History
Since the 1600s, the Omaha, Pawnee, Otoe, the Missouri, the Ponca and Ioway all variously occupied the land that became Omaha. The word "Omaha" (actually UmoNhoN or UmaNhaN) means "those going against the current"..
The Lewis and Clark Expedition passed by the riverbanks that would later become the city of Omaha in 1804, and met on Council Bluff at a point about 20 miles (30 km) north of present-day Omaha, at which point they met with the Otoe. That same area saw the development of Fort Lisa in 1806; Fort Atkinson in 1819; and Cabanne's Trading Post, built in 1822. The Mormons built a town called Cutler's Park in the area in 1846.
The passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 was presaged by the staking out of claims around the area that was to become Omaha by residents from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa. With the founding of the city on July 4, 1854, the Omaha Claim Club was formed to provide vigilante justice for claim jumpers and others who infringed on the land of many of the city's founding fathers. Some of this land was later used to entice Nebraska Territory legislators in an area called Scriptown. The violent tactics used by the Claim Club to secure land were later nullified by the U.S. Supreme Court who ruled against numerous landowners in Baker v. Morton.
Most of Omaha's pioneers and founding fathers are buried alongside soldiers from Fort Omaha and early European immigrant and African Americans in Prospect Hill Cemetery.
During the late 1800s and early 1900s there were a variety of ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods in the city, including Little Italy, Near North Side and Little Bohemia. At the time, gambling, drinking and prostitution were widespread and controlled by Omaha's political boss, Tom Dennison. His reign lasted for more than 30 years, ending shortly before his death at the age of 75 in 1933. From the second generation of Omaha's leadership throughout today, many notable and average Omahans are buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in far North Omaha.
(Source: Wikipedia.org)
