The Bee Building, later called the Peters Trust Building and finally the Insurance Building, was located at 17th and Farnam Streets in

Downtown Omaha Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha, Nebraska, Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and ...

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 southwe ...

. It was an architectural landmark in early Omaha that was built in 1888 by newspaper editor

Edward Rosewater Edward Rosewater, born Edward Rosenwasser, (January 21, 1841 – August 30, 1906) was a Republican Party politician and newspaper editor in Omaha, Nebraska. Rosewater had a reputation for being "aggressive and controversial", and was influentia ...

to house his ''

Omaha Bee The ''Omaha Daily Bee'' was a leading Republican newspaper that was active in the late 19th and early 20th century. The paper's editorial slant frequently pitted it against the ''Omaha Herald'', the '' Omaha Republican'' and other local papers. A ...

'' newspaper as well as several other companies."City Hall and Bee Buildings"
Nebraska Memories. Retrieved 3/30/08. A period review remarked that the building was "probably only second in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to that of the ''

New York Herald The ''New York Herald'' was a large-distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between 1835 and 1924. At that point it was acquired by its smaller rival the ''New-York Tribune'' to form the '' New York Herald Tribune''. His ...

''."

History

Located next to Omaha's second

City Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, the Bee Building was built on the site of the Rosewater family's former homestead. It was a seven-story red

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

structure, with detailing such as carved beehives as exterior ornaments and carved miniature beehives on the doorknobs, playing off the name of the newspaper. Built for almost $500,000, it was touted by the ''Bee'' as the world's largest newspaper plant. Circulation in 1889 was 18,736. The noted

Omaha National Bank Building The Omaha National Bank Building was built in 1888–89 at 1650 Farnam Street in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Built in the Italian Renaissance style, the building was saved from demolition by a rehabilitation in 1978. Listed on the National Regist ...

was built the same year on the same block. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', Edward Rosewater died at his office in the building on September 1, 1906. On March 5, 1909, the Mutual Benefit Health and Accident Association opened its doors in the Bee Building, which has been called

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 ...

since 1944. The joint financial concerns Peters Trust Company and Peters National Bank took over occupancy of the building in 1920 and it was renamed the Peters Trust Building. Business prospered for a time. Then on November 25, 1929, District Judge Redick ordered the trust company liquidated due to a combination of mortgage deflation and an embezzlement scheme for which two top officials pleaded guilty. Ownership of the building briefly reverted to Bee company until

Woodmen of the World WoodmenLife (officially Woodmen of the World Life Insurance Society) is a not-for-profit fraternal benefit society founded in 1890, based in Omaha, Nebraska, United States, that operates a large privately held insurance company for its members. ...

purchased it in 1932 and renamed it the Insurance Building. They spent more than one million dollars remodeling the building between 1932 and 1949. Architect

Leo A Daly LEO A DALY, established by Leo A. Daly, Sr. in 1915, is an American architecture, planning, engineering, interior design and program management firm. The firm's portfolio includes projects in 91 countries, all 50 U.S. states and the District of C ...

Sr. did much of the remodeling. In 1935, it was the first office building west of Chicago to be centrally air conditioned."Building Thrived After Bee's Death" ''Evening World Herald'', Tuesday, February 22, 1966, p8 Woodmen of the World continued to make improvements to the building as late as 1964. Both the Bee Building and the Old City hall were torn down in 1966 to build the

Woodmen Tower WoodmenLife Tower, formerly the Woodmen Tower, is a 478-ft (146-m) high-rise building at 1700 Farnam Street in Downtown Omaha, downtown Omaha, Nebraska, and headquarters of WoodmenLife insurance company. History Construction began in 1966, with ...

References

{{Reflist

External links

Historic postcards
Nebraska Memories History of Downtown Omaha, Nebraska Commercial buildings completed in 1888 Demolished buildings and structures in Omaha, Nebraska Buildings and structures demolished in 1966

History

See also

References

External links