Sheelytown was a historic ethnic neighborhood in South Omaha,

Nebraska Nebraska ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Ka ...

, USA with populations of Irish, Polish and other first generation immigrants. Located north of the

Union Stockyards The Union Stock Yard & Transit Co., or The Yards, was the meatpacking district in Chicago for more than a century, starting in 1865. The district was formed by a group of railroad companies that acquired marshland and turned it into a vast cen ...

, it was bounded by Edward Creighton Boulevard on the north, Vinton Street on the south, South 24th Street to the east, and 35th Street to the west. Sheelytown was named for the Sheely Brothers Packing Houses that were located in the area. Sheelytown was annexed by Omaha in 1887. The Omaha Quartermaster Depot was built just east of the community across the

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...

tracks.

History

Joseph Sheely ran the Sheely Packing Company, a meat packing plant near the railroad tracks southeast of Hanscom Park. Workers in his plant occupied a small

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

immediately next to the plant that was named after their boss. Sheelytown was first occupied by Irish, who came in the 1860s and 1870s to work in the stockyards and meatpacking plants. Later when Polish and

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

immigrants arrived, they also settled in Sheelytown and South Omaha. The community was a

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

and poor area, often regarded as dirty and "uncivilized" by wealthier Omahans. In the early decades of the 20th century, the community had ex-officio mayors for many years, including Nicodemus Dargaczewski, who was a close ally of political bosses "Cowboy" James Dahlman and Tom Dennison. Around the start of the 20th century, members of the Hanscom Park Methodist Episcopal Church became concerned with the "lawlessness and destitute behavior" of workers in the neighborhood. They organized dances to compete with the "loose establishments" in Sheelytown. The dances routinely caused a stir among local residents, but were continuously held for many years.

Legacy

Adjacent to Sheelytown is the commercial area now called the Vinton Street Commercial Historic District. In 2006 it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The Polonairs of Omaha is a

polka Polka is a dance style and genre of dance music in originating in nineteenth-century Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic. Though generally associated with Czech and Central European culture, polka is popular throughout Europe and the ...

band that recorded an album called ''Sheelytown On Parade'' on the Czech Records label.(nd
TK Frank's Polka Records
. Retrieved 2007-07-16.

References

Bibliography

* Larsen, L. and Cottrell, B. (1997) ''The Gate City: A History of Omaha.'' University of Nebraska Press. p. 158. * Sullenger, T.E. (1937) "Problems of Ethnic Assimilation in Omaha," ''Social Forces, 15'' (3) March. pp. 402–410. {{Coord, 41, 14, 01, N, 95, 56, 52, W, format=dms, display=title, type:city_region:US-NE History of South Omaha, Nebraska Historic districts in Omaha, Nebraska Czech-American culture in Omaha, Nebraska Irish-American neighborhoods Irish-American culture in Omaha, Nebraska Company towns in the United States Neighborhoods in South Omaha, Nebraska Polish-American culture in Nebraska Populated places established in the 1860s Meatpacking industry in Omaha, Nebraska