Few innovations shaped the daily lives of North Omaha residents like the streetcar. As the city expanded northward into the old town of Saratoga, transportation became the lifeblood of working-class neighborhoods. This is a history of the streetcar barn at 24th and Ames from 1899 to 1982.

Growing North O

The intersection of 24th and Ames is surrounded by the Saratoga neighborhood. Just north is the Miller Park neighborhood, and to the west is 30th and Ames with the Collier Place, Kenwood, and Bedford Place neighborhoods. Staring in the 1890s, the Belt Line Railway drew small industry throughout the area, and larger industries were to the east. 24th and Ames was a logical place for all the community’s streetcars to get serviced, and the Omaha and Council Bluffs Streetcar Company decided to build a massive brick streetcar barn on the southeast corner of 24th and Ames at 2373 Ames Avenue.

There was a small streetcar line and a minor barn down Ames, but this new colossal structure was a real testament to Saratoga being a powerhouse civic hub for the entire city for over half a century.

The Structure

Made entirely of heavy red brick and massive timber framing, the building covered a huge footprint on the southeast corner. Accommodating dozens of electric streetcars, maintenance tracks, and repair pits, the outside of the building had large arched openings along Ames Avenue that let streetcars easily roll off the 24th Street lines directly into the block-long building. A tall metal water tower was built behind the barn near 24th and Boyd Street and stood for more than 75 years as a defining landmark of the Saratoga skyline.

The Heart of Saratoga

For decades, the Ames barn was the literal engine room for the economic development of the surrounding neighborhood. Hundreds of conductors, motormen, and mechanics shuffled through its doors every single day, bringing consistent foot traffic to local businesses like Lane Drug, Max I. Walker Cleaners, and LaRue’s Cafe. The barn didn’t just store streetcars; it kept North Omaha connected to the jobs, factories, and retail centers of downtown. Standing right at the heart of the community, the barn symbolized stability for the thousands of middle-class families living between 22nd and 27th Streets.

Transforming the quiet suburban crossroads into a thriving civic hub, the streetcar barn also had a huge effect on all of North Omaha. By employing hundreds of operators, conductors, and mechanics, the facility provided reliable employment that anchored Saratoga. This steady influx of workers and riders made the commercial development emanate west and north of 24th and Ames, spurring multiple dense strips of groceries, theaters, and pharmacies at 24th and Fort and 30th and Ames, and directly encouraged development along the Belt Line Railway, North 24th Street, North 30th Street, and Ames Avenue.

As the streetcar linked Saratoga to the rest of North Omaha, this corner tied the community’s social fabric with economic drive that made working- and middle-class housing growth happen. It turned 24th and Ames into North Omaha’s main commercial transit and a powerhouse economic anchor for over 50 golden years.

Tracks Go Silent

The post-World War II era brought a swift and unforgiving transition away from public rail transit. As automobiles gained dominance and the city pushed further west, streetcars across Omaha were systematically phased out in favor of internal combustion buses.

In 1955, the tracks along 24th and Ames went quiet for good, and the Omaha and Council Bluffs Streetcar Company closed the barn as an active transit station. Rather than face immediate demolition, the sturdy brick structure was converted into a few different uses. Immediately after the streetcars moved out, the used car dealer from across Ames Avenue moved in and touted themselves as having the largest selection of fine used cars under one roof in the Midwest. Wolfson stayed for less than a year though, and moved back across the street.

After Wolfson moved out in 1956, the building was repurposed when Paramount Paper Products Company remodeled and occupied the facility as a warehouse and office space. After Nashua Corporation bought Paramount in 1965, the building was physically connected to their facilities through an addition in 1966 to the manufacturing plant at 4401 North 23rd Street and used to store paper products, glues, adhesives, and processing label materials.

While it was commercial warehouse for the next quarter-century, the neighborhood around it faced the combined pressures of redlining, white flight, and disinvestment by the City of Omaha, private investors, lenders, and others. Things were going downhill fast all around the former streetcar barn.

Fire Takes It All

Over the years, there were different small fires that hit the building. A minor electrical fire happened in 1955, and in 1971, lightning struck and damaged the roof. Late in 1977, an overheated paper-labeling machine caused a $100,000 fire. But then tragedy struck the old building. In 1982, a massive fire ripped through the building and destroyed the entire thing. The physical history of the Ames Avenue streetcar barn came to a sudden and catastrophic conclusion.

Nashua moved out of the warehouse in 1981, and by July 1982 it had sat empty for 10 months. For sale for $400,000, there were apparently prospective buyers coming from Philadelphia to look at the place for use as a factory.

On Monday, July 26 around 3:00pm, a huge fire broke out at the Nashua warehouse, which was the former streetcar barn. A plant manager and a worker were in a back office when a sudden gust of wind, described as feeling “like a tornado,” swept through the building. Immediately smelling smoke, the men discovered the building was filling up with thick fumes and escaped unharmed.

At 3:05pm the first alarm was sounded and the first crews from the fire station at 35th and Ames showed up. Within 30 minutes, the fire grew so fast that a 5th alarm was called. The fire started in the southeast corner of the building and spread fast through stored paper products, chemicals, and sixteen 55-gallon barrels of different glues. Thick clouds of yellow and dark gray smoke covered the Saratoga neighborhood, and people today still remember them. Flames jumped through the roof and created big heat, stinking up the whole area.

Almost 100 firefighters fought the fire while the temperature was already 92 degrees outside. Eleven engine companies and six aerial ladder units came to the fire, with around 176 personnel scheduled on duty that afternoon. To make sure fire coverage across Omaha wasn’t sacrificed, 18 off-duty firefighters were called in to work at stations where all the on-call firefighters were in North Omaha. Pouring water from aerial hoses, the firefighters had to hook up to hydrants as far as two blocks away.

The grueling fight took a heavy toll on the crews. Two firefighters, Capt. Paul Sedlacek and Bill Watson, were taken to St. Joseph Hospital for smoke inhalation and heat exhaustion, while about a dozen others were treated on scene inside a mobile intensive care unit. Remarkably, an explosion-proof room inside the facility successfully protected sixteen 55-gallon barrels of adhesives, keeping the drums from exploding despite the destruction all around them.

The fire was brought under control around 6:30pm, more than three hours after the first alarm. It was Omaha’s first five-alarm fire since November 1980. Arson investigators Michael Hoch and James Pechar sifted through the debris the following morning and said the building a total loss with nothing salvageable. Security guards were posted overnight to keep sightseers away from the brick shell left behind. A month later, the fire was declared to have been an accident.

Erasing History

The huge fire gutted the historic streetcar barn and left the timber and brick structure completely ruined. Shortly after the fire, the remaining shell was wrecked, leaving a wide, empty scar on the southeast corner of the intersection that is still there right now. In more than 40 years since, nothing has been built on the site.

Two years later, in 1984, the neighboring Belt Line Railway tracks were completely pulled from the ground along Boyd Street, and the historic transportation infrastructure that had originally built 24th and Ames into the heart of Saratoga was gone forever.

Maybe someday a historic marker will point at this site and say the building which stood there for almost 83 years was an anchor for the Saratoga neighborhood and indeed, the entirety of North Omaha. Until then, this history remains erased and mostly forgotten.

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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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