Category: biography

• Dynamic Past, Hope-filled Future: North Omaha History, Volume Three Now On Sale!

  

  (Olympia, WA: December 1, 2016) The final book of Adam Fletcher Sasse’s series, North Omaha History: Volume Three, is now available from CommonAction Publishing. In the third book of the North Omaha History Series, Adam Fletcher Sasse reveals a lot of the hidden, denied and neglected history of one of the oldest areas of Nebraska’s largest city. Highlighting the […]

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  November 30, 2016

  African Americans, Americans, biography, Books, crime, Historic houses, historic preservation, history, History of Nebraska, North Omaha, Omaha, Politics, press release, self-published, storytelling, streets

• A Biography of North Omaha’s Jacob Maag

  

  This is a biography of Jacob Maag, a sculptor and stonecutter who lived in North Omaha, Nebraska.

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  November 23, 2016

  20th century, 21st century, architecture, biography, culture, houses, North Omaha

• A History of North Omaha’s Joseph P. Guth

  

  North Omaha’s has A LOT of unsung architectural heroes, and one of them is Joseph P. Guth. Guth moved from Germany to Omaha in 1884 and designed business blocks, breweries, factories and warehouses, fire stations, schools, houses and multifamily residences, churches and halls across the city for more than 40 years. Leo A. Daly was his […]

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  November 4, 2016

  20th century, 21st century, architecture, biography, business, culture, historic preservation, houses, society

• A History of the Parker Mansion in North Omaha

  

  Built on an 1852 house foundation, the Parker Mansion was a landmark in far North Omaha for more than a century.

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  October 7, 2016

  19th century, 20th century, architecture, biography, culture, Florence, Historic houses, Lost history, Minne Lusa, North 30th

• A History of the Stroud Mansion in North Omaha

  

  Built: 1909 Address: 5100 Florence Boulevard Architecture: Neo-Classical Demolished: 1969 In 1895, Thomas F. Stroud started his wagon making business in North Omaha. He was going to make his fortune selling wagons to western farmers in the city considered to be the Gateway to the West. In order to truly appreciate his wealth, he had to construct a magnificent home. […]

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  September 2, 2016

  20th century, 21st century, architecture, biography, business, houses, industry, North Omaha, Saratoga, White flight

• A History of Early 20th Century Crime Bosses in North Omaha

  

  In a time of mobland gangsters, illegal booze, dirty gambling halls and open prostitution, several African Americans rose high enough in Omaha’s criminal underworld to become the crime lords of North Omaha.

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  July 14, 2016

  20th century, 21st century, biography, Black people, business, crime, culture, government, Lost history, Near North Side, Politics

• A Biography of North Omaha’s Granny Weatherford

  

  Cornelia “Granny” Weatherford (1832-1940) was the longest resident of the North Omaha, Nebraska neighborhood starting at the end of Nicholas Street that was called Squatter’s Row.

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  March 29, 2016

  19th century, 20th century, biography

• A Biography of Nebraska Territorial Governor Thomas B. Cuming by Ryan Roenfeld

  

  One of North Omaha’s landmark roadways that has always intrigued me is Cuming Street. My dad used to take my brother and I to Canfield’s, where we’d comb the aisles for what seemed like hours. Creighton University seemed like a foreign land, but in high school I discovered Bemis Park and began lulling in the […]

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  February 5, 2016

  19th century, biography, Cuming Street, Guest author, History of Nebraska, Politics, society, wealthy

• A Biography of North Omaha’s Dr. Marguerita Washington

  

  This story begins with the death. On November 2nd, 1989, Mildred Brown passed away. Easily the mother of North Omaha pride, Mildred co-founded The Omaha Star in the late 1930s and ran it by herself for almost 50 years. She promoted the community mercilessly, building pride, power and purpose through her paper, and her death was a massive loss to everyone in North Omaha, especially the African American community.

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  December 10, 2015

  African Americans, biography, culture, History of Nebraska, North 24th Street, society, storytelling

• A History of the John E. Reagan House in North Omaha

  

  With the old country ties in mind, one lawyer in Omaha took it upon himself to bring some fellow Irishmen back to Omaha to stump for “Cowboy” Jim Dahlman, Omaha’s corrupt longtime mayor who was controlled by local boss Tom Dennison. Did his tireless campaigning get him a seat in the Nebraska State Legislature? Was there dirty money involved in building his palatial home?

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  December 1, 2015

  20th century, 21st century, architecture, biography, Historic houses, History of Nebraska, Kountze Place, Politics, society

• A Biography of North Omaha’s Dan Desdunes

  

  Dan Desdunes was The Man. The leader of Omaha’s powerhouse music scene for more than 20 years, here’s his story…

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  November 16, 2015

  19th century, 20th century, African Americans, biography, culture, History of Nebraska, society

  music

• A Biography of North Omaha’s George B. Lake

  

  There is a street that starts in North Omaha and shoots west, with a man so respected by Omahans that more than a century later they named another street after him. North Omaha has been filled with interesting people since the city was founded, and even before that. One of them was Judge George Baker Lake.

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  November 14, 2015

  19th century, biography, government, Politics, schools, streets

• A History of the June 1969 Riot in North Omaha

  

  While African Americans have known about police racism for more than a century, white people across the US are beginning to acknowledge the effects of legalized harassment, white privilege, systematic discrimination, the school-to-prison pipeline and other forms of white supremacy that constantly plunder communities and the entire nation of its potential, power and purpose. With a vibrant, vital, and obvious story, Vivian Strong must be remembered today.

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  August 22, 2015

  20th century, African Americans, biography, crime, houses, Near North Side, North 24th Street, Race riot, racism

• A Biography of North Omaha’s Ernie Chambers

  

  North Omaha’s Ernie Chambers has been a enlightened, phenomenal and powerful political representative and social leader over the last 40 years. His politics are straight-forward, obvious and spot-on, every single time. He confronts white privilege constantly, challenges injustice regularly and demands respect for the people he serves as a politician. In 2010, Nebraska Educational Television […]

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  June 7, 2015

  21st century, African Americans, biography, History of Nebraska, Politics, racism

• A Biography of North Omaha’s ‘Cap’ Clarence Wigington by Linda Williams

  

  This is a guest post by Linda Williams, an architecture student in Omaha.

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  October 30, 2014

  African Americans, architecture, biography, Guest author, History of Nebraska, Kountze Place, Near North Side, North 24th Street

• The Lynching of George Smith

  

  On October 18, 1891, not thirty years before the lynching of Will Brown, Omahans carried out an even more heinous breach of justice than the lynching of George Smith…

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  January 29, 2011

  19th century, African Americans, biography, culture, Politics, Race riot, racism

• A History of Community Leaders in North Omaha

  

  Today, leaders in North Omaha continue to grow the heart and soul of the community. This article explores what’s happened before…

  Adam F.C. Fletcher

  August 31, 2008

  African Americans, Americans, biography, culture, economics, North Omaha, Politics, society