Massive dreams of things possible were common in the new Nebraska Territory when it opened for settlement in 1854. When a group of eastern businessmen got together to start a resort town between the tiny Omaha City and the important Florence, they dreamed of an empire built on natural springs and river traffic. Centered at the intersection of North 24th Street and Grand Avenue, they laid out a frontier town called Saratoga. For more than a century and a half, this specific crossroads—bounded by 22nd to 27th Street along Ames Avenue, and from Boyd Street to Grand Avenue along North 24th Street—has served as a microcosm of the community’s rise, peak, and long struggle for revival. It was like a city of it’s own, tucked right into the middle of North O. Saratoga was built up, blissed out, run down and then demolished, and now sits mostly stagnant. Today, the heart of the Saratoga neighborhood is a shadow of what it was. This is a history the intersection of North 24th and Ames Avenue.

A Frontier Dream in the Open Prairie

In the summer of 1856, the high prairie north of Omaha was an open territory of tall grass and dirt trails. Erastus Beadle, representing investors from Saratoga Springs, New York, staked out a townsite that ran across Saunders Road, which we know today as North 24th Street. He also built docks on the nearby Saratoga Bend of the Missouri River, which he named. Those docks and the warehousing area adjacent to it were called Sulphur Springs. By 1857, a full-blown frontier boomtown called Saratoga emerged. 54 houses went up in a matter of months. Near 24th and Grand Avenue, the grand Saratoga Springs Hotel was built to welcome travelers. A post office opened at 24th and Grand to connect the pioneer settlement to the world, and a blacksmith setup shop near Paulsen Mill along the Saratoga Creek that ran through town.

By 1860, the first Saratoga School was established on the northeast corner of 24th and Ames to educate the children of these early homesteaders. For a brief moment, it seemed Saratoga would rival Omaha itself, especially when the first Douglas County Fair was held in 1858 on the open fields stretching between Ames Avenue and Sprague Street east of 24th Street, which was then called Saunders Street.

The Quiet Decades of the Race Track

A financial panic in late 1857 burst the pioneer bubble almost as quickly as it inflated though. Erastus Beadle abandoned his claims and went back to New York, and the formal town organization stopped existing. From the 1870s through the late 1890s, the intersection settled into a quiet, semi-rural existence. The grand hotel building became Brownell Hall, an Episcopal school for girls, before the school moved closer to downtown Omaha and the structure became another hotel.

What kept the intersection of North 24th and Ames alive during these decades was sports and leisure. The old fairgrounds transformed into the Saratoga Race Track, which later became the famous Omaha Driving Park. This massive dirt track hosted horse racing, the Omaha Clippers baseball team, and, in 1883, the world premiere of Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West show. On the southwest corner of 25th and Ames, the Saratoga Congregational Church was built in 1874, providing a quiet spiritual anchor for the few dozen families farming and living in the area. A second Saratoga School replaced the original shack in 1871, ensuring the neighborhood maintained its core identity even as the commercial corners remained mostly empty fields.

The Tracks Bring a Commercial Boom

For several decades starting in the 1860s, the southeast corner of 24th and Ames was home to a variety of fairs, including the Douglas County Fair, the Nebraska State Fair, and in 1888, the Omaha Fair and Exposition. All of those paled in comparison to the most spectacular event ever held in the city though.

The transformation of 24th and Ames from a dusty crossroads into a powerhouse commercial hub began with transportation. In 1883, the Missouri Pacific Railroad laid down the Belt Line Railway just south of Ames Avenue along Boyd Street, bringing light industry to the edges of the neighborhood. Although the neighborhood served by a streetcar and small streetcar barn, the true catalyst arrived in 1899 when the Omaha and Council Bluffs Streetcar Company constructed a massive brick streetcar barn on the southeast corner of 24th and Ames. Suddenly, hundreds of streetcar workers shuffled through the intersection daily, and lines of streetcars connected the intersection to the rest of the growing city.

