Omaha
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 city ...
,
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 ...
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 Paci ...
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 alcoholic ...
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
The Omaha Rail and Commerce Historic District, roughly bounded by Jackson, 15th, and 8th Streets, as well as the Union Pacific main line, is located in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Today this historic district includes several buildings listed i ...
.
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
to emigrate. Joseph then secured boarding and jobs for the immigrants, particularly in downtown Omaha's
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 Paci ...
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
South 10th Street is a two-way street that runs south-north from Downtown into South Omaha, Nebraska. Beginning at Dodge Street, South 10th Street passes Gene Leahy Mall and borders the ConAgra Campus and the Old Market. Its southern reaches are w ...
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 manufacturing, manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption ...
, 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 dist ...
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
The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...
. 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 Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...
, 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.
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
The Joel N. Cornish House is located in South Omaha, Nebraska. The 1886 construction is considered an "excellent example of the French Second Empire style." The house was converted into apartments after the Cornish family moved out in 1911., Neb ...
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
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca (March 19, 1886 – December 26, 1960) was an Italian-American aviation pioneer, airplane designer and builder, who is credited with many design firsts and whose aircraft broke many aviation records. He was inducted into t ...
*
Anthony J. Biase
Anthony Joseph Biase (September 6, 1909 – September 21, 1991) was an American mobster who had a long career in gambling and narcotics, and was a ''caporegime'' of the Civella crime family's Omaha, Nebraska faction.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 Michele Pane ( Adami of Decollatura, March 11, 1876 – Chicago, April 18, 1953) was an Italian American symbolist poet and journalist who wrote in northern Calabrese.
Life
He was born at ( Adami of Decollatura ( Calabria, Italy) to a family of ...
*
Angelo Rossitto
Angelo Salvatore Rossitto (February 18, 1908 – September 21, 1991) was an American actor and voice artist. He had dwarfism and was 2'11" (89 cm) tall, and was often billed as Little Angie or Moe. Angelo first appeared in silent films opp ...
*
Pat Venditte
Patrick Michael Venditte Jr. (; born June 30, 1985) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco G ...
History of Omaha
The history of Omaha, Nebraska, began before the settlement of the city, with speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa staking land across the Missouri River illegally as early as the 1840s. When it was legal to claim land in Indian C ...
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.