A History of the Salvation Army Hospital in North Omaha

Jan 16, 2019

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in 19th century, 20th century, Architecture, Buildings, Culture, Economics, Healthcare, Hospitals, Lost history, Near North Side, North 16th Street, North 24th Street, Poverty, Public health, society, Wrecked buildings

In the 1890s, Omaha was a city of immigrants and pioneers, workers and criminals, and lots of regular people who got caught in between. From 1896 to 1978, only one organization in the city offered prenatal and birthing services for low-income, unwed and “unsuitable” pregnant women. This is a history of the Omaha Salvation Army Women’s Hospital in North Omaha.

Beginnings

This was the Omaha Salvation Army Rescue and Maternity Home at 3824 North 24th Street. It opened there in 1896 and moved out in 1920.

First location of The Salvation Army Home for Unwed Mothers later called the Rescue Home and Maternity Hospital
Location: 3824 North 24th Street
Opened: 1896
Closed: 1920

Starting in 1896, the The Salvation Army ran the Rescue Home and Maternity Hospital in North Omaha. Originally located at 3704 N 24th Street from 1896 to 1920, the hospital supported young women and women without support from pregnancy through birth. The children born there were often placed for adoption.

The structure was on an early streetcar line that ran the gamut of North 24th Street, allowing patrons easy access to the facility. It was in the leafy Kountze Place neighborhood, which was waiting its star turn just two years later with the opening of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. The facility would have sat just outside the bounds of the event.

This building continued to stand and was called the Spaulding Apartments until the early 1960s. It was demolished in the 1970s.

Growing Bigger

This is the Saunders Mansion at 2008 North 16th Street after it was the Salvation Army Hospital for Unwed Mothers and when it was the German Old Folks Home.

Second Location of The Salvation Army Rescue Home and Maternity Hospital
2008 North 16th Street
Opened: 1920
Closed: 1938

In 1920, the Omaha Salvation Army opened the Rescue Home and Maternity Hospital in the old Governor Saunders Mansion at 2008 North 16th Street, and stayed there until 1938. Expanding the mansion repeatedly, there were eventually more than 60 rooms there. In 1921, the facility was described as “a home for girls who are incorrigible.” They got religious training and “are encouraged to start life over in a new manner.”

The building had many uses after the Salvation Army moved out and was demolished in 1975. The site became a parking lot for the Interstate Printing Company housed next door.

An Entire Hospital

The Salvation Army Booth Memorial Hospital was located at 2404 Pratt Street from 1938 to 1967.

Third Location of the Salvation Army Booth Memorial Hospital
Location: 2404 Pratt Street
Opened: 1938
Closed: 1966

It was renamed for Catherine Booth in 1938 and moved to 2404 Pratt Street at the location of the former Evangelical Covenant Hospital. The Booth Hospital was also called the Salvation Army Home for Unwed Mothers. The facility was rebuilt in the late 1940s.

Booth Hospital operated until 1966, when it was closed permanently. It sat empty for almost a decade and was demolished in 1974.

“Write or telephone, asking for an interview. Policies and programs are flexible to meet individual needs. All factors are discussed confidentially with the applicant and arrangements made to give the girl and her baby the specific help that their situation requires. This service is available on the basis of need, regardless of creed, color, class or circumstances. The spiritual purpose is paramount. We are concerned with the whole person – not only the physical need but the mental, emotional, social and spiritual needs as well.”
—1964 newspaper ad for the Booth Hospital

Moving Away

The fourth location of the Booth Memorial Hospital opened in 1967 when the hospital was moved to South 40th and Dewey Streets. That building was closed in 1978 and sold to the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1990.

From 1896 to 1978, the Salvation Army Booth Memorial Hospital had four incarnations, three of them in North Omaha. Today the Salvation Army North Corps Community Center operates a new facility at the corner of North 24th and Pratt Streets. However, there is no historical marker there and the Salvation Army apparently doesn’t recognize the location for its historical value. However, North Omaha was home to this institution for a long time, and its role is indelible and should be recognized.

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This is a September 1974 article about the demolition of the Booth Memorial Hospital on N. 24th Street.

