presents
TH E
HANSCOM PARK NEIGHBORHOOD TOUR Sunday, October 4, 2015 Noon – 5:00 p.m.
Sponsored by:
AIA Omaha
TOUR RULES & GUIDELINES Admission is by ticket only, no exceptions. ··All children must have a ticket. ··Be aware that all of the tour sites are not ADA accessible. Needs of those with mobility impairments will be accommodated within the physical limits of the buildings and the availability of tour volunteers to provide assistance. ··Do not block driveways or alleyways. ··Respect the owner’s property. If a door is shut, do not open it. If a drawer is closed, do not open it. ··No smoking, eating or drinking in any of the properties. ··No photography, unless approved by the homeowner. ··No pets. ··Only use restrooms in specified locations. Restrooms for patrons are available at The Center Mall, Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Adalbert Churches. ··Booties may be required to be worn in some of the tour locations. In consideration of the permission granted the tour participant to enter the home and premises on the tour, the tour participant hereby agrees to enter the tour homes and premises at his or her own risk and hereby releases the respective property owner and Restoration Exchange Omaha from any and all claims or causes of action due to injury to person or property that may arise during the tour. Architects can earn five AIA CEUs for signing in at a minimum of seven sites. Ask for the sign in sheet at each site.
HUSKER TICKET RAFFLE Enter to win a pair of football tickets to the Nebraska vs. Northwestern game on October 24, 2015. Raffle tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10 - and/or fill out a post-tour survey for a FREE entry. Thank you to Leo A Daly for donating the tickets.
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TOUR SITES: R Registration - The Center Mall, 1941 South 42nd Street 1 3801 Frances Street 2 2101 South 38th Street 3 3928 Martha Street 4 3818 Castelar Street 5 2324 South 35th Street 6 2330 South 32nd Avenue 7 St. Adalbert Church - 2617 South 31st Street 8 2216 Hanscom Boulevard 9 2202 Hanscom Boulevard 10 Our Lady of Lourdes Church - 2110 South 32nd Avenue 11 1922 South 33rd Street
DRIVE BY SITES: a The Dehner Co. – Bootmakers - 3614 Martha Street
The Dehner Boot Co. has been creating handmade custom footwear for 140 years. First started by Carlton B. Dehner and a partner in Junction City, Kansas in 1875, the business moved to Wichita, Kansas in 1914 before coming to Omaha in 1929. It operated at 1114-16 Farnam Street for 14 years, then 2059 Farnam Street for 38 more years before moving to this location in 1971. At that time it was producing about 15 pairs of boots per day. By 1997, it was handmaking about 25-30 pairs. The company offers custom and stock boots for horseback riding, military, law enforcement, motorcyclists and casual wearers. Dehner has also supplied NASA with boots for its space programs. In 1947, Carlton Dehner died and his son-in-law Harold Ketzler took over. Today, Jeff Ketzler, great-grandson of founder Carlton Dehner, heads the company.
B Hanscom Park
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OUR MAP TOUR MAP TOUR MAP
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HANSCOM PARK HISTORY | B In 1872, land developers Andrew J. Hanscom and James J. Megeath donated 58 acres near Park Avenue and Woolworth Avenue to the city. The land was part of their 400-acre development “Hanscom Place.” Unfortunately, this section had too many hills and steep ravines to be used for home sites. The park was named after Andrew Hanscom, who was the majority landowner. Hanscom was an early resident of Omaha, moving here in 1854. A practicing attorney, he was on the school board, city council, and the territorial legislature, where he served as speaker of the Nebraska House of Representatives. He gradually migrated to dealing primarily in real estate. Hanscom’s partner, James Megeath, was equally political, serving on the city council, as a Douglas County Commissioner, and in the territorial House of Representatives, where he was elected speaker in 1866. His primary occupation was forwarding agent for the Union Pacific Railroad. He invested in real estate, becoming a partner with Hanscom. Hanscom is one of the original parks in the Omaha Parks and Boulevard System that is listed as a local nomination on the National Register for Historic Places. Early features of the park were the two lagoons and a cascade named “Peanut Falls” because children thought the rocks looked like peanut brittle. The park contained 51 species of trees. It became the home of annual Memorial Day ceremonies. A pavilion, bandstand and greenhouse were erected in 1890. After the 1913 Easter tornado blew through Omaha, the rebuilt conservatory from the George and Sarah Joslyn estate was moved to the park and additional greenhouses were built. The conservatory was in use until 1968, when it was deemed unsafe and demolished. Annually more than 100,000 plants are grown in Hanscom Park greenhouses for use in city parks and boulevards.
