OMAHA 



4374 



OMAHA 



weaving, and the manufacturing of blasting 

 powder are the supporting industries. Seventy- 

 five per cent of the population are directly or 

 indirectly engaged in coal mining. The num- 

 ber of inhabitants in 1910 was 8,505; in 1916 



it was 9,964 (Federal estimate). Here are many 

 foreign-born residents, especially Poles, Slovaks 

 and Russians, who work in the mines. The area 

 of the borough is four square miles. It was set- 

 tled in 1858 and incorporated in 1876. M.W.C. 



THE CENTER OF OMAHA 



MAHA, o'ma haw, NEB., the first city 

 of the state in population, commerce and in- 

 dustry, and the county seat of Douglas County. 

 It is situated on the eastern border of the state, 

 about midway between its northern and south- 

 ern boundaries, and on the Missouri River, op- 

 posite Council Bluffs, Iowa. Lincoln, the state 

 capital, is fifty-five miles southwest, Kansas 

 City is 210 miles southeast, Chicago is 500 

 miles slightly northeast and Denver is 600 miles 

 southwest. Omaha has become one of the 

 greatest gateways of the West through the 

 transportation facilities of the Union Pacific; 

 the Chicago & North Western; the Chicago 

 Great Western; the Chicago, Rock Island & 

 Pacific; the Burlington; the Missouri Pacific; 

 the Wabash; the Chicago, Milwaukee & Saint 

 Paul; the Illinois Central and the Chicago, 

 Saint Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railways. 

 A belt line encircles the city. 



Extensive railway connections are also made 

 through Council Bluffs, which is united with 

 Omaha by several fine bridges. Over one-third 

 of the transcontinental freight and passenger 

 transportation is through Omaha. The river 

 traffic is not important. In 1910 the population 

 was 124,096; it had increased to 165,470 (Fed- 

 eral estimate) in 1916. Omaha, South Omaha, 

 Dundee and Florence were consolidated by act 

 of legislation in April, 1915. Scandinavians, Ger- 

 mans and Austrians predominate in the foreign 

 element. The area of the city is thirty-one 

 square miles. 



Parks and Boulevards. Omaha is built partly 

 on a flat section near the river, where are lo- 

 cated the business district and extensive rail- 

 road yards, and partly on bluffs, where the resi- 

 dence sections are found. Park reservations, 



comprising 1,351 acres, are distributed through- 

 out the city and within easy reach of all the peo- 

 ple; the largest of these are Elmwood, River- 

 view, Hanscom, Fontenelle, Miller and Kountze 

 parks. The entire park system is connected by 

 boulevards which are supplemented by beauti- 

 ful park drives. The principal streets are wide, 

 well paved and well shaded. 



Buildings and Institutions. The architectural 

 features of the city are the Federal building, 

 which cost over $1,000,000; the Woodmen of the 

 World and Union Pacific buildings, which cost 

 $1,500,000 each; the $1,400,000 Hotel Fontenelle, 

 built in 1915 ; the Omaha Bee building, the City 

 National and Omaha bank buildings, the Army 

 Headquarters, Grain Exchange, a $1,500,000 

 high school, the Auditorium and the Roman 

 Catholic and Episcopal cathedrals. There are 

 eleven hospitals, Saint Joseph's, the Methodist 

 Emmanuel (Swedish), city, county and state 

 hospitals being especially noteworthy. Omaha 

 is the see of the North Nebraska Diocese of 

 the Roman Catholic Church and of the Meth- 

 odist Episcopal and Episcopal bishoprics. Fea- 

 tures of interest in the city and vicinity are 

 the Lininger Art Gallery, Fort Crook, Fort 

 Omaha and Engineer Cantonment the starting 

 point of Major John P. Long's expedition West, 

 in 1857. 



Education. Omaha has twenty-one parochial 

 schools, Creighton University (Roman Catho- 

 lic), including colleges of arts and sciences, 

 medicine, law, pharmacy and dentistry; the 

 University of Omaha (which includes a Pres- 

 byterian seminary) ; Bellevue College ; Brown- 

 ell Hall; state medical college (connected with 

 the University of Nebraska) ; Saint Catharine's 

 Academy, Academy of the Sacred Heart, Mount 



