,

(13:49):
the summer field service station. They're all among
several of the historic buildings that are currently
standing on main street. Some of the old
ones that used to be there included the
house of hope. The house of hope today,
it's called the Florence Senior Center, the Florence
its home.
But it's a medical center and a lot
of different things
and really has a lot of history.

(14:11):
There are old houses on North t street
and a lot of other beautiful facilities,
the 19 71
Ted's hotel
Today is called the Mormon Trail apartments, and
they're at 74 19 north t.
They're beautiful example of mid century modern.
Now to mention all of this is this
also have to acknowledge that there's been a

(14:32):
lot to have been done in the past
in the name of trying to preserve the
main street of Florence.
It was actually the site of a plan
in the early 19 seventies,
1 of the
inherit of 1 of Most
architectural families
tried to start a historical village out of
Florence. Similar to Williamsburg other historical

(14:56):
villages on the East Coast.
They were going to use the Florence Mill,
the Florence Depot, the water works, the old
superintendents mansion mansion at the water works, the
Town square.
Anyway, several other old buildings to do it,
but it didn't end up working out.
Other preservation efforts include the North side bank,

(15:16):
handing over the bank of Florence
to
preservation, and they restored it and turned it
into a museum.
The Florence depot has been preserved.
The Florence mill has been preserved
And the Church of Jesus Christ. Latter, Saints
has done a great deal to preserve their
history in the foreign community as well.

(15:37):
They protected the investment in the and pioneer
cemetery, so the public can view that today
as well as the Mormon trail visitor center.
They also red rediscovered Ke Park and planted
a beautiful monument at Young Street and Mormon
Bridge Road to go look at.
The Florence commercial historic district was listed on
the national register of historic places just in
19 in 20 22.

(15:59):
And the Florence futures foundation says the neighborhood
has more historical sites per square mile than
any other place in Nebraska today.
So all of this is that rich history
of the Ford's main street, and I think
that we should all go there right now
and celebrate and enjoy some of the historical
legacy
that's existed in the Omaha community now for
more than a hundred and 70 years.

(16:21):
And that's a little bit about the history
of Florence Main Street, for a lot more
detail. Go check out my articles on north
Omaha history dot com or just Google,
history at Florence Nebraska, north Omaha.
Thanks for listening to the North Omaha history
podcast
with noted author at Historian, Adam Fletcher.

(16:41):
Join us next week. As Adam takes you
on another guided tour through Omaha dynamic past.