For more than 80 years, a massive Lutheran healthcare center operated in North Omaha. Started in 1887 by Rev. Erik A. Foglestrom, the original location eventually included a large hospital, nursing school, a retirement home and more. When the campus closed in 1974, there were 17 buildings associated with the institute. This is a history of North Omaha’s Immanuel Deaconess Institute, including Immanuel Hospital and much more.
1887: Immanuel Launches
In 1879, the Rev. Erik Alfred (E.A.) Fogelstrom came to Nebraska to serve the Swedish population in Omaha as pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church. After touring Europe and visiting Christian hospitals there, Fogelstrom thought consecrated deacons and deaconesses would be useful in new American Lutheranism. His belief was pioneering in the United States, and Omaha was the focus of his action.
His vision included building a medical institution to serve the growing population of North Omaha. On October 8, 1887, Pastor Fogelstrom and others organized the Evangelical Lutheran Immanuel Association for Works for Charity. Originally buying twelve lots in the Monmouth Park neighborhood, the institution expanded greatly over the next 80+ years.
Pastor Fogelstrom created Immanuel Hospital and Deaconess Mother House in Omaha in 1890. After sending women to Philadelphia and Sweden for training as deaconesses, Fogelstrom was determined the engage his Omaha congregation in this work. The Institute served this purpose for more than 75 years.
The first step was for the Lutheran Church to serve the old and infirm of the community. Concerned primarily with the Scandinavian and German immigrants in the area, the church located land at N. 34th and Fowler Streets. The Immanuel Deaconess Home for the aged and infirm was opened by 1890 in North Omaha.
By 1891, the hospital was completed and the first four deaconesses began their work at the hospital. There was also a Immanuel Children’s Home built in 1901.
1910: First Major Expansion
The community‘s needs outpaced the first hospital, located at 36th and Meredith, and a new hospital was opened in 1910 in the same area. The original building became the Nazareth Home, which served people who were elderly and those who had severe disabilities.
The Immanuel Children’s Home was built in 1901 housed 21 girls and 16 boys. It was also called the Home for Children and Child Placement. A second house was built in the 1920s for older children and was called the Bethlehem Children’s Home.
By 1922, the Immanuel institution operated several individual facilities:
- Immanuel Deaconess Institute
- Immanuel Hospital
- Bethlehem / Immanuel Children’s Home
- Nazareth Home for the Aged Invalid
Each of these has their own history, as well as the collective history of the entire institution.
During this era, the Immanuel Chapel was also built. A Lutheran church, it was ministered by Pastor Fogelstrom, and stayed open through the life of the Immanuel Deaconess Institute.
1922: Second Major Expansion
The need for hospital beds continued to grow and a third hospital was opened on the 36th and Meredith site in 1926. The first two buildings were remodeled and services for the elderly and those with disabilities were expanded.
Throughout all these years, the Immanuel Deaconess Institute and Hospital maintained its identity as a Swedish institution. In 1927, the Duke of Södermanland, Prince Wilhelm of Sweden. Traveling with dignitaries and others, he toured, ate and reviewed the entire campus in May of that year.
The Immanuel Deaconess campus kept expanding this entire time. By 1935, they operated:
- Immanuel Deaconess Institute, opened in 1890.
- Immanuel Hospital, opened in 1891.
- Immanuel Children’s Home, opened in 1901.
- Bethlehem Children’s Home, opened in 1920.
- Nazareth Home for the Aged Invalid
- Immanuel School of Nursing
The Immanuel Nursing School was a part of the Immanuel Deaconess Institute from the beginning. In 1954, the last major addition to North Omaha’s Immanuel campus was a new building for the school, which was located at North 36th & Larimore.
1937: Third Major Expansion
Toward the end of the Great Depression, the hospital expanded again. North Omaha began an influx of new construction and development that expanded the population greatly into the 1950s, especially in the region west of the hospital’s location. This portended the end of the campus, but that took 30 years more to come.
