Levi Carter Park is located at 3100 Abbott Drive in

East Omaha East Omaha is a geographically designated community located in Omaha, Nebraska. Located three miles (5 km) from downtown Omaha, East Omaha is the site of Eppley Omaha International Airport, Omaha's main airport, and Carter Lake. This area was ...

, Nebraska. It was named after one of Omaha's original industrialists, Levi Carter, who ran a

white lead White lead is the basic lead carbonate 2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2. It is a complex salt, containing both carbonate and hydroxide ions. White lead occurs naturally as a mineral, in which context it is known as hydrocerussite, a hydrate of cerussite. It was ...

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including Silver mining#Ore processing, silver, iron-making, iron, copper extracti ...

in the area.

History

As recently as 1876, Levi Carter Park was the west bank of the Missouri River. The next year flooding caused the river to jump its banks and shorten the main stream, with the long meander becoming an

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. In South Texas, oxbows left by the Rio Grande are called '' resacas''. In Australia, oxbow lakes are call ...

. Residents on both sides of the river now found themselves on the west bank, attached to

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 ...

. Because of this their lake was originally called "Cut-Off Lake." The name was first changed in the late 1900s to Lake Nicoma for the fabled Omaha wife of early Nebraska settler

Peter A. Sarpy Peter Abadie Sarpy (1805–1865) was the French-American owner and operator of several fur trading posts, essential to the development of the Nebraska Territory, and a thriving ferry business. A prominent businessman, he helped lay out the towns o ...

. Around that time the lake was a popular resort area. The surrounding park was home to sailing events, Bungalow City, the Omaha Gun Club, and a YMCA Camp as late as the 1930s. The area around the lake included "a boathouse at the foot of Locust street, hotels and club houses were numerous and the lake was the scene of many a pleasant rowing and fishing party." In the early 1890s the city of Omaha renamed the lake in honor of Levi Carter after his widow donated $1,000,000 to the City of Omaha for upgrades to the area around the lake, which the city named Levi Carter Park. In 1896 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the neighboring town of Carter Lake belonged to the State of

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

CCC developments

The

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC) built a camp in the park and facilitated the first major developments, including building roadways, removing old railroad bridges, installing landscaping and constructing boardwalks. They also built up the Omaha Municipal Beach, including installing sand, renovating existing piers and constructing bathhouses capable of handling 10,000 users simultaneously. The bathhouses constructed by the CCC for men and women as well as the concessions building have recently been renovated by the

City of 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 ...

Parks and Recreation department, and were included in the New Deal Work Relief Projects in Nebraska listing

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 v ...

in 2010.

Carter Lake Pleasure Pier and Kiddieland

Carter Lake Park was the site of the Pleasure Pier on land leased from the city, through a business owned and operated by Jim and Dorothy Carpenter. Opening in May 1949, the park was built on the lake's edge. The Pleasure Pier had several adult rides. Pleasure Pier was also the site of the Carter Lake Kiddieland, an

amusement park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusement park that bases its structures and attractions around a central ...

for children. There were several

kiddie rides A kiddie ride - or kids' ride - is a coin-operated amusement ride for young children. Kiddie rides are commonly available in amusement parks, video arcade, arcades, Shopping mall, malls, hotel game rooms, outside supermarkets and discount depa ...

, pony carts, a ferris wheel, a boat ride, a miniature train, and a ride called a doodle bug. The amusement park was closed in 1959. The next owner built a marina and added a few rides.(June 20, 1960) "Carter Lake opens strong", ''The Billboard''. p 71. More recently, the Levi Carter Park was the home of radio station Z-92's now defunct annual Z-bash from 1997 to 2005. The annual Stone Soul Picnic has continued to be held at Levi Carter Park since the 1990s.

Currently

Carter Lake provides opportunities for water-skiing, fishing, and boating. The park has

baseball field A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refers ...

s, football fields, and

basketball court In basketball, the basketball court is the playing surface, consisting of a rectangular floor, with baskets at each end. Indoor basketball courts are almost always made of polished wood, usually maple, with -high rims on each basket. Outdoor sur ...

s, as well as paths,

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

areas, shelters,

restrooms A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

, a

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

and open space.

References

External links