Buildings change and morph over time, taking on new purposes and meanings to their owners. Sometimes they’re revered for their history, sometimes they’re just hollow caverns to store things in. One Saratoga neighborhood building has a long history where the past was forgotten then rediscovered. This is a history of 4515 North 24th Street.

Starting Out as A&P Super Market

Starting around 1910, a national chain of grocery stores opened in North Omaha and across the city called The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company. As the chain grew, it developed a vociferous need for expansion and modernization and the intersection of 24th and Ames became a target.

Imagine a time when supermarkets were brand-new, modern and convenient and the opposite of everything old and dusty. In September 1941, that’s what the A&P Super Market at 4515 North 24th Street was when it opened. James T. Allen (1890-1957) was the architect of the building, and designed it in the distinct Art Modern style. The design featured rounded corners, glazed external tiling, and other features indicative of commercial applications. The parking lot was paved and included stalls for 600 cars. Costing $30,000 to construct, it was built by Borchman and Sons Construction and was owned by William Norman and George I. Ross.

The store offered all the latest amenities, including an in-house butcher, shopping carts, cashiers and more.

Becoming Hinky Dinky

The A&P Super Market closed in 1957 and the location became a Hinky Dinky store. Originally located across the intersection at 24th and Ames starting in 1926, Hinkey Dinky was excited for their new location and advertised the opening widely. The store had the revolutionary innovation of adding a gas station attached to the store, and the Hinky Dinky Service Station attached to it.

In 1968, the Hinky Dinky store was closed permanently. Citing it being outmoded and “two newer Hinky Dinky stores serving the area,” the employees were transferred to other locations. Simultaneously, there were violent uprisings targeting businesses throughout the commercial district at 24th and Ames. A youth center at 24th and Ames brought teens to the intersection almost every weekend, and police regularly intervened in problem activities that emerged. Eventually those activities descended into chaos, with store windows broken and shoplifting pervasive. The convenient closure took Hinky Dinky out of Omaha’s growing segregated commercial buying region, and the chain never came back.

After Hinky Dinky moved out, the storefront sat empty for a number of years. K&K Trucking started using the facility in the 1970s as a wholesale trucking company and a truck storage business. In the 1980s the building was owned by a trucking company called Erwin Trucking.

Trans-Motion

Founded in 2011, Trans-Motion owns the building in 2023. Trans-Motion, a regional carrier that has cared for the building and used it extensively for years. Wendy Reeves from Trans-Motion sent me several pics of the interior and work the company is doing on the building, and her contribution inspired this article.

Today the building at 4515 North 24th Street is fully integrated into the business’s ongoing North Omaha operations. It is kept up and used, which is more than some other industrial buildings in the neighborhood can say.

However, the City of Omaha and the State of Nebraska have never recognized the historic contributions of this structure to the growth and well-being of the Saratoga neighborhood or the North Omaha community in general. 

You Might Like…

• A History of the Intersection of 24th and Ames
• A Tour of Saratoga Historic Places
• A History of the Saratoga Belt Line Historic District

MY ARTICLES ABOUT GROCERY STORES IN NORTH OMAHA
Summary: A History of Grocery Stores in North Omaha

Separate Stores: Kellogg’s Garden Super Market | Battiato’s Super Market | Fort Street Grocery Store | Forgot Store | 24th and Lake Safeway | Meckley & Myers | Omaha Market House | Jacobberger Groceries | Heath and Co. | Burstein-Runierman Grocery | Shaver’s Food Store | Paul Adams Grocery | Peterson’s Grocery | 24th and Ames A&P/Hinky Dinky

Briefs: New Market | Florence Field Grocery | 24th and Ames A&P | Kuppig Grocery | New Boulevard Market

Related: Bakeries | Restaurants | Drive-Ins

Elsewhere Online

• Trans-Motion official website

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