Comments

36 responses to “A History of the Salvation Army Hospital in North Omaha”

Al Shelton

January 18

Liked the article. Our family lived, basically across the street from the 3824 N. 24th street location. We were in an apartment building at 3711 N. 24th. I remember the people not being too friendly to the ladies and couldn’t understand why.

Reply
1. Adam F. C. Fletcher
  
  January 23
  
  Thanks for sharing your memory Al – I would love to hear any others you have of that area! The apartment you lived in was designed by a notable architect in the community named Joe Guth. If you’re interested, you can learn about him at https://northomahahistory.com/2016/11/04/joseph-p-guth/
  
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  1. Al Shelton
    
    November 13
    
    Sorry abt the long delay. In the image of 3709-11, we lived in the bottom left apt from abt 1955 – 1959. My maternal grandparents lived in the apt above us. The lower right apt was occupied by the Golden Zennon family. We were friendly w/them since we each had a basement and shared the same stairway down. Golden had a wife named Wilma or Willy Mae. They had 2 boys. The older one was Golden Jr. I cannot remember the name of the other child. I also cannot remember who rented the apt above the Zennons.
    
    At the end of the block to the south was a candy store. The owner was lady named Peggy. She obviously did not like kids. I could never understand that. Why open a neighborhood candy store if you don’t like kids. It was a great store.
  2. Cindy L. Gresham
    
    April 15
    
    I was born there in April 1947. My adoptive mother was a Salvationist Frances McEvers and worked at the hospital until we relocated through the U. S. Army. Do you know if any records still exist? My birth mother’s name was Dorris Davis from Benkleman NE
Jeannene Olson

June 6

I am doing research and completing a booklet for a lady that was born at Booth Memorial Hospital May 11, 1938 and never knew who her biological family was and has never had a real family. I am trying to make her booklet as factual as possible. I see that the hospital was closed and the second hospital opened in 1938. Which hospital would she have been born at. I have found both sides of her biological family per Ancestry DNA.

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1. Adam Fletcher Sasse
  
  June 7
  
  I didn’t take note of which month the hospital moved. I suggest searching for when the Evangelical Covenant Hospital closed, which was the prior occupant of the facility.
  
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2. Joyce Elaine Hill
  
  November 21
  
  Wow I was Born at this Hospital on March 13, 1953
  
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Marcie Lynne “Ward” Ybanez

June 30

I am doing research on my grandfather who was adopted (maybe not formally) in a hospital in Omaha on or about July 4, 1902. We never knew the exact date, so made one up. His adopted mother rode in a buggy 170 miles from the Creighton area of Nebraska to get him when he was about 2 weeks old. It was thought that she may have been a relation, but DNA tests do not show a connection to her family. Does paperwork still exist for births, adoptions etc. for the original hospital? This seems our best choice as all of her family lived on North 24th Street. Adopted mother was Sarah (Sadie) Taylor Rake, married to Samuel Quincy Rake.

Thank you in advance for any information

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1. Adam Fletcher Sasse
  
  July 1
  
  I have no idea Marcie, sorry. Finding historic hospital info is very difficult, especially for institutions that haven’t existed for decades. From the reports of dozens of other researchers, the Omaha Salvation Army is not forthcoming with records or access to records. Good luck in your search.
  
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2. Kira
  
  July 14
  
  I found a website where you can request information from Susan Mitchem at 703-684-5529 for records of births at the central US locations.
  
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Bob Green

July 19

I was born in the last Booth hospital in 1968. My birth mothers husband contacted Lutheren Family Services in Omaha. I got background info about my birth mother and the family four years ago and sat on it until recently. I have a half brother and half sister. I also have been in contact with my birth mothers husband and had a almost three hour phone call with my half sister. So LFS’s might be able to help. I don’t think they can give information out but the can indirectly contact birth families and go from there. Best wishes all!

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1. Marcie L Ybanez
  
  July 20
  
  Thank you so much!! I will reach out to them.
  