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In 1946, park commissioner Roy Towl raised the ire of area residents when he proposed filling in the lagoon. Lagoon lovers formed the Hanscom Park Improvement Club. This brought the lagoon improvement project into being. The lagoon was drained, dredged, and refilled with fresh water; a rock wall was erected to ring the water. In 1994, a fountain was installed in the lagoon. The Improvement Club launched a fundraising drive in 1960 to build a swimming pool in the park. In late 1961, the city agreed to fund a $75,000 pool. It was replaced by a leisure pool in 1995. Pancho Gonzalez helped dedicate the Hanscom Park indoor tennis courts in 1967. Also on hand were emerging tennis stars Ilie Nastase and Ion Tiriac, who entertained the crowd by bouncing tennis balls back and forth off their heads. The most recent major change in the park came in 2011, with an area in the center of the park fenced off and designated as an off-leash dog park. The City of Omaha Parks Department has plans to install a new playground in 2017 and is working on an updated Master Plan.
Photos from The Durham Museum archives.
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THE CENTER MALL | R “The Center,” later known as The Center Mall, officially opened October 24, 1955. On hand at the ribbon cutting ceremony were Nebraska Governor Victor E. Anderson and Omaha Mayor John R. Rosenblatt, in addition to other local and regional dignitaries. The shopping center, whose most notable tenants were Younkers and Hested’s, was among the first of its kind. It featured multiple tenants, “all-weather” shopping, and “suburban informality.” Developer John Wiebe, who later built Westroads Mall, wanted to create a shopping center that offered shopping convenience and easy access via automobile. There were 1,600 parking spaces on the three levels. When it first opened, The Center included 45 stores and shops, including Big Chief grocery store, the Panther Room cocktail lounge, Reed’s Snack Shop, The Center Bank, Cook’s Paint store, Thom McAn and Baker’s shoe stores, and multiple clothing retailers. Dinger’s Texaco gas station was the anchor on the corner of 42nd and Center. Later, Shaver’s replaced Big Chief. The Sky Lanes, a 24-lane bowling alley, and the Cimarron Room restaurant opened on the fifth floor in 1959. A three-alarm fire in 1969 destroyed much of the fifth floor. After the decline of retail shopping at the mall and Younkers’ departure in the 1990s, The Center Mall has been used largely as office space. At the opening ceremony, a time capsule was set in place, to be opened after 50 years in 2005. The architect of the Mall, Kenneth C. Welch of Grand Rapids, Michigan, predicted that by 2005 the mall would be used as a “bus stop for helicopters” and would “accommodate atomicpowered automobiles.”
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1 3801 FRANCES STREET GOMEZ HOME BUILT: 1955 ���
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE The Mid-Century Modern style of this home is exemplified by its open floor plan, multi-use space and functional architectural pieces with multiple purposes. The low overhanging roof forms are expressed on both the exterior and interior, as are natural materials, such as the stone covering some exterior and interior walls. Bold colors and window forms break up the exterior elevations and emphasize geometric shapes.
