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43-537: East Omaha is roughly bounded by the Missouri River on the east, Carter Lake and Carter Lake, Iowa on the south, and North Omaha to the west and north. There is one cliff that is the finite western boundary of East Omaha, extending from Jaynes Street north to Reed Street. Bordering neighborhoods include Miller Park , Saratoga and Kountze Place . Due to the ever-changing nature of the Omaha metro area , recognition of

86-554: A flood that occurred in March 1877, the course of the Missouri River was redirected 1.25 mi (2 km) to the southeast. The remnants of the old river course became an oxbow-shaped lake , for which the Iowa town is named. After the river jumped its banks, a lengthy court case ensued. The Supreme Court of the United States held that the sudden change in the river's course did not change

129-443: A "learning community" that consists of all of the school districts in the county where the city is located and any county that shares a border with the city. The learning community will be composed of voting representatives from each school district and will also include the superintendents of the districts as non-voting members. A learning community will be charged with helping to distribute property tax revenue more evenly throughout

172-600: A massive flood which altered the course of the Missouri River. East Omaha was severely damaged by the Easter Sunday tornado of 1913, which destroyed many businesses and neighborhoods. When the tornado crossed 16th Avenue, the path extended from Binney Street on the south to Emmet Street on the north. The tornado devastated the Missouri Pacific roundhouse and went across Carter Lake and the East Omaha bottoms. When it crossed

215-542: A number of school districts, and that the schools would become less efficient in one large school district. Discussions among the school districts have been unproductive; the issue figured prominently in the 2006 session of the Nebraska state legislature . The Nebraska legislature passed a bill (LB 1024) on April 13, 2006, that addresses the "One City, One School District" issues. The governor of Nebraska signed it later that day. It requires each metropolitan class city to have

258-473: A total of $ 300,000 clear low-lying land of willows and to grade streets before lots were offered for sale. The company initially owned 1,000 acres (4.0 km), rapidly increasing through further acquisition. In 1903 the East Omaha Land Company advertised East Omaha as "the manufacturing center of Omaha". Before the creation of Carter Lake, Iowa, the East Omaha community wrapped around a meander on

301-480: Is a former US warship permanently berthed at the Omaha Marina in East Omaha. She is maintained as a World War II museum and memorial. The Omaha Correctional Center, or OCC, is a medium/minimum security facility located on a 37-acre (150,000 m) site in East Omaha, just south of Eppley Airfield. Eppley Airfield serves as Omaha's primary airport, providing service throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. In

344-424: Is also in the area. Schools have long played an important role in East Omaha's identity. The most important school in East Omaha is Sherman School , an Omaha Public Schools building. Sherman's history extends back to 1887 when a two-room building was constructed by a neighborhood developer at N. 16th and Jaynes Street. At its largest, the school had kindergarten through eighth grade had almost 600 students. Today

387-405: Is irregularly stocked with channel catfish and northern pike . Invasive species in the lake include curlyleaf pondweed and eurasian watermilfoil . There are limited restrictions on fishing in the lake. There is one publicly available boat ramp, and boating is legal on the lake. The Saratoga Bend was the impetus for the creation of the town of Saratoga, Nebraska Territory , a short mile from

430-454: Is known as the "One City, One School District" plan. This issue is highly controversial in Omaha. Supporters of the plan claim that a single school district is necessary to promote a cohesive Omaha community, ensure academic equity in all Omaha schools and prevent OPS from becoming locked into a declining property tax base. Opponents contend that Omaha-area residents should be able to choose from

473-582: Is often expected to result in black students concentrated in a North Omaha district, white students in West Omaha district, and non-English speaking students in a South Omaha district. However, the law does not mandate such a result. Within its requirements, new districts may be drawn in several different ways. LB 641, approved on May 7, 2007, repealed the requirement that the Omaha Public Schools district be broken up into three districts. Afterward,

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516-587: Is said to have occurred there. That year an unknown property in East Omaha was sold to the Omaha Bridge and Terminal company, a subsidiary of the Illinois Central, for nearly $ 700,000. The south end of East Omaha was home to the Union Pacific Rail Yards, with one former hobo reporting that he tricked a railroad cop , also called "railroad dicks", with his clothing, East Omaha, east of Carter Lake,

