There are some neighborhoods in North Omaha that scream for attention. They have stately homes, huge school buildings, big parks or long histories. There are neighborhoods in the community that are quieter though, and one of them is located near Fontenelle Park. It is filled with quiet houses, straight streets and a past typical in many early suburbs in the community. This is the a history of the Fairfax neighborhood.

Understanding the Big Picture of Fairfax

One of the early promotional articles in a newspaper said, “Visitors cannot help but admire these fine lots, which are directly in line with Omaha’s fastest growth and are close to attractive home and schools and churches. Fairfax will be a favorite addition from the start.” A man called “Colonel B.P. Theibaud” was one of the first sellers of lots in the neighborhood.

The Fairfax neighborhood was platted for development in 1906. Alternately referred to as the Fairview neighborhood, it runs from North 36th Street to North 40th, from Pratt Street on the south to Sprague on the north. Spaulding Street runs through the middle. There are also three boulevards within close proximity to the neighborhoods allowing drivers quick access to the rest of the city with John A. Creighton Boulevard to the east, Paxton Boulevard to the north, and Fontenelle Boulevard to the west. Spaulding Street runs parallel to Paxton Boulevard with a long, narrow, parklike buffer in-between the two roadways covered in grass, a wide sidewalk, and some trees.

From 1906 through 1951, the neighborhood was served by three streetcar lines, one along North 42nd Street, one along North 30th Street, and one along Ames Avenue. Today there are busses on Ames and North 30th.

Commercial areas surround the neighborhood, including the intersection of 40th and Ames, 30th and Ames, and Military Avenue all nearby. The Belt Line Railway and its light industries provided a lot of jobs for the working class neighborhood, and Fontenelle Park was regularly packed with residents. Originally the area had grocery stores on the edges of the neighborhood, but they’re all gone now.

The houses in the neighborhood were largely developed in two phases. The first happened between 1906 and 1926, and the second between 1946 and 1956. The first phase happened during a period of growth in Omaha when new residents needed homes, and was accelerated by movement away from the Near North Side after the 1919 Will Brown lynching and riots. The early houses were shotgun shacks and bungalows built on regular sized lots that sold for $180, payable on convenient installments over 10 or 20 year payment programs. The second phase of development happened after World War II and consisted largely of saltbox style houses with a few ranch style thrown in. There are lots of single story houses with a few 1.5 story houses with garages built into the basement. Almost all of the houses are single-family homes with almost none exceeding 2,000 square feet.

Fairfax was developed for working class families who wanted a calm suburban life. It was designed on a grid pattern with 90′ corners on straight streets, with curbs, sidewalks, alleys and street lamps throughout. Everywhere streets meet there is a four-way intersection, and there are 16 blocks in the entire development. Located on a mostly-flat plain with subtle low hills in pockets, the neighborhood does not have any schools, parks or other public facilities within it. There are a few churches described further on.

When it was opened for development, Omaha openly practiced redlining and this housing was not available to African American families. Blockbusting here began in 1968 when the federal Fair Housing Act was passed. Omaha real estate agents used fear-mongering to stoke sales, and pitted white people against Black people in an ongoing battle to promote white supremacy. With rampant white flight in the 1970s, by 1990 almost all white people across the entire 16-blocks in the neighborhood had moved away and today it has become almost entirely African American. There are African immigrants, hispanic/latinx and other residents of color in the neighborhood too.

The neighborhood is home to at least two phenomenal houses that deserve historic recognition. Sitting at 3939 and 3947 North 41st Street, these homes were designed in the Art Deco style and maintain a great deal of their original integrity. 3943 North 40th Street is another Art Deco style house. Built with a single story in 815 square feet, this house uses the flat roof, streamlined stucco exterior and straight lines to convey a sense of modernity.

The Fairfax Grocery was opened in a two-story building at 3618 Spaulding Street around 1917 with an apartment above it. In 1929, it was sold to Rose and Hyman Kramer, where he ran his grocery store. In 1935, there was a fire that took two hours for firemen to put out, with only two walls left when they were done. Kramer rebuilt and in 1948 the store was for sale again. It didn’t sell though, and in 1950 there was another fire at Kramer Grocery. In the 1950s and 60s it was a near-constant target for robbers and burglars, and after robbers held a knife to his throat, at the age of 74 Hyman threw in the towel in 1964. It became Tucker’s Market after that, but they must have went out of business fast because the building was condemned by the City of Omaha in 1970. In 1980, the lot was bought by St. Mark’s Baptist Church and is still used as a parking lot there today.