HISTORY The house is one of two on the tour in the Harrison Heights neighborhood. The land was once owned by Lord Linton of England, who had considerable land holdings in Omaha at the turn of the 20th century. Charles Harrison and George Morton of the real estate firm Harrison & Morton tried to develop the site in the late 1920s. Movement was slow, so they instead leased the 45-acre tract to Harry Glissmann, who developed a nine-hole golf course on the land. The Harrison Heights golf course operated until 1948. Harrison & Morton successfully developed the property and began to sell plats in 1949. Joseph S. Ginsberg and Beth Gaynes purchased the home in the summer of 1961 after it was on the market for more than a year. According to the Omaha World-Herald,
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Joseph worked in an office job for former grocery chain Hinky-Dinky for a time. Beth ran a dance studio in nearby Center Mall. In 1983, Ginsberg was implicated in a plan to open an illegal gambling club at Turner Boulevard and Dodge Street. Newspaper reports say he was the broker in the purchase of the would-be casino and was a “promoter and manager” tasked with hiring dealers and employees. After advertising the club’s dealing position in Las Vegas papers and promoting the club around Omaha, it never opened. The promoters cited lack of local interest, but legal and media pressure appears to have taken a toll on the business. The current residents, Ruben and Taylor Gomez, are only the third owners of the home. The couple met while attending school at Iowa Western Community College, got married and lived in the duplex across the street and admired the home’s beauty and uniqueness. They researched and found the owner, who at the time was living in a nursing home. Through her executor, they were able to purchase the home and had the option to purchase anything left from the estate sale. They acquired several 1960s and 1970s items.
IMPROVEMENTS Other than some small improvements, such as new carpet on the main floor, new paint in almost every room, exterior paint, landscaping and replacing a toilet in the downstairs bathroom, the current owners have worked hard to maintain the original state of the home.
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2 2101 SOUTH 38TH STREET LARSON HOME BUILT: 1953 ���
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE Built in 1953 in the raised ranch style, the home’s dominant feature is a stone chimney that transitions to a stepped wall, which forms one side of the front porch. The interior fireplaces are faced with the same stone. The corner windows reflect prairie-style influences. Bright cheerful colors reflect post-war optimism in America. The open floor plan allows for the kitchen placement near the front of the house, leading to adjacent rooms used for entertaining. Ranch homes were gaining in popularity in the middle of the 20th century and became the dominant style by the 1970s.
HISTORY Original owner Anthony J. Higgins may have the most checkered past of any of the tour homes previous residents. From 1950 to 1970, Higgins’ name appeared dozens of times in the Omaha World-Herald in connection to various illegal gambling charges. Starting in 1950, when he was charged with running a dice game out of a smoke shop at 19th and Douglas, he was openly defiant of law enforcement in his bookmaking business. With a few partners, he’d pay a $50 federal fee that he believed entitled him to operate gaming. Omaha police viewed his actions differently. His battle with the law came to a head in 1961 when police raided the basement of an appliance store at 12th and Farnam Streets and then this home which broke up an illegal national horse betting operation run by Higgins. He was fined $600
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and received a 30-day jail sentence. Details of Higgins’ exploits are chronicled in Jon Blecha’s recent book about the Omaha underworld, Cigars and Wires. Dave Larson, who has owned the home since 1992, is a retired CPA and coached baseball for Cathedral High School for 25 years. He was born and raised at 909 South 27th Street and is a long-time member of the Field Club of Omaha. Larson’s father played in the inaugural game at Omaha Municipal Stadium (later renamed Rosenblatt Stadium) in 1948.
IMPROVEMENTS New wood floors were added, as only carpet existed before. Paint and wallpaper have been updated and new kitchen tile was installed. The physical layout of the home has not changed. Larson plans to remodel the bathroom and add a shower.
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3 3928 MARTHA STREET GIORDANO HOME BUILT: 1952 ���
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE This prairie-influenced, ranch house utilizes limestone facing, along with cedar lap siding. An attached, one-car garage blends nicely into the overall design. The floor plan features two bedrooms and one bathroom on the main level.
HISTORY Homeowners of national and local prominence have lived in this house. For one, U.S. Senator from Nebraska, Roman Hruska, owned it in the 1950s, according to lifelong residents in the neighborhood. In the 1970s and 1980s, Omaha restaurateur, Constantine F. “Deano” Meares lived here. As one of the first businessmen who anticipated development of the Old Market, Meares opened Deano’s Greek Village in 1966 in a warehouse on
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10th and Farnam Streets. He eventually owned and operated Harkert’s BBQ , as well as Cascio’s Steakhouse. In 2012, Meares was elected to the Omaha Hospitality Hall of Fame. Lynn Giordano purchased the home in 2004 from long-time resident, Mary Kissel, who made it her home along with husband Frank for over 20 years.
