North Omaha has had a lot of characters, people who left big marks on the community, and others who were not noticed in their lifetimes for the impacts they left. For 50 years, almost every source agreed that one man did more for the community, including business, civic and social life, than anyone else. This is a biography of “the prime minister of North Omaha,” William F. Schollman (1885-1966).

Born near Wyoming, Iowa, in 1885, young Bill Schollman was the son of a farmer who came from a long line of blacksmiths. After leaving school at age 11, he apprenticed to a plumber in Davenport until the turn of the 20th century. He found St. Paul, Minnesota, too cold when he moved there and came to Omaha in 1906. Moving into the Saratoga neighborhood, he went to work for Art Savard Plumbing at 24th and Ames, and the next year he co-founded the Schollman Brothers Company. Over the next 60 years, Schollman’s name would become synonymous with being a Saratoga booster as he became the quintessential North Omaha businessman.

In 1907, Schollman and his brother Fred (1880-1949) started their own plumbing business called Schollman Brothers at 4110-4116 North 24th Street. Co-opening a hardware store called North Side Hardware Company soon after, in 1935 Fred took over that business and left Bill to run the plumbing shop. The two stayed in business together through the Schollman Brothers Investment Company, which was the developer and originally owner of the North Star Theater building at North 25th and Ames Avenue.

Leading the charge in promoting the emerging suburban region that included Saratoga, Kenwood, Miller Park and elsewhere, Schollman was the leader of North Omaha’s business community by 1915 when “the ‘boost North Omaha spirit’ was at its peak.” Streets were getting paved for the first time, house subdivisions were being built along North 24th north of Kountze Place, and Schollman was on the front lines. He was mentioned often in newspapers as a booster, and was active in corraling his peers to cajole city politicians and officials to get things done for the community.

Starting in the late 1950s, Schollman served on the City of Omaha Sanitation Commission and served as the chairman for two years. That was an era of large-scale sewer expansion and other steps, and in his position Schollman worked closely with the mayor and City of Omaha staff.

He was a leader in the Ames Avenue Businessmen’s Club, the Northside Activities Club, the North Omaha Commercial Club and others. As one community newspaper said, “Down through the years, he’s belonged to just about everything there was to belong to—and in North Omaha, there’s been plenty… more often than not, he’s wound up being the president or chairman somewhere along the line.” Schollman was an influential member of the Birchwood Club from its inception in the 1930s, and starting in 1945, was on the team that worked to launch the North Omaha YMCA by Miller Park. They broke ground in 1958. He was also a leader in the Florence Masons.

Schollman’s name was attached to several North Omaha business exhibitions, as well as the openings of the Fontenelle Park golf course and the North Branch Library in 1921. That decade, he helped get North High School built, too. When the 24th and Ames area lost its post office to the 30th and Ames area in that decade, Schollman took it hard but kept going.

As early as 1926, he became one of the visionary leaders promoting the new bridge over the Missouri River. In the 1940s he served as chairman of the North Omaha Bridge Commission, and his influence was said to have sold many of the $3,450,000 in public bonds sold to cover the costs of the construction. Eventually, Schollman saw the opening of the Mormon Pioneer Memorial Bridge in 1953. Schollman received the plaques installed at the dedication, with one on each side of the bridge.

Schollman’s wife Amanda died in 1964. Schollman died two years later at age 81 while out on a fishing retreat. After raising their family at 3827 Florence Boulevard and 6704 North 24th Street, at the end of his life Schollman lived in the Masonic Manor. In addition to other roles already mentioned, Schollman was recognized as the past president of the Nebraska Retail Plumbers Association, and as a member of the Tangier Shrine and the North Omaha Kiwanis Club. He was buried at Forest Lawn.

Today, there are no memorials for Schollman’s contributions to North Omaha. The North Omaha YMCA, the 24th and Ames commercial district and many other reflections of his hard work are gone. However, North High and the Mormon Bridge stand to remind us of the glory that was once in the community Schollman helped build for all those decades.

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