The Redick Mansion, also known as the Mayne Mansion and Redick Hall, was located at 3612 North 24th Street in

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

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 c ...

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 sout ...

. It served as the first home of Omaha University, now known as the

University of Nebraska at Omaha The University of Nebraska Omaha (Omaha or UNO) is a public research university in Omaha, Nebraska. Founded in 1908 by faculty from the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary as a private non-sectarian college, the university was originally kno ...

, from 1909 through 1917. A five-story

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specific ...

on the front of the mansion was a notable landmark throughout the area.

Early history

Henry and Mary Meyers built a simple wooden

farmhouse FarmHouse (FH) is a social fraternity founded at the University of Missouri on April 15, 1905. It became a national organization in 1921. Today FarmHouse has 33 active chapters and four associate chapters (formerly colonies) in the United State ...

along rural North 24th Street in 1875. In 1885 Clifton E. Mayne, a local

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more genera ...

developer and businessman, bought the house, which was now located in a new suburb called

Kountze Place The Kountze Place neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska is a historically significant community on the city's north end. Today the neighborhood is home to several buildings and homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located betw ...

. Using profits from his recent development called Orchard Hill, Mayne grew the house into a 20-room

mansion A mansion is a large dwelling house. The word itself derives through Old French from the Latin word ''mansio'' "dwelling", an abstract noun derived from the verb ''manere'' "to dwell". The English word '' manse'' originally defined a property l ...

, with a five-story tower and a wide

veranda A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''vera ...

encircling the entire first floor. A large

parlor A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necess ...

, a dining room and a spacious entry hall greeted guests, along with tall

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typ ...

s, exotic woodwork and elegant fixtures throughout the house. In 1889 John I. Redick bought the residence after Mayne fell into financial difficulty. In 1898 the mansion was located across the street from the

Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition The Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition was a world's fair held in Omaha, Nebraska from June 1 to November 1 of 1898. Its goal was to showcase the development of the entire West, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Coa ...

. John Redick's son, Oak C. Redick, sold the house for $30,000 to the newly formed Municipal University of Omaha in 1907.

Omaha University

Omaha University paid for the building and moved in in 1909, renaming it Redick Hall. The first classes were held there on September 14, 1909, for twenty-six students, nineteen of them graduates of Omaha High School. The building was used for classes and offices, and the adjacent

carriage house A carriage house, also called a remise or coach house, is an outbuilding which was originally built to house horse-drawn carriages and the related tack. In Great Britain the farm building was called a cart shed. These typically were open ...

was used as the science laboratory. The parlor was converted into a chapel and a resting room made available for female students. Faculty for the fledgling university came from the nearby

Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary The Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary was located at 3303 North 21st Place in North Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Opened in 1891 in downtown Omaha, the institution moved to the Kountze Place neighborhood in North Omaha in 1902 and closed ...

. The campus developed quickly with the addition of Jacobs Gymnasium and Joslyn Hall, as well as a College of Law, all on the original Redick Mansion property. In 1917 the building was sold to a local grain dealer who had it disassembled and moved by

train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often ...

to a resort on

Keeley Island Keeley may refer to: People Surname *Barbara Keeley, British Labour MP * Damian Keeley (born 1963), English professional football player * Earl Keeley (born 1936), Canadian football player * Edmund Keeley (1928–2022), American author, translator ...

on Lake Shetek near Currie, Minnesota where it became the Valhalla Dance Pavilion and Cafe until it burnt down on March 3, 1928.Gerber, K. and Spencer, J.C. (2003) ''Building for the Ages: Omaha's Architectural Landmarks.'' Omaha, NE: Landmarks, Inc. p 14. Omaha University moved to its Dodge Street location starting in 1936. Today the Redick Mansion property is the site of Omaha Public Schools' King Science and Technology Magnet Middle School. It sits across the street from

Kountze Park Kountze Park is an urban public park located at 1920 Pinkney Street in the Kountze Place neighborhood of North Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. The Park is historically significant as the site of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition of 1898. A ...

References

{{North Omaha History of North Omaha, Nebraska Houses completed in 1875 University of Nebraska Omaha Demolished buildings and structures in Omaha, Nebraska Houses in Omaha, Nebraska Towers in Nebraska University and college dormitories in the United States Buildings and structures demolished in 1917

Early history

Omaha University

See also

References