IMPROVEMENTS A platform and custom tiles replaced a concrete pad and aluminum awning that covered the east, front entrance. New wood floors in the kitchen and dining room were tied into existing ones in the living room, bedrooms and service hall. Textured ceilings were smoothed in the living room and service hall. High-gloss paneling in the dining room was removed and replaced with drywall. A door in the dining room that led to one bedroom was closed off. A wall from the service hall was removed to allow for better traffic flow. The bathroom had to be remodeled after a suspected, long-standing water leak caused the concrete subfloor to fissure under the original tile. The kitchen was completely remodeled too. Jeff Pavel, of JP Carpentry, custom-built the kitchen cabinets, window and base trim. All lighting has been replaced; however, many original elements remain, such as the entry tile and the unique sliding Anderson windows in the dining room.
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4 3818 CASTELAR STREET JOHNSON HOME BUILT: 1900 ���
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE The home is a bit of a hybrid, perhaps starting out as a one story bungalow when built in 1900. The dominant features are the front porch, which spans nearly the width of the house, and the gambrel roof, which features two dormers on each side. The home contains three bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms.
HISTORY A resident of the home sustained minor injuries from the bombing of a nearby home in December of 1935. Streetcar workers were eight months into a strike when three bombs exploded. One was under a streetcar near 33rd and Parker, a second was at the streetcar barn at 24th and Vinton and the third was at a streetcar employee’s home at 35th and Martha. The windows in a handful of area houses, including the targeted house of 2302 South 35th, were blown out by the blast. Three sticks of dynamite were reportedly thrown from a car. Dave and Cindy Johnson purchased the home in 2000. In 2014, an elderly woman came to their door and said her grandmother had lived there in the 1920s. At the time it was a one-story home; she was not sure when the second story was added. The site had been connected to a second lot, where a large garden was located. The original garage was behind the home. The current
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garage, added in 1970, won a contest in 2002 as the ugliest garage door in eastern Nebraska. A neighbor recalls that the home was jacked up in 1977 to allow the addition of a basement.
IMPROVEMENTS The current owner was unable to save the original wood floors, which were riddled with nails from overlaying carpet. The front door location was moved from the center to the side. All wood has been refinished and doors were found to match originals still in place. The updates have taken seven years to complete.
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5 2324 SOUTH 35TH STREET HOWE HOME BUILT: 1910 ���
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE The home is a one-and-a-half story bungalow. The large front porch is supported by three wooden columns and features a stone balustrade.
HISTORY Creighton First Addition was platted in 1908 and this home was built across the street from Windsor School shortly thereafter. The school dates back to 1892. During the mid 1930s, stockyard executive Fritz Johnson and his wife, Adele, lived here. He was head hog buyer for the Cudahy Packing Company, one of the Big Four of the South Omaha meatpacking plants. In 1953, Johnson was elected president of the Stockyard 400 Club, a social group made up of Omaha’s meatpacking leaders. He’s
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unrelated to the notable 1960s TV and radio personality Fritz Johnson who was accused of faking his death in Ohio and starting a new life in Omaha. The Farfalla family lived here from the 1950s through the 1970s. Current owner Sue Schlesinger moved here from Chicago in 2006 and thought she would only stay a few years. Kim and Jeremy Howe are currently renting the home.
IMPROVEMENTS The home was completely renovated on the interior after its 2006 purchase by the current owner. She is also a master gardener and still takes care of the yard and plants.
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6 2330 SOUTH 32ND AVENUE GOMEZ HOME BUILT: 1900 ���
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE This American Foursquare 2.5-story home contains three bedrooms, three baths and an unfinished attic. Typical of most foursquares, this one has a front porch that spans the width of the house, supported by four columns. The two second-floor windows and the top dormer add to the symmetry of this home. Inside two columns on pedestals separate the foyer from the living room.
