Train Town, today called the Credit Foncier Addition, was a suburb of
Omaha, Nebraska owned by noted eccentric
Union Pacific promoter
George Francis Train
George Francis Train (March 24, 1829 – January 18, 1904) was an American entrepreneur who organized the clipper ship line that sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco; he also organized the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier in th ...
's company called
Credit Foncier of America
Credit Foncier of America was a late 19th-century financing and real estate company in Omaha, Nebraska. The company existed primarily to promote the townsites along the Union Pacific Railroad,
and was incorporated by a special act of the Nebraska ...
. The area was 20
blocks by 20 blocks, which was approximately the size of Omaha at the time. It was located from Pierce Street southward to what is now the path of I-80, and from the
Missouri River on the west to 20th Street.
History
Train bought the tract of land on what was then the southern edge of Omaha, and frequently claimed to own in the city. He eventually brought in
prefabricated cottages to help ease the housing shortage in the city. Train bought the area on the speculation that citizens would want to live near the old Union Pacific depot and the
Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge
The Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge is a rail truss bridge across the Missouri River between Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Omaha, Nebraska.
History
When the first railroad bridge on the site opened on March 27, 1872, it connected the First tr ...
, which was built next to the neighborhood at Train's insistence. There was a public elementary school located at Sixth and Hickory Streets in the community that was named for Train, called "Train Elementary School".
According to journalist and African explorer
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley (born John Rowlands; 28 January 1841 – 10 May 1904) was a Welsh-American explorer, journalist, soldier, colonial administrator, author and politician who was famous for his exploration of Central Africa
Cen ...
, Train made "a small fortune" by selling lots in Train Town. The remaining land was repossessed by creditors in the early 1870s,
[Bristow, D.L. (2002) ''A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha.'' Caxton Press. p 76.] and today it is located immediately south of
Downtown Omaha. The tract is still referred to as the "Credit Foncier Addition."
Credit Foncier was Train's company that
platted the land in 1867. It still contains a number of original cottages, especially along Woolworth Avenue.
See also
*
History of Omaha
*
List of neighborhoods in Omaha, Nebraska
References
Neighborhoods in Omaha, Nebraska
Pioneer history of Omaha, Nebraska
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