Train Town

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Train Town, today called the Credit Foncier Addition, was a suburb of Omaha, Nebraska owned by noted eccentric Union Pacific promoter George Francis Train's company called Credit Foncier of America. 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. [1]

Omaha, Nebraska City in Nebraska, United States

Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 10 miles (15 km) north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 40th-largest city, Omaha's 2018 estimated population was 466,061.

George Francis Train American businessman

George Francis Train 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 the United States in 1864 to construct the eastern portion of the Transcontinental Railroad, and a horse tramway company in England while there during the American Civil War.

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 Legislature in 1866. Credit Foncier was said to be "intimately connected with all the early towns along the Union Pacific."

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History

Train bought the tract of land on what was then the southern edge of Omaha, and frequently claimed to own 5,000 acres (20 km2) 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, which was built next to the neighborhood at Train's insistence. [2] [3] There was a public elementary school located at Sixth and Hickory Streets in the community that was named for Train, called "Train Elementary School". [4]

Prefabricated home specialist dwelling types of prefabricated building

Prefabricated homes, often referred to as prefab homes or simply prefabs, are specialist dwelling types of prefabricated building, which are manufactured off-site in advance, usually in standard sections that can be easily shipped and assembled. Some current prefab home designs include architectural details inspired by postmodernism or futurist architecture.

Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge bridge in United States of America

The Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge is a rail truss bridge across the Missouri River connecting Council Bluffs, Iowa with Omaha, Nebraska.

According to journalist and African explorer Henry Morton Stanley, Train made "a small fortune" by selling lots in Train Town. [5] The remaining land was repossessed by creditors in the early 1870s, [6] 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.

Henry Morton Stanley Welsh journalist and explorer

Sir Henry Morton Stanley was a Welsh journalist and explorer who was famous for his exploration of central Africa and his search for missionary and explorer David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley reportedly asked, "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" Stanley is also known for his search for the source of the Nile, his pioneering work that enabled the plundering of the Congo Basin region by King Leopold II of Belgium, and his command of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition. He was knighted in 1899.

Downtown Omaha

Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, U.S. state of Nebraska. The boundaries are Omaha's 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and the centerline of Leavenworth Street on the south to the centerline of Chicago Street on the north, also including the CHI Health Center Omaha. Downtown sits on the Missouri River, with commanding views from the tallest skyscrapers.

Plat scale map showing the divisions of a piece of land

In the United States, a plat is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Surveys to show the distance and bearing between section corners, sometimes including topographic or vegetation information. City, town or village plats show subdivisions into blocks with streets and alleys. Further refinement often splits blocks into individual lots, usually for the purpose of selling the described lots; this has become known as subdivision.

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References

  1. ↑ Bristow, D.L. (2002) A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha. Caxton Press. p 66.
  2. ↑ Crofutt, G.A. (1880) Crofutt's New Overland Tourist, and Pacific Coast Guide. The Overland Publishing Company. p 21.
  3. ↑ Richardson, A.D. (1869) "Through to the Pacific", Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum. Retrieved 4/10/08.
  4. ↑ Thorton, W. (1948) The Nine Lives of Citizen Train. Greenberg Publishers. p 179.
  5. ↑ Stanley, H.M. (1895) My Early Travels and Adventures in America and Asia. Charles Scribner's Sons. p 193.
  6. ↑ Bristow, D.L. (2002) A Dirty, Wicked Town: Tales of 19th Century Omaha. Caxton Press. p 76.


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