WoodmenLife Tower, formerly the Woodmen Tower, is a 478-ft (146-m) high-rise
building at 1700 Farnam Street in
downtown
''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...
Omaha, Nebraska, and
headquarters
Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...
of
WoodmenLife
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.
...
insurance company.
History
Construction began in 1966, with the tower being completed in 1969. The tower surpassed the
Nebraska State Capitol as the tallest building in Nebraska, which held the title from 1930 until 1969, when it was completed. The 30-storey skyscraper remained the tallest skyscraper in both Omaha and Nebraska for over 30 years, until the construction of the
First National Bank Tower
The First National Bank Tower is a 45-story office skyscraper located at 1601 Dodge Street in downtown Omaha, Nebraska, United States, and the official headquarters of First National Bank of Omaha. At it is the tallest building in Omaha a ...
.
A population of
Peregrine falcon
The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (Bird of prey, raptor) in the family (biology), family Falco ...
s have resided on the tower, with the first being released there by the Nebraska Peregrine Falcon Project in 1988. Falcons continue to nest on the building, and WoodmenLife maintains a
live webcam of the nests on their official website.
The building was featured prominently in the 2002 film ''
About Schmidt'', where the titular character Warren Schmidt (
Jack Nicholson) was employed. The Woodmen Tower also replaced several buildings in historic downtown, including the
Old City Hall Old City Hall may refer to:
Asia
In Hong Kong
* Old City Hall (Hong Kong)
Europe
In Croatia
*Old City Hall (Zagreb)
In Denmark
* Old City Hall (1479–1728), in Copenhagen
* Old City Hall (1728–1795), in Copenhagen
* Old City Hall (Aalborg)
...
and Edward Rosewater's
Bee Building
The Bee Building, later called the Peters Trust Building and finally the Insurance Building, was located at 17th and Farnam Streets in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. It was an architectural landmark in early Omaha that was built in 1888 by newspaper ed ...
.
In 2020 the "WOODMEN" signage atop the building was replaced the new WoodmenLife wordmark to reflect the organization's new name.
Gallery
File:Brandeis Building and Woodmen Tower.jpg, Woodmen Tower rises just west of the J. L. Brandeis and Sons Store Building
File:American flag on Woodmen Tower.jpg, In September 2006, Woodmen Tower marked the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks by displaying large American flags draped from its upper floors.
File:Woodmen Tower 2022.jpg, The tower in October 2022.
See also
*
Economy of Omaha, Nebraska
*
List of tallest buildings in Omaha, Nebraska
Notes
{{reflist
Skyscraper office buildings in Omaha, Nebraska
Woodmen of the World buildings
Headquarters in the United States
1969 establishments in Nebraska
Office buildings completed in 1969