Florence is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest ...

, United States on the city's north end and originally one of the oldest cities in Nebraska. It was incorporated by the Nebraska Territorial Legislature on March 10, 1857. The site of Winter Quarters for

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into se ...

migrants traveling west, it has the oldest cemetery for people of European descent and oldest standing

gristmill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

in Nebraska. Florence was the site of an illegal territorial legislature in 1858. Given the high concentration of

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 ...

in the neighborhood, it is regarded as "the historic front door to Omaha as well as the state."

History

In the spring of 1854 James C. Mitchell, following the advice of the fur trader Peter A. Sarpy, platted the village of Florence, including the old buildings and improvements of old Cutler's Park. Cutler's Park was established at the site of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

1846 Winter Quarters as a hold-over on their way from

Nauvoo, Illinois Nauvoo ( ; from the ) is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its historic importance and it ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to its ...

. Due to the harsh conditions, 359 members of the 2,500 person party died and are buried in what is now called the

Mormon Pioneer Cemetery The Mormon Pioneer Cemetery is located at 3300 State Street in present-day Florence at the north end of Omaha, Nebraska. The Cemetery is the burial site of hundreds of Mormon pioneers who lived in Winter Quarters, a temporary settlement that la ...

. Their community was the first city in the

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebrask ...

. Despite lasting only two years, the city had a mayor and city council, 24 policemen and fireguards, various administrative committees, and a town square for public meetings. The

Mormon pioneer The Mormon pioneers were members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), also known as Latter Day Saints, who migrated beginning in the mid-1840s until the late-1860s across the United States from the Midwest to the S ...

s left their town once they moved on in 1848. Mitchell platted Florence six years later. The town of Florence was named for one Miss Florence Kilbourn. Late in 1854 the town of Florence made a bid to become the

Nebraska State Capitol The Nebraska State Capitol is the seat of government for the U.S. state of Nebraska and is located in downtown Lincoln. Designed by New York architect Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in 1920, it was constructed of Indiana limestone from 1922 to 19 ...

, which it lost to Omaha.Reeves, R. (n.d.
Douglas County History
University of Nebraska. The

Bank of Florence The Bank of Florence was a wildcat bank located in Florence, Nebraska Territory. It originally operated for three years in the 1850s, and another bank adopted the name and location in 1904. Today the building that housed the bank is the Bank o ...

, now listed on the

, was built as a wildcat bank in 1856. It fell in the

Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was ...

, leaving thousands of local townspeople and area farmers severely financially drained.

Florence Legislature

In January, 1858 a group of representatives illegally moved the Nebraska Territorial Legislature to Florence following a violent outburst at the Territorial Capitol in Omaha. After repeatedly being dogged out of voting on the removal of the Capitol from Omaha, a skirmish pitted representatives from

Nebraska City Nebraska City is a city in Nebraska, and the county seat of, Otoe County, Nebraska, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 7,289. The Nebraska State Legislature has credited Nebraska City as being the oldest incorporated ...

, Florence, and other communities to convene outside of Omaha. Despite having a majority of members present for the vote to remove the Capitol and all agreeing, the "Florence Legislature" did not succeed in swaying the

governor, and the Capitol remained in Omaha until 1867 when Nebraska gained

statehood A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "st ...

.Bristow, D.

Omaha annexation

In 1917, the town was annexed by the City of Omaha. The Fort Omaha Balloon School was established later that year as the first such military school in America. "Florence Field," about a mile () north of

Fort Omaha Fort Omaha, originally known as Sherman Barracks and then Omaha Barracks, is an Indian War-era United States Army supply installation. Located at 5730 North 30th Street, with the entrance at North 30th and Fort Streets in modern-day North Omaha, ...

, consisted of .

Historic landmarks

Interesting sites

In addition to these historic landmarks designated by the city, state or federal government, a new attraction is the

Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple The Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple is the 104th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is located in Florence, now a neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, USA, and formerly an independent city. History W ...

, constructed in 2001. The opening ceremonies and open house for the large temple drew thousands of visitors. The Mormon Trail Center in Florence is a museum interpreting the

Mormon Trail The Mormon Trail is the long route from Illinois to Utah that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traveled for 3 months. Today, the Mormon Trail is a part of the United States National Trails System, known as the Mormon ...

and early Mormon-era history of the area. Also of interest are the

Mormon Pioneer Memorial Bridge The Mormon Bridge is a bridge composed of two cantilevers that crosses the Missouri River connecting Pottawattamie County, Iowa with the Florence neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska via Interstate 680 (Iowa-Nebraska). The bridge is officially called ...

, built in 1952; it carries Interstate 680 over the Missouri River. The Mormon Bridge Tollhouse, at 3010 Willit Street, was related to the operations of the toll bridge.

References

External links

Historical Florence
website

of the steamer ''Omaha'' landing Mormon settlers at Florence. {{coord, 41, 20, N, 95, 57, W, format=dms, display=title, type:city_region:US-NE Former municipalities in Nebraska History of North Omaha, Nebraska Neighborhoods in Omaha, Nebraska Landmarks in Nebraska Populated places established in 1854 Nebraska Territory 1854 establishments in Nebraska Territory