Since the Institute’s opening, the neighborhoods immediately surrounding had filled in completely. These included Monmouth Park, Collier Place and Central Park. Ames Avenue benefited from a streetcar shooting to 42nd and Grand Avenue, and commercial development lined that major street up to the hospital campus and beyond. Omaha North High School was built across Ames from the hospital, and Fontenelle Park became a popular recreation space for baseballers, golfers and strollers, among others.
Also during the 1930s, the hospital built a more permanent greenhouse. It was part of the hospital’s longstanding goal of achieving patient health through holistic approaches to the body, which also included Swedish massage and mental health activities. The produce from the greenhouse was used to supplement the hospital’s menu throughout the year, with excess offered to the nurses and hospital staff.
Originally called the Nazareth Home for the Aged Invalid when it was opened in 1891, by 1937 the facility was called the Immanuel Home for the Aged. Offering state-of-the-art care for the elderly, it was both a recuperation center and an end-of-life facility.
The Immanuel School of Nursing had a new building constructed in 1944. A smaller building designed in the modern style, it is a brick building with sharp lines and minimal decoration that looked distinctly different from every other building on the campus. Featuring long, narrow hallways the building had mid- and large-sized classrooms ideal for nursing classes.
1950s: Forth Major Expansion
During the 1950s there was a period of growth and reconstruction, and a six-story hospital wing doubled the size of the hospital. Several other updates were made to the facility, including the addition of new technology developed during and after World War II, including machinery in the operating room and treatment facilities, as well as in the senior living facility.
In 1954, the Immanuel Deaconess Institute added onto the Nursing School with dormitories. There were three floors on the new section, more than doubling the overall capacity of the building. New nurses flurried across the campus and beyond, successfully staffing a new generation of healthcare facilities throughout Nebraska and beyond.
However, the growth came to an end soon afterwards.
1974: Immanuel Transforms
Originally portrayed as the initial steps of redeveloping the campus, the original hospital at the Immanuel Deaconess Institute was demolished in 1961. It had served as the administration building before that.
However, it soon became clear that planning for the current Immanuel Medical Center began in the early 1960s. In the face of healthcare reform happening in that decade, hospital leaders believed it was apparent that, in order to meet its commitments, the institution would have to expand. Wind-down plans for the facilities at 34th and Meredith were made in the early 1960s, and the present 166-acre site at 72nd and Sorensen Parkway was purchased in 1966.
When it closed permanently in 1974, the campus included 60 lots on five blocks with more than 17 buildings. The buildings located on the campus when it was closed were:
- Immanuel Deaconess Home
- Immanuel Deaconess Institute
- Immanuel Hospital
- Immanuel Chapel
- Immanuel Home for the Aged
- Alfred Bloom Hall
- Immanuel School of Nursing and Nurses Home
The laundry building, heating plant, original children’s home and the original home for the aged and invalid, as well as several dormitory-style apartment buildings were located nearby, too, as well as a few homes built for institution leaders.
What’s Left
The new Immanuel Medical Center near North 72nd and Sorenson Parkeway opened on June 29, 1974. Recognizing the benefits of alliances in healthcare, Bergan Mercy Health System and Immanuel Medical Center came together to form Alegent Health in June 1996. In 2012, Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI Health) assumed control of the Immanuel Medical Center to form an institution that controls 15 acute care hospitals, four behavioral health facilities, two specialty hospitals, over 120 clinics, and multiple health services across the Nebraska and Iowa region.
New Listing on the National Register
In 2017, the last surviving major building of North Omaha’s Immanuel Deaconess Institute was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It served as an alcohol and drug treatment center for more than 40 years called the NOVA (New Options Values and Achievements) Therapeutic Community Partial Care. Located at 3482 Larimore Avenue, the building was abandoned in 2009. Recent plans have included restoring it for use as a senior living center, but nothing has come to fruition yet.
Much of this legacy began in North Omaha. The hyperlocal healthcare provided by this institution is long gone now, with all of the land redeveloped and gone. Immanuel lives on in North Omaha history though, and this has been a little of its history.
