| Lake School | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
2410 North 19th Street , 68111 United States | |
| Coordinates | 41°16′51″N95°56′27″W / 41.28083°N 95.94083°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public, elementary school |
| Established | 1888 |
| Closed | 1978 |
| School district | Omaha Public Schools |
| Grades | 1-8 |
Lake School was a public elementary school in the Near North Side neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The school was one of Omaha's "black schools", and served grade one through grade eight. [1] It closed in the 1970s.
Built in 1888, Lake started in an 1879 two-room frame schoolhouse opened in 1879, making it one of the oldest schools in the Omaha School District. It was a two-and-a-half story brick building with a peaked roofline and decorative elements at the peaks. There was a bell tower protruding from the top of one part of the east side of the building. [2]
The school's first principal was Emma Whitmore, who locked the names of the first graduates in a metal box, and had them buried beneath a new tree at the school. The key was then attached by ribbon to a pigeon released to an unknown destination. [3]
The second building was replaced in 1910.
When it was built, the surrounding neighborhood was a predominantly white community with several European immigrant populations, including Russian Jews, Scandinavians, Italians and others, as well as a nascent African American population. In 1919, rioting after the lynching of Will Brown focused on the neighborhood containing Lake School. The US Army intervened and established the city's first official redlining, and ensuing white flight over the next several years resulted in Lake School's student population and surrounding neighborhood becoming more predominantly African American. [4]
By 1976, the school population was almost entirely African American. That year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in United States of America v. The School District of Omaha that Omaha Public Schools routinely segregated schools, including Lake School. In 1978 the school was closed, and the building became a special services school for developmentally disabled students. The building was closed and sold to the Seventh-day Adventist church in 1984 and operated as a private school in 1984. After operating for approximately 15 years, it was closed. [5]
Today, the third Lake School serves as an apartment complex called Fullwood Square.
North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the east, as defined by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Omaha Chamber of Commerce.
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 Omaha's first annexation, joining the city in 1854. Originally separated from Omaha by the Missouri River, a large section of the area's land was dissected by a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1892. Today, 2,500 houses, a school, grocery stores and a church that made up the original town have been demolished and replaced by several government facilities, the Eppley Airfield, and more.
North Omaha, Nebraska has a recorded history spanning over 200 years, pre-dating the rest of Omaha, encompassing wildcat banks, ethnic enclaves, race riots and social change. North Omaha has roots back to 1812 and the founding of Fort Lisa. It includes the Mormon settlement of Cutler's Park and Winter Quarters in 1846, a lynching before the turn of the twentieth century, the thriving 24th Street community of the 1920s, the bustling development of its African-American community through the 1950s, a series of riots in the 1960s, and redevelopment in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Significant events in the history of North Omaha, Nebraska include the Pawnee, Otoe and Sioux nations; the African American community; Irish, Czech, and other European immigrants, and; several other populations. Several important settlements and towns were built in the area, as well as important social events that shaped the future of Omaha and the history of the nation. The timeline of North Omaha history extends to present, including recent controversy over schools.
Saratoga Springs, Nebraska Territory, or Saratoga, was a boom and bust town founded in 1856 that thrived for several years. During its short period of influence the town grew quickly, outpacing other local settlements in the area including Omaha and Florence, and briefly considered as a candidate for the Nebraska Territorial capitol. Saratoga was annexed into Omaha in 1887, and has been regarded a neighborhood in North Omaha since then.
The civil rights movement in Omaha, Nebraska, has roots that extend back until at least 1912. With a history of racial tension that starts before the founding of the city, Omaha has been the home of numerous overt efforts related to securing civil rights for African Americans since at least the 1870s.
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Technical High School (Tech) was a public high school that was located at 3215 Cuming Street in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. Opened in 1923, the school was said to be the largest high school west of Chicago. It was the largest in the Omaha area before it was closed in 1984. Today the building serves as the headquarters of Omaha Public Schools.
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The Near North Side of Omaha, Nebraska is the neighborhood immediately north of downtown. It forms the nucleus of the city's historic African-American community, and its name is often synonymous with the entire North Omaha area. Originally established immediately after Omaha was founded in 1854, the Near North Side was once confined to the area around Dodge Street and North 7th Street. Eventually, it gravitated west and north, and today it is bordered by Cuming Street on the south, 30th on the west, 16th on the east, and Locust Street to the north. Countless momentous events in Omaha's African American community happened in the Near North Side, including the 1865 establishment of the first Black church in Omaha, St. John's AME; the 1892 election of the first African American state legislator, Dr. Matthew Ricketts; the 1897 hiring of the first Black teacher in Omaha, Ms. Lucy Gamble, the 1910 Jack Johnson riots, the Omaha race riot of 1919 that almost demolished the neighborhood and many other events.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church is located at 2206 Binney Street in the Kountze Place neighborhood of North Omaha, Nebraska within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha.
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 between North 16th Avenue on the east to North 30th Street on the west; Locust Street on the south to Pratt Street on the north. Kountze Place was annexed into Omaha in 1887. The neighborhood was built as a suburban middle and upper middle class enclave for doctors, lawyers, successful businessmen and other professional workers.
The Miller Park neighborhood in North Omaha, Nebraska is a historically significant community housing a historic district and several notable historic places. It is located between Sorenson Parkway on the south and Redick Avenue on the north, Florence Boulevard on the east and 30th Street on the west. The Minne Lusa neighborhood borders on the north, and the Saratoga neighborhood is on the south. Fort Omaha borders the neighborhood on the west. Miller Park is the namesake park in the neighborhood, as well as the Miller Park Elementary School. In 2017, the Miller Park/Minne Lusa area was ranked as having the 2nd highest rate of homicides and other violent crimes out of 81 Omaha neighborhoods.
Walnut Hill is a historic neighborhood located in north Omaha, Nebraska. It is bounded by North 40th Street on the east, Cuming Street on the south, Northwest Radial Highway and Saddle Creek Road on the west and Hamilton Street on the north.
The history of the Jews in Omaha, Nebraska, goes back to the mid-1850s.
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