Provided by Durham Museum Archives
Early Omaha Markets
Provided by Omaha Steaks
Dance down memory lane to visit the retail and wholesale grocery stores of early Omaha, when service was personal and stores were often family-owned.
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DOWNTOWN HISTORY
At left, a view inside Buffett Grocery store, 1923. Below, staff and equipment stand at the ready at Table Supply Meat Co., later renamed Omaha Steaks, early 1900s.
story by Judy Horan HE OLD MARKET’S sturdy buildings that are now shops, restaurants, and homes were constructed as fruit and vegetable warehouses in the 19th century. People came from all over Omaha in horse-drawn carriages to shop vendors selling produce from carts and tables on canopy-covered sidewalks. Chain grocery stores put an end to the downtown market, which closed in 1964. But old Omaha had more than the Old Market to depend on for food. Grocery stores in Omaha have a history that goes back to the city’s founding in 1854. One of the earliest stores was started by Warren Buffett’s great-grandfather.
Circa 1854 Alfred D. Jones Omaha’s first settler, Alfred D. Jones, laid out the city in 1854. As the city’s earliest postmaster, he operated from Omaha’s first store, a general store and saloon located west of 13th Street on Chicago Street. He was known for delivering the mail from his stovepipe hat. In 1866, a fire destroyed his grocery store.
1869 Buffett Stores The family’s century-long grocery business began in 1869 when Sidney Buffett opened the S.H. Buffett grocery store at 315 S. 14th St. He built a bigger store and two sons joined him in the business near the turn of the century. According to Roger Lowenstein’s book “The Making of an American Capitalist,” son Ernest quarreled with his brother over
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a girl (Ernest married her), and they stopped speaking. Ernest left the downtown store in 1915 and established a new store called Buffett & Son at 5001 Underwood. His store moved to two other sites. The last, in 1928, was at 5015 Underwood. Ernest was the grandfather of Warren Buffett, who worked at the store in 1943. At age 6, the budding financial genius bought sodas from his grandfather’s store and sold them for a 5-cent profit. A replica of the Dundee store, which closed in 1969, is on display at the Durham Museum. “The exhibit implements the architectural features found on the 50th and Underwood store and replicates, in scale, a 1930s interior,” said Durham’s curator, Carrie Wieners.
1879 Paxton & Gallagher Wholesale Grocers The wholesale grocery firm was formed by Ben Gallagher and William A. Paxton. First located near 15th and Farnam streets, Paxton & Gallagher moved to 701 S. 10th St. in 1894. The company was sold in 1958.
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