HISTORY Business and civic leader Bertha E. Meyer grew up here in the 1910s. She was instrumental in starting the Omaha Chamber of Commerce’s Women’s Division in the 1920s. During her presidency, she helped make the Omaha Symphony a permanent entity after a year with temporary status. The Chamber’s women’s organization grew from about 100 original members to more than 350 by the end of the 1930s. In the late 1920s, she served as officer, stockholder and director at Thompson-Belden’s department store at 16th and Howard. While working for the store, she helped run its charitable giving division. In the mid 1920s, Edward D. Patton lived in the home and started the successful Patton Music Company. After his death in the 1950s, it was sold to Hospe Music Company, which later sold it to Schmitt’s Music, which still operates in Omaha. The current owners, Royce and
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Karla Gomez, purchased the home after her sister sent them photos of the house when they were still living in Phoenix. Royce’s mother grew up in the Sheelytown area, near Dinker’s Bar.
IMPROVEMENTS The front porch was enclosed, but has since been restored to its original look. A new tandem garage was added, along with a new driveway and sidewalks. The home had a complete electrical makeover and nearly all the plumbing has been updated. Granite countertops, a backsplash, and new appliances were added to the kitchen. All light fixtures have been replaced and they range from 1910 to 1930s. There are only two original windows left on the second floor. All upstairs floors and the stair banister have been refinished. The owners recently completed restoring the main floor woodwork.
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7 2617 SOUTH 31ST STREET ST. ADALBERT CHURCH BUILT: 1918 1960 ���
St. Adalbert Church has come full circle in some respects. Its genesis dates to 1916, when about 40 Czech families petitioned Bishop Jeremiah J. Harty to establish a new church that would serve Czechs throughout Omaha. Named for Adalbert of Prague, a tenth-century bishop who was martyred by pagan Prussians, it was the last parish allowed to form a national parish with no physical boundaries but instead serving a specific nationality. Now St. Adalbert has merged with Our Lady of Lourdes parish. The church building still serves the neighborhood community but also now serves a different ethnicity—Korean Catholics. The parish is also known as St. Andrew Kim Catholic Community and one of the Sunday Masses is celebrated in Korean by Father Paul Oh. The Rev. Leopold Blaschko was the first pastor of the church, which was completed in 1918. Church services were held in the basement, while the upper floors housed the school and a residence for nuns. The sisters of Notre Dame began teaching at the school in 1920. Notre Dame sisters first came to Omaha from Czechoslovakia in 1910 at the request of pastors who saw the need for ministry to Czech-speaking immigrants. In 1953, after raising funds and acquiring additional property, the church, under the direction of Fr. James Kocarnik, started construction of a second “basement”
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church. Carl Stangel was the church architect, and made provisions for eventual construction of the entire church. Meanwhile, a new wing was added to the original church/school building. The impending construction of the Interstate through central Omaha caused parishioners to pause and reconsider further construction of the church. Though some families would be displaced by the highway, Fr. Kocarnik decided to continue with the construction. Work began in 1959 and, despite heavy rains, construction was completed in time to celebrate Christmas Eve Mass in the new structure in 1960. It was the first time St. Adalbert had a true church in 45 years. The church of light buff brick and Indiana limestone contains stained-glass tributes to more than 20 saints. Fr. Frank Partusch was a pastor at both St. Adalbert and Our Lady of Lourdes. He was struck by a car and killed while vacationing near Branson, Missouri in 2014. The school building is currently vacant.
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8 2216 HANSCOM BOULEVARD CLEMENTS HOME BUILT: 1912 ���
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE This large home was designed in the American Foursquare style with four bedrooms and two bathrooms. The roofline above the second-floor windows is elevated, like a modified dormer, with the attic dormer separating them. Highlights of the interior include beamed ceilings and lead-glass bookcases.
HISTORY John Nittler, who owned a liquor store and saloon near 24th Street and Deer Park Boulevard owned the home in the 1910s. In 1917, he was sued for $10,000 by an alcoholic who believed Nittler’s regular sale of whisky made him a drunkard. In the 1940s, William W. Argabrite, owned the home. In a 1949 Omaha World-Herald profile of him upon retiring from Wells Fargo after 40-plus years, he told anecdotes about the final days of cross-country stagecoaching. He claims he lied about his age to get a job when he was young, but was saved from exposure by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire, which destroyed the records. He said on a run from El Paso, Texas to Los Angeles, California, a rattlesnake escaped from a crate on the coach. “When that rattler got out of his case, I crawled on top of the car. At the end of the run, I shot the snake.”
