Omaha
Omaha names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below. 1 of them is described by more than one encyclopedia.
Omaha a city of Nebraska
Described by 2 of the 6 encyclopedias.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a city of Nebraska, the largest in the State, and the county-seat of Douglas co. It is on the Missouri $460,000,000 annually. Meat packing is river, about 500 miles W. of Chicago. Omaha is located on 9 trunk lines of railroads and 22 branches. These include the Burlington route, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, the Wabash, the Northwestern, the Illinois Central, the Union Pacific, and the Missouri Pacific. The city is also on the Missouri river, which is spanned by many great bridges connecting it with Council Bluffs, Iowa. A belt line of railroads encircles the city, giving railway inter-communication. The area of the city is 37.78 square miles. There are 800 miles of streets, and a water system costing $10,000,000. Omaha is the center of an important agricultural area and is the first city in the United States in the production of butter, the second corn and live stock market, the third agricultural implement center, and the fourth railroad center. The city is attractively situated on a plateau rising into bluffs which are used largely for residence sites. The business district lies adjacent to the river. From its position with reference to the West, Omaha is called the Gate City. It has a park system of over 1,000 acres in extent, and includes municipal bathing beaches, swimming pools, playgrounds, golf courses, etc. The large parks are connected by a boulevard system of over 35 miles in length. There is a public school enrollment of about 35,000 and the cost of the school system is over $2,000,000 annually. The institutions for higher education include Creighton University, the University of Omaha, Omaha Medical College, Brownell Hall, and several private schools. There are in all over 80 public and private schools. The public library contains over 150,000 volumes. The notable buildings include the city hall, county court house, United States Government building, bank buildings, an auditorium, and the Protestant Episcopal and Roman Catholic cathedrals. The city contains the Nebraska Institution for the Deaf, and several large hospitals. It is the seat of the military headquarters of the Department of Missouri. Fort Omaha lies within the city limits and Fort Crook adjoins it on the south. Omaha is an important wholesale conter with an annual business of over $350,000,000. The leading lines are auducts, boilers and accessories, agricultomobiles, groceries, oil, commission protural implements, drygoods, lumber, coal, plumbing and heating supplies. The total value of the manufactures is over the chief industry. The annual output is valued at over $300,000,000. Omaha is first in pig lead production. Other important manufactures are flour, butter, food products of all kinds, clothing, boots and shoes, rubber goods, steam engines, boilers, etc. The bank clearings exceed $3,000,000,000 annually. It has branches of the Federal Land Bank and of the Federal Reserve Bank. Omaha is an Indian name of disputed meaning. The town was laid out in 1854 on a scale which anticipated its future growth. Its commercial importance was assured when it was selected as the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific railroad. Stock yards were established in 1884. In 1898 the trans-Mississippi Exposition was held here. The Grain Exchange was opened in 1904. In 1920 Omaha was selected as the half-way station of the Trans-continental Aerial Mail. Pop. (1910) 124,096; (1920) 191,601.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the chief city of Nebraska. It is situated on the west bank of the Missouri, about twenty-five miles above the mouth of the Platte. It takes its name from the tribe of Omaha Indians to whom the site formerly belonged. The first settlement was made in 1854. Omaha was the capital of the territory until its removal to Lincoln in 1867. The city was incorporated in 1857. The gold excitement in California gave Omaha a start. Its situation at the eastern end of the Platte Valley, through which the stream of immigration poured westward, made it a point of outfitting. An enormous business grew up in provisions, wagons, draft animals, guns, ammunition, blankets, clothing, and other articles required by travelers for the long overland journey. Later, it became the eastern terminus of the Union Pacific Railway, which also followed the valley of the Platte. The city is the center of an extensive wholesale trade and markets enormous quantities of wheat and corn. Foreign goods may be brought direct to the government custom house without being delayed at the ocean seaports. Omaha is one of the great stock markets of the world. The South Omaha packing houses involve an investment of $30,000,000. They have a daily capacity of 15,000 hogs, 5,000 cattle and 4,000 sheep. The meat products are valued at over $100,000,000 a year. There are also extensive smelting works. Lead, silver, gold, and copper ores are shipped in from the Rocky Mountain region and even from Mexico and the British possessions. The annual output of these metals is valued at not far from $300,000,000 a year. Fourteen trunk lines of railroad center at Omaha. Two immense railroad bridges connect the city with Council Bluffs on the eastern bank. Telephone lines hang from shore to shore from steel towers 110 feet high. The brewing and distilling interests of the city are large, and involve an investment of several million dollars. The city has been attractively laid out and well built. The public school system has been organized on the scale of liberality common to Western cities. There is a public library of 85,000 volumes. The population in 1900 was 102,553. In 1906 the population was 124,167. See Packing House ; Nebraska
Omaha UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational institution in Omaha
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational institution in Omaha, Neb.; founded in 1880 under the auspices of. the Presbyterian Church; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 73; students, 509. President, D. E. Jenkins, Ph. D.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's counted 191,601 people in 1920 and called meat packing "the chief industry"; the city passed 486,000 in the 2020 census, with roughly a million in the metropolitan area, but the packing trade that defined it is gone. The South Omaha stockyards Aiton's described in 1910, which later became the largest livestock market in the world, closed in 1999 as processing shifted to plants in smaller towns. Fort Crook, which Collier's noted "adjoins it on the south," grew into Offutt Air Force Base, home of Strategic Air Command from 1948 and today of U.S. Strategic Command; Fort Omaha is now a community college campus. The Union Pacific is still headquartered in Omaha, and the University of Omaha became the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 1968.
Written for this edition, 2026.