A History of the Jensen Building in North Omaha

North 24th Street is still being demolished. More than 50 years after the last riot, the historic storefronts and houses that once lined North 24th solid from Cuming to Fort Street are still being targeted for demolition in 2024. This is a history of one of the last ones standing, the storefront at 2314 North 24th Street, which I’m calling the Jensen Building.

Building On History

There has been a business at this address since in the 24th and Lake Historic District for at least 140 years. That’s when Danish blacksmith Andrew Jensen (1849-1930) opened his business at 2314 N. 24th St. after working at North 16th and Cuming for more than a decade. For the next decade, he raised a family of six sons and a daughter with his wife Anna at the address, along with running his business. Later on, his son opened a popular laundry service next door. Jensen ran his business there for a decade, then leased the space to another blacksmith. After that a series of businesses were located in the original building, including a cafe.

In 1909, a drugstore run by Christianson and Lawsen moved into the location, which ran there until 1913 when the notorious Easter Sunday tornado demolished their business. Six months after, Andrew Jensen got a building permit for a brick storefront at the location and the present-day building was finished in 1914.

The Jensens immediately moved into the upstairs quarters in the building and lived there until they died in 1930.

Built as a two-story, rectangular building the structure is a mixed-use commercial and residential space that faces west North 24th Street. The front of the building is covered in tan brick, with the first floor painted white and the rest unpainted. On the first floor, the storefront has transoms above the front windows with two vinyl doors, one of the first floor business and the other leading upstairs. There are three windows facing east upstairs, too. At the top of the second floor are distinctive upside-down triangular brick elements and a stepped roofline on the front. A stone plaque at the top has the original owners’ name, “A. JENSEN.”

When the building was finished construction in 1914, Jensen tried opening a saloon at the location, but was denied a liquor license on the grounds that there were already enough of them in the immediate vicinity.

Jones and Chiles

A. Jensen Building, 2314 North 24th Street, North Omaha, Nebraska

Around 1914, the business of Jones and Chiles Undertakers moved into the location. Alan Jones was trained and certified, and continued his practice in North Omaha for years. Providing services as funeral directors and licensed embalmers, Jones and Chiles were the first-ever Black businessmen at the location. In an era when Jim Crow segregation insisted that only white morticians serve white people, Jones and Chiles provided an essential service for the increasingly segregated Black neighborhood around the Jensen building. The business was called Jones and Reed Undertakers by 1919.

That year, 1919, the Omaha branch of the NAACP opened an office in the second floor of the Jensen Building. C.C. Galloway was the membership secretary that year, and the membership climbed after the lynching of Will Brown that year.

By 1926 though, Jones and Chiles was closed and other businesses continued to cycle through the building. A grocery called Herman’s Store was operated there by Herman Freelander from 1926 to 1936. According to late historian Matthew Stelly in a 2011 article from the Omaha Star, in the 1920s the address was home to the North Side Bazaar, where they sold “haberdashery, ladies furnishings and notions…”

In 1936, a restaurant called the E & E Little Cafe moved in. Later just called the Little Cafe, it was a Black-owned business constantly raided by the Omaha Police Department morals squad, which regularly blasted the owners for running gambling and a “disreputable business” at the location. However, the Little Cafe was the longest-ever running business at the address, staying there until 1952.

Located on the second floor, the Elite Cigar Store was at 2314 1/2 N. 24th Street from the late 1930s into the early 1940s.

Midcentury at 24th and Lake

W.B. Bryant (1884-1952) was a longtime African American attorney in North Omaha.

Immediately after World War II, there was a surge of pride and possibilities in North Omaha for the African American community. Soldiers recently returned and the economic growth stemming from wartime production raised the profile and sense of possibilities within the community.

Two longtime Black professionals in North Omaha had offices in the Jones and Chiles Building during this era. The first was attorney W.B. Bryant (1884-1952), whose office was located there until he died in 1952. Dr. George B. Lennox (1893-1967) was a physician who served North Omaha for 41 years, with his office continuing in the Jensen Building in the late 1930s and 1940s.

Dr. G.B. Lennox served North Omaha for 41 years, with several located in the Jensen Building. His June 2, 1967 obituary in the Omaha Star called him “a pioneer, a pillar and a strong link in the Christian family.” Born in Texas where he graduated from Bishop College, he attended Medical School at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee and graduated in 1918. He moved to Omaha in 1922 and served the community until he retired in 1963. Dr. Lennox was a community leader who was involved in several professional organizations, Zion Baptist Church, the Omaha Urban League and the Near North Side YMCA, as well as the Prince Hall Masons. Dr. Lennox was also crowned King Borealis at Dreamland Ballroom in 1937. He also sued the federal government because of housing discrimination in 1944, and advocated on behalf of low-income mothers and children to the state and federal government.

That year, Lucy Carter (1901-1983) opened the iconic Carter’s Cafe in the building. For there for only four years, in 1956 Mrs. Carter took her business further north on 24th Street and continued operating for decades afterward. In 1956, Nesselson Grocery moved in next, and stayed only for four years until closing in 1960. Professional services were located upstairs for a few decades starting in the 1940s.

In the 1980s, the 24th and Lake Merchants Association had offices there.

Modern Times

This is the Unique Cuts Barber Shop at 2314 N. 24th St. in North Omaha from 2023.

In 2016, 2314 N. 24th Street was included in the listing of the N. 24th and Lake Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

A beauty salon called Headz Up moved in during the 2000s, and as of 2023, a business called Unique Cuts is located at 2314 N. 24th St. Operated by Kyle Bland, its been open for several years, including during the pandemic.

Owned by the Omaha Economic Development Council, the building has had upgrades and is listed by the Douglas County Assessors Office as being in “average” condition. It’s currently listed as mixed retail with residential units in two stories with a basement. There are 1,080 square feet on the first floor and 1,100 on the second.

Today, a stone plaque at the top of the building from when it was constructed still says “A. Jensen,” the name of the old blacksmith who built it more than 110 years ago. There is no historic plaque or other marker showing its role in the community though, including its construction as a symbol of economic vitality after a natural disaster, its years of services as a Black-owned business place, the presence of an iconic African American doctor there, or its other jobs throughout the years.

Maybe that will change in the future as North O continues to appreciate and honor it’s own history more and more!

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BONUS

Andy Jensen Laundry, 2324 N. 24th Street, North Omaha, Nebraska — This is a drawing of the Jensen Laundry building at 2324 N. 24th Street in 1931. This business was opened by Andy Jensen, son of the pioneer blacksmith that owned 2314 North 24th Street next door. This building was located on the site of the present-day Dreamland Park.

Jones and Chiles Funeral Directors was located at 2314 N. 24th St. in North Omaha.

Dr. G.B. Lennox was crowned King Borealis in North Omaha in 1936.

The Little Diner Cafe was open near 24th and Lake for almost 20 years.