You Might Like…
- Hospitals and Healthcare in North Omaha
- A History of North Omaha’s Monmouth Park Neighborhood
- A History of North Omaha’s Collier Place Neighborhood
- A History of Omaha North High School
Elsewhere Online
- History of Immanuel official webpage
- ELCA Archive pictures from the Immanuel Deaconess Institute
- Nebraska Memories collection by the State of Nebraska
- Immanuel Nursing Home and School of Nursing National Register of Historic Places Nomination from 2017
BONUS PICS!
North Omaha History 
In the early 1970's, some of the houses along Larimore had been subdivided into apartments. I was at a party in one of them one night when folks started asking if anyone knew this group of 3 young women. When I asked who they knew there, they admitted no one, they were nursing students who would walk down Larimore looking for a party with lots of guests so go on in. Around that same time, my mom's visiting nurse asked her and I to come and speak to her students about our experiences with my mom's rheumatoid arthritis, which we did, speaking in the building on Larimore behind the hospital. And even earlier than that, my younger brother had to be hospitalized for a wee bit, and my older brother and I would only visit with him by waving at him thru the window of his ground floor hospital room. Before the hospital was bulldozed, there was a catering business operating out of the old cafeteria and a health clinic being operated out of a patient floor. I know there were other areas being used but cannot recall any more detail offhand.
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Yvonne, thank you so much for sharing this! I remember when they town down the original hospital in the late 80s, but I have no memories of it open – before my time!
Thanks again!
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Thank you so much for this story. I was born there, my mother worked there as a teenager and my grandmother volunteered there. So much family history there.
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Our Schnack family grew up in Harlan, Iowa. Any relation? Graduated from Immanuel as an RN 1966.
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This was interesting. I was raised on 33rd Ames Ave and went to sunday school & church there and remember stopping by the childrens ward outside at ground level & waving at them & also my Grandma’s sister was in the old folks home. Lots of memories. Thanks
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You’re welcome Margaret. Researching and writing these, I hope to spark memories from people like you who lived this history – I appreciate your comment!
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In helping look for my Swedish cousin’s missing aunt Alma Matilda, who family only knew as having left Sweden for “Omhah” in 1889, then was never heard from afterwards, I traced her here.
My cousin’s will be coming to visit her grave this summer, and would have enjoyed walking the old buildings of Deaconess Home, etc had they still been there. Alma was there throughout all the growth years.
She’s buried in Forest Lawn as Sister Alma Olofson 1874-1962.
She was born Alma Mathilda Olofsdotter in Hälla, Risinge, Östergötland. Later, several of Alma’s younger siblings also immigrated to NYC along with my grandmother, their cousin.
I’m sure my cousin’s will be pleased to see what a lovely place Alma lived in, through the photos in this article. Thanks so much!
Sincerely,
Kate
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Thank you for letting me know that Kate! I hope that you keep looking for more of Alma’s history. You might check with the Durham Museum in Omaha for more information about the Deaconess Home, too. Best wishes!
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In helping look for my Swedish cousin’s missing aunt Alma Matilda, who family only knew as having left Sweden for “Omhah” in 1889, then was never heard from afterwards, I traced her here.
My cousin’s will be coming to visit her grave this summer, and would have enjoyed walking the old buildings of Deaconess Home, etc had they still been there. Alma was there throughout all the growth years.
She’s buried in Forest Lawn as Sister Alma Olofson 1874-1962.
She was born Alma Mathilda Olofsdotter in Hälla, Risinge, Östergötland. Later, several of Alma’s younger siblings also immigrated to NYC along with my grandmother, their cousin.
I’m sure my cousin’s will be pleased to see what a lovely place Alma lived in, through the photos in this article. Thanks so much!
Sincerely,
Kate
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Sorry about that repeat post above.
I’m looking to find a guide through the above mentioned cemetery, Deaconess or anyone who may have known Alma.
Would you suggest anyone I could connect with?
Thanks!
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In 1950 I was placed with the Immanuel Deaconess Institute for adoption. Sister Helen Eriiksson worked with my new parents, Gus & Frances Anderson of Wahoo, and became a treasured friend. Thank God for the work these wonderful women did for their Lord. Rogene Anderson Gilliland
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Reply to Rogene Gillihand post July 18
My first cousin once removed Helen Eriksson formerly a deaconess with the Immanuel Deaconess Institute passed away Oct 26th/2017 in Edmonton, Alberta. She was 6 months short of her 100th birthday.
