A pillar of North Omaha for more than 50 years, one community bank became an icon at 30th and Ames. Although its long gone now, its legacy is still felt in the community. This is a history of the North Side Bank.

A Bustling New Reality

On the left is an image of Everett S. Dodds’ 1939 design of the new North Side Bank, and on the right is a portrait of the architect.

A lot of North Omahans don’t know that the roots of the North Side Bank were actually the Florence Bank, that 1856 icon on North 30th Street. While it had a long and varied history of its own before then, by 1941 it was moved to the bustling commercial intersection of North 30th and Ames Avenue and rebranded as the North Side Bank.

Originally located at 4526 North 30th Street, the North Side Bank’s first building was designed by prolific Omaha architect Everett Dodds (1889-1958). Earlier in his career, Dodds had designed most of the homes in the Minne Lusa neighborhood, and more recently was in charge of designing the Logan Fontenelle Public Housing Projects as part of the Works Progress Administration, a federal employment program. Dodds was focused on North Omaha through-and-through.

The region around 30th and Ames included Saratoga, Bedford Place, Miller Park, Kountze Place and the Monmouth Park neighborhoods. After World War II ended in 1945, it was seen as a booming, urbanizing wonderland and the North Side Bank viewed itself as well-situated to capitalize on the growth.

Their investment paid off for more than 15 years as the community grew and in-filled. New houses, new businesses and new customers needed savings, investment and loan opportunities, and the North Side Bank was one of just two institutions available in the community. Many different businesses tied their successes to investments and loans by the bank.

North Omaha Paid Out

By the early 1950s, the bank had grown so much that it outgrew its small storefront. Constructing a standalone facility, it relocated to North 31st and Ames on a site once considered for the construction of nearby North High.

As a de facto segregated institution, the North Side Bank was notorious for not being open to African American customers before the 1960s though. I conjecture that only through pressure from the Black investors behind the Carver Savings and Loan and federal loan programs in the early 1960s did they open up to Black customers. Also, the bank faced a small pressure from the nearby Metropolitan Building and Loan Association at 24th and Ames, but that never amounted to much.

From 1966 through 1969, the North Omaha riots afflicted the bank and the business district it was part of. The riots also affected its customers and all of North Omaha. Using the violence as a blanket, white flight was rationalized by thousands of families that moved to west Omaha and away from their historic roots in the community.

In 1974, the North Side Bank considered restoring the original Bank of Florence at North 30th and Willit Streets as a teller office. They submitted paperwork to the State of Nebraska Banking Commission and developed an analysis of whether it would be a profitable location. They also had options on land to the north with intentions to use it for drive-up banking. However, the plan didn’t pan out and the bank wasn’t reopened.

J. M. Hart, Jr., the president of the North Side Bank, served as president of the Florence Historical Society during the 1970s renovation of the original Florence Bank, sustaining the bank’s connection with the site.

The North Side Bank was racially integrated in the 1960s, with Black tellers serving Black customers. However, while blatant discrimination against African Americans was illegal, it was still underway in some of the functions of the bank including home and business loans. The bank kept working on it, but the matter of racist banking plagued the institution until its closure.

The Ending of North Side Bank

The North Side Bank changed, and then changed again, and then closed permanently.

A firm called the Preferred Management Corporation took control of the bank in 1977. In 1985, the North Side Bank was renamed as Northern Bank, and continued operating. American National Bank bought the institution in 1994, and the Ames Avenue location became a branch of American National. Today, that bank continues operating at North 31st and Ames.

The 1971 building was demolished around 2000 and has been replaced by a new structure.

Perhaps the only tangible evidence of the North Side Bank today is it’s oldest footprint, the 1856 Bank of Florence Building, which operates as a museum today. While it was flawed, maybe someday the City of Omaha will recognize the larger footprint of this one-time vital institution, and the North Omaha community it helped build.

You Might Like…

• A History of the Metropolitan Building and Loan Association in North Omaha
• A History of the 30th and Ames Historic Commercial District

MY ARTICLES ABOUT THE HISTORY OF FLORENCE
Basics: History | Banks | Newspapers | Churches | Mayors
Public Places: Florence Main Street | Florence High School | The Mormon Tree | Mormon Bridge | Florence Boulevard | River Drive | J.J. Pershing Drive and Monument | Potter’s Field
Businesses: Florence Mill | Zestos | Florence Home | Florence Bank | Florence Mill | Florence Ferry | Florence Water Works | Florence Depot
Houses: Parker Mansion | Brandeis Country Home | Lantry-Thompson Mansion | Mitchell House | Hunt Mansion
Other Historic Places: Cutler’s Park | Winter Quarters | Vennelyst Park | Florence Building
People: James M. Parker | James Comey Mitchell | Florence Kilborn | Jacob Weber Sr.
Neighborhoods: Winter Quarters | Florence Field | Wyman Heights | High Point
Mormon History Locations: Mormon Pioneer Memorial Bridge | Site of the Mormon Tree | Cutler’s Park | Brigham Young House | Mormon Mill
Other: Directory of Florence Historic Places

Elsewhere Online

• North Side Bank listing in the National Information Center website of the Federal Reserve System

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BONUS PICS!