The corners exploded with activity. In 1890, the Saratoga Hotel moved into a new two-story brick block on the northwest corner of 24th and Ames. In 1898, Harry Lane opened Lane’s Drug Store inside that building, beginning a multi-generational legacy. Across the street on the northeast corner, the old race track gave way to the YMCA Athletic Park in 1899, complete with a bicycle track and tennis courts, before a massive third Saratoga School building was constructed there. Entertainment arrived in 1900 when the Suburban Theatre opened at 4414 North 24th Street, bringing vaudeville acts to the neighborhood before transitioning into a movie house. There was a massive, 50-room boarding house at the southeast corner of 25th and Ames during that era, as well as a building on the northwest corner housing the Saratoga Hotel.

The Magnolia Camp of the Woodmen of the World built the Magnolia Hall on the northwest corner around 1890, and kept meeting there until their new neighboring building called the Druid Hall was built in 1914. A Methodist Episcopal congregation started meeting there in 1893, until taking the name Pearl Church and moving to nearby North 24th and Larimore, then 24th and Ogden. Zion English Lutheran Church started meeting at Magnolia Hall in 1901, eventually moving into the former Pearl Church at 24th and Larimore and taking the name Our Redeemer Lutheran Church. Another church built into a little structure on the southwest corner of 25th and Ames in the 1890s as a mission from Immanuel Lutheran near downtown Omaha, eventually opening the massive Trinity Lutheran Church at 30th and Redick.

In 1898, the intersection of 24th and Ames became vital to the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition. A world’s fair type of event, 2.4 million people visited the 170+ acres south of Ames and east of North 24th Street. There was false building constructed throughout the area, and immediately after the entire Saratoga neighborhood exploded in importance and vibrance.

The Main Street of Saratoga

In 1900, a big new frame building clad in brick was built at 2404 Ames Avenue. This building was the home of a grocery store that belonged to Reuben Kulakofsky and Company, and the Saratoga Drug Store opened there at the turn of the century. Originally continuing as the home of the Saratoga Hotel on the second floor, that part was converted into offices and more after 1910.

By the end of World War I, the intersection had evolved into the official “Main Street” of the Saratoga neighborhood. For nearly fifty years, residents living between 22nd and 27th Streets didn’t need to travel downtown for anything. You could buy groceries at A&P Supermarket on the northeast corner of 24th and Ames, get your clothes cleaned at Max I. Walker Dry Cleaners at 2410 Ames, or buy tools at Johnson Hardware, along with appliance stores, other grocery stores, restaurants, bars, hairplaces, a clothing store, and much more.

The Omaha Fire Department Station 15 was at 22nd and Ames before being replaced; the third Saratoga School became the Omaha University Science Hall.

Fraternal and social life centered on Druid Hall, built in 1915 at 2412 Ames Avenue, which featured a ballroom, meeting rooms, and hosted legendary traveling musicians. When the third Saratoga School building became crowded, the University of Omaha Science Department moved into the structure on the northeast corner from 1927 to 1938, complete with a football field operating right behind it. In 1921, the Omaha Public Library North Branch opened in the former Lutheran Church on the southwest corner of 25th and Ames in the old church building.

To entertain the growing middle-class neighborhood, the beautiful North Star Theater was built in 1926 at 25th and Ames. The Omaha Fire Department added to the civic stability, opening a new permanent brick Station 15 at 22nd and Ames in 1938. On hot summer evenings, families crowded into Borden’s Ice Cream Shoppe or grabbed a booth at LaRue’s Cafe at 2305 Ames Avenue.

Shifting Tides and Divestment

The post-World War II era brought the scourge of white flight to Saratoga’s doorstep, and coupled with strategic and benign neglect by the City, the intersection’s vitality was slowly chipped away. The streetcar lines were abandoned in 1955, turning the bustling streetcar barn into a quiet commercial warehouse and reducing the foot traffic that local storefronts relied upon. As the City of Omaha expanded westward, federal redlining policies and blockbusting real estate practices accelerated white flight from the older core of North Omaha, including 24th and Ames.