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IMPROVEMENTS The previous owner renovated the home before it was purchased. The kitchen and an upstairs bathroom have been updated. The owner is currently working on backyard renovations.
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9 2202 HANSCOM BOULEVARD HEASTON HOME BUILT: 1905 ���
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE This house was designed in the Federal style, by famed Omaha architect John McDonald, at a cost of $5,000. Typically, a Federal-style house is a simple square or rectangular box, two or three stories high and two rooms deep. Many Federal-style design elements are notably understated. Exterior decoration, for example, is generally confined to a porch or entry element. Federalstyle decoration often showcases geometrical concepts. Originally built with four bedrooms, two bedrooms were added to accommodate a large family. The wood flooring differs on each level, with oak on the first level, Douglas fir on the second level and pine on the third.
HISTORY The neighborhood south of Hanscom Park was originally owned and surveyed by James J. Megeath. At the time the home was built in 1909, Hanscom Boulevard was known as Central Boulevard. L.E. Roberts, a commission agent at the Livestock Exchange Building, was the first owner. In 1931, then-owner Dr. Harry Jenkins added the garage to the north side of the home. Jenkins was a noted Omaha doctor and handball player. He and his wife, Alice McCreary Jenkins, lived here about 20 years. By the mid-1950s, William Heaston, a professor of accounting and economics at Creighton University, Chair of Creighton’s Faculty Committee, and an Army Reserve
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colonel, purchased the home and raised eight children in it. Sisters Jeanne and Elaine Heaston have lived in the house since 1954, when their parents purchased it.
IMPROVEMENTS On the main floor, a powder room and laundry area were added and the cooking kitchen was flipped with the butler’s pantry in 1961. The floors were refinished, a pocket door was uncovered and the fireplace was refaced in 2010. The kitchen and laundry were updated in 2013, while saving as much original tile as possible; a drop ceiling was removed and a new ceiling added. The house was rewired with circuit breakers, though gas hookups and a gas light fixtures are still on the second floor. The owners are currently working on the second floor and exterior updates.
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10 2110 SOUTH 32ND AVENUE OUR LADY OF LOURDES CHURCH BUILT: 1920 ���
Because of the rapidly growing residential area around Hanscom Park, Archbishop Jeremiah J. Harty announced the formation of a new Catholic parish in 1918. Father William Borer became the first pastor. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Borer, who lived on Hanscom Boulevard at Martha Street. Parishioners selected a site for the church at 32nd and Frances Streets, which included the former three-story home of George Holdredge. Services were held in the 1884-built house during construction of a new church building; it later housed classrooms. Designed by architect Jacob Nachtigall, a German immigrant, the church and adjoining rectory were dedicated in September 1921. The parish erected a onestory frame school building south of the church. Classes began in 1924 and were taught by the Sisters of Loretto. In 1937, the Sisters of St. Francis arrived to provide education to parish children. George W. Megeath and his family had lived in a house facing 33rd Street, just west of the present school building. In 1923, he donated this residence to the Masonic Order and it became the Masonic Home for Children. In 1945 the home, now known as the Omaha Home for Boys, moved to an acreage at 60th and Ames. Our Lady of Lourdes purchased the property, leveled the house and turned the ground into the upper playground it is today.