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Thank you James for lEttinger us know about Sister Helen. We know she is rejoicing with her Lord!
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I worked at Immanuel for 7 months in 1956 in the dining room and kitchen of what we then called the “Invalid” home. That is where I learned how special the developmentally disabled can be. Sister Maurine Lindahl was my boss and Sister Astrid Erling was a good friend. I came from a small town in Iowa but at Immanuel I learned to respect the less fortunate. There was an African American young Creighton University student who worked nights and I learned that skin color is just that and there are wonderful people everywhere. I am now 81 years old and have been grateful to Immanuel, the deaconesses, the wonderful patients and the chapel for some necessary life lessons. When I was in Omaha just a few years ago and saw a housing development there now, I couldn’t believe that all those marvelous old red brick buildings were completely gone!
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i remember immanuel lutheranchurch and the hospital.we lived at 3034 merridith ave.i remember one year ladies from the church came to our house and brought us kids presents.i remember they dressed like nuns do.do you greet them as sister?i was baptised at the immanuel lutheran church.now the church is in benson.as a kid it was overwhelming looking at the buildings. very fond memories,
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I was born at the hospital in 1951 and grew up on 33rd and fowler. Lot’s of memories but had no idea about all the buildings.
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I was born there as well in 1951, June 16th
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I was given my middle name “Elizabeth” after my great aunt Sister Elizabeth who was a Deaconess there sometime before 1920 (she’ on the 1920 census) until her death in 1973, at over a hundred years of age. My mother Esther Wetterstrom Clapper, went through the nursing program there,graduating around 1935. She met her husband to be, John Clapper, while he was a patient! I was born in 1942, in Kentucky, where my dad was stationed during the war. When he got out, we came to live briefly in Omaha in 1945 – 1946. Sister Eliabeth was very special to my family and we were able to visit her a number of times until she passed away. She had come from Sweden alone at about 18, with her occupation described as “Flicka”, somewhat before her younger sister, my grandmother, who came as the fiancé of a carpenter headed for Rockford, Illinois, to work in a furniture factory. In the early 1900’s Sister Elizabeth was the administrator of a Lutheran orphanage, in farmland near Andover, Illinois. The story of the building completely burning down in 1908 is well documented on line and fortunately every one was at a Christmas event. She was still in the 1910 census at the rebuilt orphanage with 46 children, but by 2020 census was at the Immanuel Deaconess Hospital as a nurse. Such a story of the settling of America! I had no idea how many orphans there were in the state of Illinois, in the farmlands, in 1900.
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what I remember are the fantastic fire escape tubes on the sides of the buildings. and the tragic death of my friend who was trapped in the elevator shaft. attending church services in the chapel especially the Christmas play and finally dear Sister Frances.
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Thank you for sharing this. It was an interesting read. I’ve wondered what the remaining building was.
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My Mother and her sister were placed at the orphanage when my mother was 2 or 3 years old. She was born in 1912. Their mother was Birtha Nielson who died in Kearey Nebraska of tuburculosis . Their father Clarence Black signed them away and they were adopted by John Alfred and Ellen Sar of Essex Iowa. My mom could remember the building and Sister Augustas who became her godmother.
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My childhood was in Benson. I was born in the old Immanuel Hospital, as was my sister five years before me. My cousin, who became a physician did his internship at the ER at the old Immanuel during the late 60s.
My Great-Uncle, Clarence L.E. Swanson, (1897-1964) served on the Board of Directors for the Immanuel Deaconess Institute. He was employed as an executive for Swanson Foods during the time the TV Dinner had been developed. He was later elected to and served as the State Treasurer for the State of Nebraska until he lost his life in 1964 as result of a motor vehicle collision caused by an intoxicated driver at the intersection of 52nd and Blondo. In spite of his many accomplishments and service, “Find-A-Grave Dot Com” refuses to list him as a prominent individual. He is interred at Forrest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha.
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