The “Petty Officer 1st Class Charles Jackson French Post Office” is named in honor of an Omaha sailor. Born in Arkansas, French moved to Omaha to live with his older sister after his parents died. He enlisted in the Navy in 1937, serving as a mess attendant and returning home after fulfilling his four-year commitment. As an African American man, French served at a time when prejudice and discrimination were ever-present in the military. He proudly reenlisted four days after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941.
During the Battle of Guadalcanal, Japanese destroyers sank the USS Gregory on September 4, 1942. With 15 of his injured shipmates adrift in a raft, French tied the line to himself and swam more than six hours in shark-infested waters towing his shipmates to safety.
Heralded as the “Hero of the Solomon Islands,” French was posthumously awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal on May 21, 2022. Risking death so that others might live, French demonstrated the courage to defend American freedom, so that democracy may continue to grow and prosper for generations to come.
]]>On June 24, 1969, 14-year-old Vivian Strong was shot and killed by James Loder, a white police officer, while leaving a party in the Logan Fontenelle public housing complex. Vivian was one of many teenagers at a dance party in a vacant housing unit that had been left unlocked by the maintenance crew. After a neighbor called the police and officers arrived, the teenagers ran from the party. Officer James Loder raised his gun and fired a single shot, hitting Vivian Strong in the back of her head as she ran away. Vivian was killed instantly. The shooting death of this unarmed Black girl by a white police officer sparked several days of turbulent protests along 24th Street. Burning and looting destroyed both white and Black owned businesses between Hamilton and Lake, forever changing this vibrant Northeast Omaha community. Vivian Strong was the fourth of ten children, and the emotional toll of her death had a devastating effect on the family. In March of 1970, an all-white jury acquitted Officer James Loder of all charges related to killing Vivian Strong.
]]>In 1887, Douglas County purchased this 5 ½-acre field from nearby Forest Lawn to use as a cemetery for poor and unidentified people. It was named Potter’s Field, a traditional title from the New Testament. Of 3,912 individuals recorded to have been buried here, 1,663 were infants. Most of these graves did not have markers. Over time, family and friends claimed many of the bodies for burial elsewhere.
Among those laid to rest was William Brown, a black man lynched in 1919 by a white mob near the Douglas County Courthouse. Though accused of rape, Brown is widely believed to have been innocent. Most historians view his murder as part of that year’s anti-black “Red Summer” violence that claimed hundreds of lives across the country.
The property was closed in 1957, and the County paid for these burials in ordinary cemeteries going forward. Potter’s Field fell into disrepair, tended only by volunteer efforts, until a major community rehabilitation project in 1986. The City of Omaha now maintains the land.
]]>The first session of Omaha High School, now Central High School, was held on November 10, 1859, in Nebraska's territorial capitol on Ninth Street between Douglas and Farnam. Following the removal of the territorial government from Omaha, Nebraska's last territorial capitol at Twentieth and Dodge Streets was donated to the city by the state in 1869 for educational use. The old building, declared unsafe, was razed in 1870 and replaced by a red-brick, four-story structure in 1872. The first class of Omaha's first public high school was graduated in 1876.
The new building, housing both the high school and Central grade school, soon was unable to accommodate its growing enrollment, and by 1900 the cornerstone of another building had been laid. Construction encircled the old school, which was dismantled and removed before the final north wing was completed in 1912. A new gymnasium and auditorium were added in 1930.
From this vantage point on the old Capitol Square, Central High School has witnessed many changes in the community, the nation, and the world. Now in its second century, it remains dedicated to high scholarship and the principle that all children deserve equal educational opportunities.
]]>This site on Capitol Hill was for a decade the location of Nebraska's second territorial capitol. The building was erected here in 1857 and 1858 and served until the seat of government was removed to Lincoln in 1868.
Acting-Governor Cuming designated Omaha as the Capital of Nebraska Territory by convening the First Territorial Legislature in Omaha on January 16, 1855. It met in a small two story brick building donated by the Council Bluffs and Nebraska Ferry Company and located on Ninth Street between Douglas and Farnam facing the Missouri River. It housed the legislature for the sessions of 1855 and 1857.
The second capitol was a handsome brick building 137 by 93 feet. The supreme court, the library and government offices were on the first floor and the legislature and governor on the second. Corinthian columns planned for the building were removed as unsafe after several had collapsed.
In 1869 the Capitol building and grounds were presented by the state to Omaha for use as a school. The building was pronounced unsafe and the first public Omaha High School was erected in its place on Capitol Hill in 1872. The present Central High School building completed in 1912 replaced the earlier building. The central court of the school represents the approximate area of the original capitol.
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