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2. Jess Espejo
  
  November 13
  
  where was that located at….the one on Pratt St
  
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  1. Adam F.C. Fletcher
    
    November 13
    
    Jess, the addresses to each location are mentioned in the article repeatedly. The one on the northwest corner of 24th and Pratt was the third location.
S Peters

September 2

Thank you so much for sharing this information about the history of the hospital. I found it quite interesting. I was a birth mother at the last hospital, Boothe Memorial Home for Unwed Mothers. I gave birth in 1977, the year before it closed. Thankfully, mine was an ‘open’ adoption. Just in the sense that we chose the family, so I knew where my child was going. Since then, we have been reunited and our families have successfully been brought back together! I wish you all blessings in finding your birth family. ❤

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1. Melissa Holliday
  
  April 5
  
  I also gave birth there in December 1977, I’ll bet we knew each other!
  
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Kay Scala

May 8

I gave birth to a baby girl on March 23, 1970 and would like information about her and her adoptive parents Thank You

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1. Adam F.C. Fletcher
  
  May 8
  
  I don’t have any of that information Kay. I would suggest you contact the Salvation Army, but they’ve been notoriously unhelpful to others. Good luck in your search.
  
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kentwatkinslegacy

June 5

My birth mother would have gone to the facility at 2008 N. 16th St., according to this article. When I found her years later, she did not have good memories of her stay there, said that they ‘paraded me during church services up front and pointed to me as a sinner’. Nevertheless, she birthed me there (6 lb., 3 oz.), with Dr. Sanders attending, on Feb. 28, 1937. After a few months of trying to care for me, she went to the Child Savings Institute, which boarded both her and me, until other complications in her life forced her to relinquish me. I was blessed to have been adopted by parents who gave me unconditional love and saw that I had a good education at William & Mary, Harvard, and Oxford. I’ve had a wonderful life giving back in terms of public policy in Washington, D.C., etc. (By the way, I just saw Warren Buffett at a reception in NY last week and remember my former Sioux City high school classmate Woody Howe, the editor of the Omaha World Herald, and consulting for Bob Armstrong at the Housing Authority.)

Presently, I am writing my memoirs, while still working, and taking several online courses on creative writing of family memoirs at Cambridge University (UK). This week, I had an assignment to tell more details of my actual birthplace and process. I had already written a 3-part memoir on my adoption, finding my birth mother, and finding my birth father (after a DNA that revealed someone entirely different from what my birth mother had told CSI). So, this was a great action-forcing process to dig deeper, and lo, find this article and list-serve! Thanks for providing such, I will certainly donate. If anyone is interested in sharing more, I’d be happy to email a copy of this particular memoir, after it is completed. Or share it at kentwatkinslegacy.blog, which I intend to re-activate.

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1. Adam F.C. Fletcher
  
  June 7
  
  Sounds like you’ve lived a long and interesting life Kent. Omaha in the 1930s was a hard place that was devastated by the Great Depression and mired in failed ambitions. The city was really reconciling with never becoming massive and didn’t know which direction to go. I’m glad you made it out and have gone far beyond. I would appreciate anything you’d share with me, whether a simple donation or your memoirs. I always accept emails to info@northomahahistory.com, so feel free to send anything there. I look forward to reading whatever you’d like to send my way! Thanks for your note.
  
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  1. Virginia Rowen
    
    January 18
    
    Where are the Omaha Booth Home1938 records stored at this time? I would like to get copies of birth records. Thank you, Virginia Rowen
  2. Adam F.C. Fletcher
    
    January 19
    
    You would need to contact the Salvation Army in Omaha for that information. Please let me know whether they respond to you, and what their response is? I get several inquiries every year with this same question.
Jamie

June 17

Would anyone have any information on whether women would live at the 40th St facility in the weeks and months before giving birth, or did they live in group homes elsewhere in the area? If so, any suggestions of how to research where those places might have been?

My mother was driven across a great swath of the country to be dropped at a “home for unwed mothers” in Omaha sometime in 1969, possibly with the idea (and strong encouragement) to give me up for adoption.

At some point, minds were changed and she returned to Oklahoma to have and raise me. A clearly untrue story about the circumstances of my birth is all that I have and my mother was an unbreachable vault of secrecy about some things. She passed away recently and I’m fascinated to learn more, and more accurately, if I’m able.

