The Bemis Park Landmark Heritage District is located in

North Omaha, Nebraska North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the ea ...

. Situated from Cuming Street to Hawthorne Avenue, Glenwood Avenue to 33rd Street, Bemis Park was annexed into Omaha in 1887, and developed from 1889-1922. The district was designated an

Omaha Landmark This article covers Omaha Landmarks designated by the City of Omaha Landmark Heritage Preservation Commission. In addition, it includes structures or buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places and those few designated as Nati ...

in 1983.

History

George Bemis's Bemis Land Company platted this exclusive subdivision in 1889. His namesake park was part of Omaha's parks and boulevard system, and the neighborhood's tree-lined streets were the first in Omaha to be laid out according to topography rather than the grid pattern used throughout the rest of the city. The Bemis Park Landmark Heritage District is notable for its mix of late nineteenth and early twentieth century homes. Architecture in Bemis Park includes Queen Anne,

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

and

Neo-Classical style Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing st ...

buildings as well as vernacular structures. The district includes a park donated to the city by the subdivision’s developer George Bemis and designed as a part of the then developing Omaha parks and boulevard system. The neighborhood was devastated by the Easter Day Tornado of 1913. According to one report, "This beautiful section of Omaha had been completely ruined. The pretty homes that adorned the graceful winding driveways were beyond redemption. The trees had been broken off short at the base, and many of them were even uprooted. One great home had been turned turtle onto the roof of the house adjoining it on the east." In the 1940s, Bemis Park was home to workers from the new

Mutual of Omaha Mutual of Omaha is a Fortune 500 mutual insurance and financial services company based in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1909 as Mutual Benefit Health & Accident Association, Mutual of Omaha is a financial organization offering a variety of insuranc ...

headquarters, teachers at the nearby Tech High School, or employees of the Methodist Hospital. According to the City of Omaha, the proposed Bemis Park Residential Historic District is eligible for the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

.Mead & Hunt, Inc. (2003) . Prepared from the City of Omaha, Omaha City Planning Department, Omaha Certified Local Government, and Nebraska State Historical Society. Retrieved 5/29/07.

Historic properties

External links

Period photos
of Bemis Park from the 1913 tornado.

References

{{coord, 41, 16, 12, N, 95, 58, 08, W, format=dms, display=title, type:city_region:US-NE Neighborhoods in Omaha, Nebraska History of North Omaha, Nebraska Historic districts in Omaha, Nebraska Parks in Omaha, Nebraska Populated places established in 1889

History

Historic properties

See also

External links

References