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During the immediate post-World War II period, growing school enrollment resulted in a successful fundraising drive to construct a new school, which was completed in 1954 and located just south of the church. Father Marcel Keliher produced a rock that he brought from the famous shrine and grotto at Lourdes, France, and this was made part of the cornerstone. Following the opening of the school, parishioners constructed a new convent on 33rd Street in 1958. Rev. James Hannon, S.J., with help from parishioners, built the grotto between the church and school in 1961. Rev. Thomas Furlong, who first served the church as an altar server at age eight, came back to preside as pastor in 1981. He directed the restoration of the church in 1986, which included pew refinishing, a new marble floor in the sanctuary, restoration and preservation of the stations, and new lighting. A dream of two decades became a reality with the groundbreaking ceremony in 1991 for a new church center and gymnasium. It was named the Monsignor Roman C. Ulrich Center in honor of the former pastor and archdiocesan school superintendent. St. Adalbert closed its school in 1977 and merged with OLL. The two churches merged in July 2014. Fr. John Pietramale is the current pastor of the combined parishes and has recently overseen the restoration of the exterior windows.
Photos from The Durham Museum archives.
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11 1922 SOUTH 33RD STREET FULBRIGHT HOME BUILT: 1891 ���
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE The house displays some features of classic Queen Ann style, such as multi-gabled rooflines, fishscale shingles, a bay window, and decorative millwork and brackets. Interior highlights include pressed tin ceilings, two sets of double pocket doors, a built-in oak buffet, glass transoms and original stained glass.
HISTORY The house was designed by Findley and Shields Architects, which puts the construction date closer to 1891 rather than 1900 that has been found in other records. The home was built for Howard L. Kreider, a manager of the Cudahy Packing Co. for 16 years and an officer in the Cudahy refrigerated train car business. The same two families owned this home for most of its first 70 years. George W. Clabaugh and his family resided in it for more than 20 years starting in about 1905. He was a successful businessman who worked his way up to vice president of the Omaha Gas Company until its purchase by the city in 1920. Owner Leo Schotte purchased the home from Clabaugh’s daughter in 1927 and lived there until his death in 1969. During this time, Schotte rose through the dairy industry before eventually becoming chief of Nebraska dairy inspection. In 1940, he confirmed for the Omaha World-Herald that the oft-boasted statistic about Omaha being the biggest national producer of butter at the time was, in fact, correct. . 28 .
The current owners, Timothy and Barb Fulbright saw the house during an estate sale. While looking around, they found the original fireplace mantle, which they purchased. The couple looked through the house and discussed its potential. When Timothy was away on a military mission, Barb talked to realtor Mary Rae Wolf and purchased the house before it was put on the market. Original blueprints were found in a buffet drawer.
IMPROVEMENTS While removing exterior shake singles, one panel of the porch skirt was found. The owners were able to fabricate the other porch skirts. Columns were found under covers. Porch spindles, sunburst panels and handrails were reproduced. Porch boards were replaced with synthetic ones. The house was sided after they encountered problems with paint stripping. Two front windows appear to have replaced one large window. There is a new parquet floor in the dining room; oak floors are everywhere else. All light fixtures have gas lines capped underneath; if a fixture was replaced, a new period fixture was used. The kitchen has been remodeled. Salvaged tile and sink from the Johnson Mortuary will be used in future bathroom projects.
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THANK YOU FOR HELPING MAKING THE TOUR POSSIBLE DONORS Security National Bank and Midtown Neighborhood Alliance Neighborhood Sustainability Mini-Grant AIA Omaha RDG Planning & Design The Architectural Offices Robert Matt and The Bedding Company Leo A Daly
VOLUNTEERS Nicole Malone – Tour Chair Judy Alderman Adam Andrews Maureen Egermier Diana Farrell Norita Matt Deb Peterson Kristin Webb Those who helped staff the homes today.
PHOTOGRAPHY Maureen Fritts
RESEARCH/WRITING Quentin Lueninghoener Gary Rosenberg
Most especially, thank you to our homeowners for sharing their restored and renovated properties! OUR 2016 FALL NEIGHBORHOOD TOUR SITE - AKSARBEN
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Jerry Egermier, CFP® Michael Egermier, CFP® Mark Egermier, CFP® Jacob Rehder, CFP®
Retirement Planning ▪ 401(k) Rollovers ▪ IRA's ▪ Investment Services 15606 Elm Street, Ste. 103 Omaha, NE 68130 www.omahafinancialconsultants.com 402-861-9696 Securities and Advisory Services Offered Through LPL Financial, A Registered Investment Advisor. Member FINRA/SIPC.
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