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1. kentwatkinslegacy
  
  June 18
  
  Jamie, I believe that my mother stayed at the Salvation Army home/hospital, but it might depend on the year involved, because they occupied different buildings over the years. After my birth, we lived in a rental house, but I don’t think it was affiliated. At eight months, she arranged to have us live at the Child Savings Institute, while she decided whether to relinquish me or not. She had contacted the Nebraska Children’s Home before that. So, it may have been at any of those places, depending on the time your mother was pregnant. There was/is also a Lutheran Children’s agency and probably a Catholic one, so you might google the present ones and see if they would know if they provided ‘room-and-board’ for that period. You can reach me at kent.watkins@yahoo.com, if you think I could be further help.
  
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  1. Jamie
    
    June 18
    
    Thanks so much, Kent. My mother would have been there (or wherever she actually ended up) probably in the early to mid summer of 1969. I’m not sure how long she stayed before deciding to come back to Oklahoma.
    
    Thanks so much for the extra info. I will certainly look into it!
2. Kathy Hunter
  
  April 29
  
  Hey Jamie I’m trying to get anwser on info back in 1978 when my baby girl was born but I requested back from the unmc but just received a letter stated that they have know info to give me but I had brought the birth certificate from vital static at the court house in omaha nebr but know death certificate wasn’t found tho that’s really strange and imma still keep searching.
  
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3. Paul Z. Hoskovec III
  
  May 1
  
  Jamie, I don’t know if census data would be helpful in your case since you were not born in a census year. But in my own case, my paternal grandmother was listed in a 1950 U.S. Census record as a resident at the Omaha Booth Hospital’s address with the occupation of “patient” at a point in time a few weeks before she gave birth to my father. This listing was in spite of the fact that she normally resided in Iowa at the time with her father.
  
  There were several other patients listed in the 1950 census record we well. This suggests that there were at least some women who resided at the Booth Hospital prior to delivering their children, and presumably afterward for whatever post-natal care was required.
  
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Pearl Brown

March 24

This information was very informative, I used to work for the Hospital, at that time it was also a Home for Unwed mothers, I was a dietary aide, it was a very interesting experience.

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1. Adam F.C. Fletcher
  
  March 25
  
  Hi Pearl, and thanks for your note. Do you have any memories I can include in the article? I would love to hear about the interior of the building, the attitudes of the management, and the patients if you want to share any of that? Or anything else…
  
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2. Kathy Hunter
  
  April 29
  
  Of what year did you work there.
  
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Paul Z. Hoskovec III

December 22

Thanks for sharing this history. In the course of doing genealogy research, I recently learned that my father was born in this hospital when it was located on Pratt Street. after which he was adopted by a local couple. It’s very helpful to have a better sense of his early history such as this article provides.

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Paul Z. Hoskovec III

January 21

Update: Per my own research efforts, I have learned that records for this hospital are archived with the main office of the Salvation Army USA Central Territory. However, they will only release records to former patients (mothers or children) of the facility, and not to other descendants or researchers.

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1. Jess Smith
  
  October 12
  
  My Dad was born here in 1929, and tried for 25 years to get records released, with no success. Through Ancestry.com, I was able to identify his birth parents. Both of his parents are long gone, and my Dad passed away in March 2023, at age 92. I was able to connect with my Dad’s half-sister (an aunt I never knew I had!). Unfortunately, with my Dad gone, it looks like the pursuit of records from the Salvation Army will be fruitless.
  
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  1. Adam F.C. Fletcher
    
    October 12
    
    Jess, I have never heard of the Salvation Army cooperating with requests like yours. I am sorry that’s the case. I hope my article was useful in your searches though.
Margie

December 10

I found out My father in law was born here in May 1937. We got a copy of his original birth certificate from Nebraska Vital statistics. It only cost $17 if you are related to them and they are deceased. It showed his birth mothers name and where he was born as Evangelical Covenant Hospital. It also listed the birth mothers address. Very interesting article.

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1. Jess Smith
  
  December 10
  
  Margie,
  Thanks for that reply. That is an avenue I will try as well.
  
  Reply