The Kountze Place neighborhood is packed with history and historic gems. Once a streetcar suburb packed with middle- and upper class managers and business owners, the neighborhood was the site of the 1898 Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. Today it has a lot to learn from. This is a history of Emmet Street in the Kountze Place neighborhood.

The Beginnings of Emmet Street

Emmet Street was part of the Kountze Place plat originally laid out in was named for Irish political leader Robert Emmet (1778-1803). Emmet was a revolutionary who tried to overthrow English rule of Ireland and was executed for it.

Herman Kountze (1833-1906) was a pioneer Omaha banker who bought land around the city and made a fortune selling it. He and his brother Augustus Kountze (1826-1892) started First National Bank, which is still operating today and is the oldest privately owned bank in the western United States. Herman developed the neighborhood where Emmet street originated and likely choose the street name personally. The Douglas County Historical Society thinks this was done a compliment to some of Omaha’s Irish founding fathers, including the Creighton family who had deep Irish roots. The young John A. Creighton was the president of the Kountze brothers’ bank.

Fine Homes

There have been many fine homes located along Emmet Street in North Omaha from the time of its inception through to today.

Louis Mendelsson, a premier architect in Omaha, owned a fine, large mansion from the 1870s on the southwest corner of North 21st and Emmet Streets. Surrounded by a large iron fence, it was later owned by a doctor who only served Omaha’s high society. This house is long gone.

There are many fine structures on Emmet today. Several American foursquare style homes line the street near North 14th and there is a remarkable brownstone duplex on the corner of North 16th. Architect Issac Burdick designed 1618 Emmet Street in 1890, as well as another one at 1614 Emmet which stood until it burned down in 2020.

There are more fine structures along the street from North 16th to Florence Boulevard, including several notable homes. Although it is clad in vinyl today, the home at 1822 Emmet used to be one of the finest in Kountze Place. American foursquare pack the next few blocks until Florence Boulevard, where the Garden Supermarket used to sit on the corner.

In 1899, Herman Kountze donated land for the Kountze Place Golf Club to be established at Florence Boulevard and Emmet Street. However, after a year of organizing the club didn’t take off and the land served a different purpose. Before that, the Omaha Cricket Club had their grounds at the same location and played there for several more seasons before being forced to move. Called the Omaha Cricket Grounds, the site had a “well-appointed pavilion” there with “ample accommodations… for ladies and their escorts.”

The fine house on the northwest corner of Emmet Street and Florence Boulevard at 2002 Emmet was once the home of the president of the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary, which sat at North 21st and Emmet until 1948, then became apartments. Today, the New Horizon Townhomes are located on that building’s former lawn, and the site on the southeast corner of North 21st and Emmet where that building stood continues to sit empty almost 50 years after it burned down.

In 1958, the North Christ Child Center replaced an Eastlake-Stick style house built at 2111 Emmet Street in 1889. That program was operated by Catholic Charities, and they stopped using that name in 2015. Today the building is simply referred to as Catholic Charities and provides all kinds of social services for the community. Lothrop School sits stops the flow of the street at North 22nd Street and it continues again at North 24th.

The building on the southwest corner of North 24th and Emmet was built in 1890, and is a combination retail and residential structure. The remainder of Emmet from North 24th to the North Freeway is made of historic one- and two-story homes and new in-fill houses. There is a unique 1920 duplex at the intersection of North 27th and Emmet.

Beautiful Churches

The church at 1802 Emmet was built for Plymouth Congregational in 1921 after they were founded in 1884. Popular local architect Harry Lawrie (1858-1935) designed the new building. It became home to Primm Chapel African Methodist Episcopal in 1960, which folded in 1981 and Second Baptist Church moved in, continuing today.

Faith Temple COGIC is located at 2108 Emmet Street. Built in 1907 as First United Presbyterian Church, the building became Faith Temple Church of God in Christ in 1961. It continues today.

Emmet Street Today

As of 2023, there are no locations on Emmet Street anywhere in Omaha that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places or designated as official Omaha Landmarks.

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MY ARTICLES ABOUT THE HISTORY OF KOUNTZE PLACE
General: Kountze Place | Kountze Park | North 16th Street | North 24th Street | Florence Boulevard | Wirt Street | Emmet Street | Binney Street | 16th and Locust Historic District
Houses: Charles Storz House | Anna Wilson’s Mansion | McCreary Mansion | McLain Mansion | Redick Mansion | John E. Reagan House | George F. Shepard House | Burdick House | 3210 North 21st Street | 1922 Wirt Street | University Apartments
Churches: First UPC/Faith Temple COGIC | St. Paul Lutheran | Hartford Memorial UBC/Rising Star Baptist | Immanuel Baptist | Calvin Memorial Presbyterian | Trinity Methodist Episcopal | Mount Vernon Missionary Baptist | Greater St. Paul COGIC | Plymouth Congregational/Primm Chapel AME/Second Baptist | Paradise Baptist
Education: Omaha University | Presbyterian Theological Seminary | Lothrop Elementary School | Horace Mann Junior High | Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary
Hospitals: Salvation Army Hospital | Swedish Hospital | Kountze Place Hospital
Events: Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition | Greater America Exposition | Riots
Businesses: Hash House | 3006 Building | Grand Theater | 2936 North 24th Street | Corby Theater
Other: Kountze Place Golf Club

Listen to the North Omaha History Podcast show #4 about the history of the Kountze Place neighborhood »

MY ARTICLES ABOUT THE HISTORY OF STREETS IN NORTH OMAHA

STREETS: 16th Street | 24th Street | 30th Street | Cuming Street | Military Avenue | Saddle Creek Road | Florence Main Street
BOULEVARDS: Boulevards | Florence Boulevard | Fontenelle Boulevard
INTERSECTIONS: 42nd and Redman | 40th and Ames | 40th and Hamilton | 30th and Ames | 24th and Fort | 30th and Fort | 24th and Ames | 24th and Lake | 16th and Locust | 20th and Lake | 45th and Military | 24th and Pratt | 30th and Redick | 24th and Ames
STREETCARS: Streetcars | Streetcars in Benson | 26th and Lake Streetcar Barn | 19th and Nicholas Streetcar Barn | Omaha Horse Railway
BRIDGES: Locust Street Viaduct | Nicholas Street Viaduct | Mormon Bridge | Ames Avenue Bridge | Miller Park Bridges | East Omaha Bridge
OTHER: North Freeway | Sorenson Parkway | J.J. Pershing Drive | River Drive

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