Since 2000 several empty lots have been in-filled throughout the neighborhood.

Today, this neighborhood is almost an ideal collection of starter homes. Originally filled with first-time homeowners, today there are many absentee landlords for houses in Fairfax. There are historic trees lining the streets and many of the homes are in good condition.

Landmarks in Fairfax

George Tietsort opened the Tietsort Grocery Store here at 3560 N. 40th Street in the 1920s. He also ran a service station across the street. Tietsort’s early phone number was KE 3308. By the 1950s, this storefront was home to the Around the Clock Laundromat, and by the 1970s it became a church. It was home to the Christian Discipleship Church for a long time, and today it houses the Emmanuel Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Fairview Presbyterian Church was founded before 1910, and finished building a new church in 1921. Calvin Presbyterian Church merged with Fairview Presbyterian in 1991. Together, they kept Fairview’s building at North 40th and Pratt Streets in the Fairfax neighborhood and named the new congregation New Life Presbyterian Church. The current building on the site is probably from the 1940s or 50s, so what you see there now is probably what’s been there for 70+ years.

Other churches in the Fairfax neighborhood include St. Mark Baptist Church at 3616 Spaulding Street; Hope & Refuge Ministries at 3723 North 37th Street, which was built as a Church of Christ; and Emmanuel Pentecostal Holiness Church and North 40th and Pratt. There are several other churches nearby, including the Nile Lutheran Church, King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church, Faith Church, Bethesda Temple Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Freestone Baptist Church, and Nile Lutheran Church along with the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministries at 4140 North 42nd Street.

The Old Fairfax School

Maybe the longest-lasting focal point of the neighborhood was one that isn’t standing anymore. The Fairfax School was a two-room schoolhouse opened in 1911 at 3708 North 40th Street. Made with wood and painted white for its whole existence, the building had an outhouse and was originally a small suburban school for local white families. By 1966, the Fairfax Grade School served mostly African American students because of de facto segregation. In 1974, two women held a reunion for former students of Fairfax School, and shortly after, the building was demolished. Today there is no sign it ever existed. There are several schools just outside the neighborhood, including the North High School, Skinner Elementary School and Druid Hill Elementary School. The Butler-Gast YMCA is nearby, too.

History in Fairfax

In 2019, the City of Omaha renamed North 40th Street from Pratt to Spaulding Street in honor of Alonzo “Mitch” Mitchell, a longtime coach and neighborhood leader who passed away the year before. Today, there is no recognition of any of the historical assets within the neighborhood. The nearby boulevards are listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with the Fontenelle Park pavilion.

You Might Like…

• A House of Tomorrow in North Omaha
• History of Fontenelle Boulevard
• A History of Fontenelle Park in North Omaha
• A History of the Nebraska School for the Deaf
• A History of the Intersection at North 40th and Ames Avenue

MY ARTICLES ABOUT HISTORIC NEIGHBORHOODS IN NORTH OMAHA
National Register of Historic Places Historic Districts in North Omaha: 24th and Lake Historic District | Benson Downtown Historic District | Country Club Historic District | Dundee/Happy Hollow Historic District | Fairacres Historic District | Fort Omaha Historic District | Minne Lusa Historic District | Nicholas Street Historic District
Historic Neighborhoods in North Omaha: Bedford Place | Belvedere Point | Bemis Park | Benson | Briggs | Bungalow City | Carter Lake, Iowa | Central Park | Clifton Hill | Collier Place | Creighton University | Crown Point | DeBolt | Druid Hill | East Omaha | Fairfax | Florence | Florence Field | Fort Omaha | Fontenelle View | Gifford Park | Gold Coast (Cathedral) | High Point | Jefferson Square | Kellom Heights | Kountze Place | Lakewood Gardens | Little Russia | Long School | Malcolm X Memorial | Miller Park | Miller Park Duplex Historic District | Monmouth Park | Montclair | Near North Side | North Downtown Omaha | Omaha View | Orchard Hill | Plum Nelly | Prettiest Mile in Omaha | Prospect Place | Raven Oaks | Redman | Saratoga | Sherman | Squatter’s Row | Sulphur Springs | Ponca Hills | Wakonda | Walnut Hill | Winspear Triangle | Wyman Heights
Lost Towns in North Omaha: Benson | Briggs | Cutler’s Park | DeBolt | East Omaha | Florence | Saratoga | Sulphur Springs | Winter Quarters