Little Italy is a neighborhood in Omaha,

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

which served as the historic home to Omahans of Italian ancestry. It was the source of many laborers for the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pac ...

railroad, much of Omaha's bootlegging during

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcohol ...

and the Santa Lucia Procession, which started in 1924 and continues annually. The community is bounded by Pacific Street on the north, Center Street on the south, South 10th Street on the west and the Missouri River on the east. It is located immediately south of the Burlington Train Station and the Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District. In June 2008, the City of Omaha has announced plans to revitalize the area because of its proximity to Nebraska's top two tourist attractions, the Old Market District and the Henry Doorly Zoo. The plan calls for 10th Street to be improved with a streetcar line, treelines, parks, fountains and sculpture.

History

Omaha's first Italian enclave developed during the 1890s near the intersection of South 24th Street and Poppleton Street. It was formed by immigrants from southern Italy and migrants from eastern American cities. Two brothers, Joseph and Sebastiano Salerno, are credited with creating Little Italy, located further north near the Union Pacific yards in downtown. When Sebastiano took a job as an agent for a steamship company in 1904, he encouraged friends from

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

to emigrate. Joseph then secured boarding and jobs for the immigrants, particularly in downtown Omaha's

shops. In 1905, Sicilian immigrants settled along South 6th Street in the hills south of downtown. Additional waves of Sicilians arrived between 1912 and 1913 and following World War I. South 10th Street was also particularly important to the Italian community. Originally Little Italy had a small commercial area on South 6th Street extending west along Pierce Street, including a grocery store, clothing and shoe stores, and the Bank of Sicily, established by the Salerno brothers in 1908. The

Immigration Act of 1924 The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from the Eastern ...

was largely responsible for ending large-scale immigration of Italians to Omaha. During the

Prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic be ...

, much of the Omaha's

bootleg liquor Moonshine is high-proof liquor that is usually produced illegally. The name was derived from a tradition of creating the alcohol during the nighttime, thereby avoiding detection. In the first decades of the 21st century, commercial dis ...

was produced in Little Italy. In 1930, Omaha

city boss In politics, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of their greatest influence. Numerous off ...

Tom Dennison placed Frank Calamia, a Sicilian living in the neighborhood, in charge of liquor syndicate operations in Omaha's south side. Later, from 1946 to 1951, Calamia controlled the local outlet of a national race

wire service A news agency is an organization that gathers news reports and sells them to subscribing news organizations, such as newspapers, magazines and radio and television broadcasters. A news agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire, ...

, distributed racing results received from the mob-controlled

Harmony News Service In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However, ...

in Kansas City. According to one expert, Little Italy native Tony Biase was the "leading Mafioso in Omaha" through the 1970s.

Present

Today the Festival of Santa Lucia, which was started by Grazia Caniglia, is still celebrated throughout Little Italy, as it has been since the arrival of the first immigrants. An annual festival called "La Festa" is held to unite the city's Italian community and celebrate heritage. In addition to the historic Italian families in the area, today there are

Latinos Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spaniards, Spanish and/or Latin Americans, Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include a ...

, Eastern Europeans and others throughout the community. Several new housing developments are happening throughout the area, as well. Many other remnants of Little Italy endure, making this area distinct within the city.

Landmarks

Little Italy has several landmarks, including St. Francis Cabrini Church, designed by

Thomas Rogers Kimball Thomas Rogers Kimball (April 19, 1862 – September 7, 1934) was an American architect in Omaha, Nebraska. An architect-in-chief of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in Omaha in 1898, he served as national President of the American Institute o ...

and built in 1908 at 1335 South 10th Street. The Cornish Residence is one of Omaha's best examples of

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

style architecture, and Santa Lucia Hall, which was originally built in 1891 as Fire Station 9. Other landmarks include the Santa Lucia Festival Committee Hall at 725 Pierce Street; Marino's Italian Grocery at 1716 South 13th Street; Sons Of Italy Hall located at 1238 South 10th Street, and; Orsi's Bakery at 621 Pacific Street. In 2007 Caniglia's was razed, and was replaced with townhomes.

Notable residents

* Giuseppe Mario Bellanca * Anthony J. Biase * Joe Bubs *

Jeremy Caniglia Jeremy Caniglia (born July 13, 1970) is an American figurative painter and illustrator, primarily in fantasy and horror genres. He has done book and magazine illustration, conceptual artwork, book and album covers, and comic books, and his work ...

* Michele Pane * Angelo Rossitto * Pat Venditte * Nelso Bartolomei

References

Bibliography

* Venditte, P.L. (1983) ''The Americanization of the Italian-American Immigrants in Omaha, Nebraska. University of Nebraska - Lincoln * Chudacoff, H. (1973) "A New Look At Ethnic Neighborhoods: Residential Dispersion and the Concept of Visibility in a Medium-Sized City." ''The Journal of American History. 60''(1) pp. 76–93.

External links

A photo from the Feast of Saint Lucy
in Little Italy in Omaha.
"A History of Italians in North Omaha"
by Adam Fletcher Sasse for NorthOmahaHistory.com
The Towns
housing development website. Includes history of Little Italy.
The Dunsany Flats
condominium development website includes information about the revitalization plans for the neighborhood. {{Coord, 41, 14, 43, N, 95, 55, 19, W, format=dms, display=title, name=Little Italy, type:city_region:US-NE Neighborhoods in Omaha, Nebraska History of South Omaha, Nebraska Historic districts in Omaha, Nebraska Italian-American culture in Nebraska Little Italys in the United States Landmarks in South Omaha, Nebraska Restaurant districts and streets in the United States