Longtime businesses began to close or relocate. The screen at the Ames Theater went dark in 1960. The Metropolitan Loan and Building Association moved away from its building at 4508 North 24th Street in 1964. In an effort to support the changing community, the John F. Kennedy Recreation Center opened in 1964 at 4514 North 24th Street to provide a positive outlet for neighborhood youth, but so-called “funding issues” led the city to close its doors just five years later in 1969. Lane Drug Store, an anchor of the northwest corner for over seventy years, finally closed its doors in 1970. Despite new community efforts that emerged—like the Run Johnny Run Youth Club in the old theater building in 1973 and the Afro Academy of Dramatic Arts —the intersection was devestated by economic disinvestment.

The Era of the Wrecking Ball

On the left is 1982 OWH image showing the fire at the streetcar barn, and the building on the southwest corner of 24th and Ames was demolished by the City of Omaha in 2018.

What decades of economic disinvestment started, fire and demolition finished. Led by the City of Omaha, the physical history of 24th and Ames was systematically erased over a twenty-year period. The first major blow came in 1982 when the massive, historic streetcar barn on the southeast corner caught fire and burned to the ground. Two years later, in 1984, the old Belt Line Railway along Boyd Street was completely abandoned, and the steel tracks were ripped from the ground.

Omaha Fire Station 15 at 22nd and Ames closed its doors permanently in 1983, leaving another historic structure vacant. The finality of the intersection’s golden era came in 2003, when the city demolished the historic two-story Saratoga Hotel building on the northwest corner—the longtime home of Lane Drug, Johnson Hardware, and more. Just after the new millennium, the dense, walkable urban commercial district had been replaced by wide expanses of empty grass lots, cracked asphalt, and chain-link fences.

Looking Toward the Future

Today, the intersection of 24th and Ames is a quiet shadow of its former self. The bustling sidewalks, neon theater signs, and clanging streetcars are gone, replaced by a landscape dominated by vacant spaces. The historic Saratoga Elementary School, which had educated generations of neighborhood children in various buildings since the pioneer era, was permanently closed by Omaha Public Schools in 2019. Historic churches, old houses, and lot more have been forever lost, too.

A bright spot came in the 2020s, when the trucking company that owns the historic A&P Supermarket at 24th and Ames updated the building, ensuring that the historic structure would stay standing into the future. The Prince Hall Masons have worked hard to preserve the Druid Hall, too.

Yet, amidst the stagnation, remnants of the past still stand as anchors for future possibilities. Druid Hall remains a vital community hub at 2412 Ames Avenue, protected by its listing on the National Register of Historic Places and preserved by the Prince Hall Masons. The old Fire Station 15 at 22nd and Ames still stands, repurposed as a storage facility. While the intersection currently awaits the investment and redevelopment it deserves, the history embedded in its soil reminds us of what 24th and Ames once was, and what it could be again.

Maybe someday the intersection of 24th and Ames will rise again.

