For more than 75 years, North Omaha was a hotbed by public transportation provided by streetcars. One of the most predominant facilities in the community was built at the height of optimism and when its use was over it was repurposed into a commercial institution that served the community for decades. This is a history of the Nicholas Streetcar Barn in North Omaha.

In 1889, the Omaha Motor Railroad Company Car House and Electric Works was constructed on the southwest corner of North 19th and Nicholas Streets in 1889 and expanded two years later in 1891.

In 1891, the Omaha Street Railway also built a powerhouse across the street from the Nicholas Streetcar Barn. That powerhouse was home to “the largest belts ever brought into the West,” four belts that powered steam-driven dynamos. They were five feet wide and 150 feet long with “over 200 steer hides being required to make it,” and were made by the Omaha Rubber Company. When it was built, the streetcar powerhouse was also home to the first-ever in-building fire box ever installed in Omaha, as well as one of the city’s first industrial wells built within a building. Both the streetcar barn and the powerhouse were instrumental for handling the crowds of the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition in North Omaha in 1898, providing an estimated 1.75 million riders with transportation during its six-months of steady operation.

By 1905, the building was referred to as “the old power house and barn of the street railway company” in an article describing how a new business was moving into the structure. That year, the Omaha Street Railway Company considered remodeling the powerhouse and barn to build a new “state-of-the-art” facility, or to demolish the old barns for the Omaha Horse Railway Company at North 26th and Lake Streets. However, its dimensions were too small to accommodate new streetcar designs, so the northern location was selected for a new streetcar barn instead.

In the early 1920s, Joseph L. Baker (1854-1940) started an ice making machine plant in the building, lasting there until the company moved to a factory on North 16th Street in 1925.

In 1928, Morris Micklin (1899-1953), owner of Micklin Lumber and Hardware, renovated the building to expand their operations from North 24th Street. Micklin was deeply invested in the surrounding area, and his lumberyard and Ace hardware became an iconic local institution in the decades following. The business closed in 2015 and in 2017, the building located at 1020 North 19th Street was demolished.

Today, the address is the site of “Muse Omaha,” a five-story apartment building that covers a half-block. Because it converted a derelict property into modern student housing, it is regarded by the EPA as a win for “brownfield” reclamation.

As of 2023, there is no historical recognition of the site or its importance to building North Omaha and contributions to the rest of the city. The memory of the Nicholas Street Omaha Street Railway Barn is simply gone, and learning about it is hard at best.

You Might Like…

• A History of the 26th and Lake Streetcar Shop in North Omaha
• A History of Streetcars in North Omaha
• A History of Streetcars in Benson

Elsewhere Online

• “Lost on a Streetcar” from History Nebraska

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