A Tour of 24th and Ames

• Saratoga Springs Hotel, 24th and Grand Ave. (1857-1861)
• Saratoga Post Office, 24th and Grand Ave. (1857-1858)
• Paulsen Mill, N. 24th and Grand Ave. (1857-1857)
• Brownell Hall, 24th and Grand Ave. (1861-1866)
• Grand Hotel, 24th and Grand Ave. (1866-1880s)
• First Saratoga School, Northeast corner of 24th and Ames Ave. (1860-1871)
• Second Saratoga School, Northeast corner of 24th and Ames Ave. (1871-1891)
• Third Saratoga School, Northeast corner of 24th and Ames Ave. (1891-1917)
• Fourth Saratoga School, Northeast corner of 24th and Ames Ave. (1926-2019)
• Saratoga Congregational Church, Southwest corner of N. 25th and Ames Ave. (1874-1890s)
• Trinity Lutheran Church, Southwest corner of N. 25th and Ames Ave. (1894-1914)
• North Omaha Branch of the Omaha Public Library, Southwest corner of N. 25th and Ames Ave. (1921-1938)
• Saratoga Stables, 2501 Taylor St. (1870-1911)
• Saratoga Hotel building, Northwest corner of N. 24th and Ames Ave. (1890-1993)
• Lane Drug, 2402 Ames Ave. (1898-1970)
• Omaha and Council Bluffs Street Railway Company Barn, Southeast corner of 24th and Ames Ave. (1899-1955)
• YMCA Athletic Park, Northeast corner of N. 24th and Ames Ave. (1899-1910s)
• Suburban Theatre, 4414 North 24th St. (1900-1926)
• Platner Lumber Company, 2509 Taylor St. (1910-1962)
• Saratoga Laundry, 4314 North 24th St. (1911-1937)
• Emerson Saratoga Laundry, 4314 North 24th St. (1937-1959)
• The Family Cafe, 4418 North 24th St. (1911-1923)
• Charles Jacobsen Cigars and Tobacco, 4418 North 24th St. (1911-1920)
• Druid Hall, 2412 Ames Ave. (1915-present)
• LaRue’s Cafe, 2305 Ames Ave. (1916-1946)
• Max I. Walker Dry Cleaners, 2410 Ames Ave. (1917-1969)
• Chris Hansen Jeweler, 2409 Ames Ave. (1916-1940)
• Omaha University Science Department, Northeast corner of N. 24th and Ames Ave. (1927-1938)
• Metropolitan Building and Loan Association, 4508 North 24th St. (1922-1964)
• Ames Music Shop, 4416 North 24th St. (1924-1930)
• North Star Theatre, 2413 Ames Ave. (1926-1955)
• Ames Theater, 2413 Ames Ave. (1955-1960)
• King Solomon’s Mine, 2419 Ames Ave. (1970-1973)
• Run Johnny Run Teen Club, 2419 Ames Ave. (1973-1976)
• Safeway Store, 2417 Ames Ave. (1926-1933)
• Drop Inn, 4414 North 24th St. (1926-1928)
• Spic & Span Grocery, 4414 North 24th St. (1928-1941)
• Ames Tavern, 4414 North 24th St. (1941-1951)
• Kato’s Bar and Cafe, 4414 North 24th St. (1951-1981)
• Schollman Hardware, 4414 North 24th St. (1958-1969)
• Stable Bar, 4414 North 24th St. (1982-1987)
• Bill’s Barbecue, 4414 North 24th St. (1982-1980s)
• Shamrock Radio Company, 4406 North 24th St. (1926-1931)
• Del’s Artificial Flowers, 4406 North 24th St. (1962-1965)
• Borden’s Ice Cream Shoppe, 2415 Ames Ave. (1935-1936)
• Frozen North Cafe, 2415 Ames Ave. (1937-1950)
• Omaha Fire Department Station 15, 2202 Ames Ave. (1938-1983)
• Omaha Watch Hospital, 2409 Ames Ave. (1940-1948)
• Becky’s Cafe, 4418 North 24th St. (1951-1966)
• A&P Supermarket, 4515 North 24th St. (1900-1951)
• Hinky Dinky, 4515 North 24th St. (1951-1965)
• Ace Furniture Center, 4514 North 24th St. (1955-1966)
• Wolfson-Gerber Motors, 2310 Ames Ave. (1955-1962)
• John F. Kennedy Community Center, 4514 North 24th St. (1964-1969)
• Afro Academy of Dramatic Arts, 2401 North 24th St. (1969-1971)
• North Omaha Scholarship Club, 4418 North 24th St. (1973-1997)
• Habitat for Humanity, 2202 Ames Ave. (1985-1998)
• Dino’s Storage, 2202 Ames Ave. (2006-present)
• Grapevine Lounge, 2404 Ames Avenue (c1984-2007)

You Might Like…

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

BONUS!

MY DRAWINGS OF 24TH AND AMES