559-475: Is the site of several important facilities for the entire City of Omaha as well as the local community. The Sherman Community Center has been home to recreational activities and meeting space for East Omaha for more than 20 years. Levi Carter Lake Park has been offering recreational opportunities to Omaha for more than 100 years. The Open Door Mission has been an Omaha institution since the 1950s. It relocated to 2706 North 21st Street East in 1986. The USS Hazard

602-544: The Beechwood community. However, the community is still noted on maps. The following items have been documented by a local historian. East Omaha is home to Omaha's main airport, Eppley Airfield . It is also a major industrial manufacturing and warehousing area, with the Lozier Corporation located at 6336 John J. Pershing Drive and several shipping companies in the area. The Omaha Public Power District North Omaha plant

645-455: The Missouri River. Ironically, they were still subject to same city taxes. The community successfully seceded from Council Bluffs in the 1920s, intending to become part of Omaha. The Nebraska city didn't want to pay to extend sewers or water lines either. In 1930 Carter Lake was incorporated as its own municipality, still within the boundaries of the State of Iowa . In 1877, Carter Lake was formed by

688-768: The State of Iowa . In 1979, the Omaha chapter of the Antique Motorcycle Club of America held its first motorcycle show and swap meet at the Four "T" Service shop in East Omaha. East Omaha was an early Omaha suburb dating from the late 19th century. It was founded by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad 's East Omaha Land Company, which spent a total of $ 300,000 to clear the low-lying land of willows and grade streets before lots were offered for sale. The Ames family of Boston, Massachusetts were early investors responsible for platting

731-432: The area and dealing with the ever-changing Missouri River. However, one 1937 plat map entirely dismisses the residential and commercial district of East Omaha, instead focusing on the then-underdeveloped area surrounding Eppley Airfield. Through the 1920s, East Omaha neighbors in the area around Carter Lake belonging to Iowa lacked the basic city services enjoyed by their fellow residents of Council Bluffs who lived east of

774-404: The area have lead poisoning . In early 2003, a large section of East Omaha was declared a Superfund site after thousands of yards tested positive for high levels of lead contamination resulting from a nearby lead smelting plant that operated for more than a century. East Omaha sits on a flood plain west of the Missouri River. The area is the location of Carter Lake , an oxbow lake . The lake

817-595: The boundaries of East Omaha has fluctuated through the years. Early reports about East Omaha identified it closely with the Union Pacific Railroad yards just north of downtown. The boundary moved north over the years, and today is loosely fixed along Florence Boulevard to the west, the Missouri River to the east, the Omaha Public Power District Plant to the north, and Carter Lake, Iowa to

860-481: The building is located at N. 14th and Ellison Avenue and has students in kindergarten through fifth grades. Other schools in the area were originally located outside the Omaha school district. One was the two-room Beechwood Elementary School, part of the now-defunct Beechwood School District, located at North 12th and Browne Avenue. Originally designed for 50 students, it had grades kindergarten to 8th grade. Under pressure of 125 students over-crowding its building without

903-456: The current Omaha public school district has approximately 45,000 students classified as 46 percent white, 31 percent black, 20 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian or American Indian. News reports indicate that division of the city of Omaha into three new school districts, as ordered in April, 2006, by the Nebraska legislature and including current Elkhorn , Millard and Ralston public schools,

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946-663: The district implemented a plan to bus students citywide in order to integrate schools. After that order was rescinded by SCOTUS in 1999, the district re-segregated. On June 13, 2005, the Omaha Public Schools Board and Superintendent John Mackiel announced their intention to annex 25 schools within Omaha city limits to OPS. They are currently part of the Elkhorn Public Schools , Millard Public Schools and Ralston Public Schools districts. This announcement, based on three Nebraska statutes enacted in 1891 and 1947,

989-480: The former Tech High at 30th and Cuming Streets. Within Douglas County the district includes much of Omaha. The district extends into parts of Sarpy County , where it includes portions of Bellevue . Omaha Public Schools has a long tradition of segregation extending the entire history of the city from its first public school in the 1860s. In 1976, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Omaha end school segregation and

1032-419: The funds to continue operating, the district closed in 1947 and was merged into Omaha Public Schools. Students were sent to Sherman School and the building was razed soon after. The other school in East Omaha was called Pershing School, and it was operated by its own independent school district. Located at North 28th Avenue East and Locust Street, the school was opened in the 1880s as a two-room school house, and

1075-402: The lake the twister "sucked the water high into the air, a real water spout. The cottages along the lake were mostly destroyed, the Illinois Central trestle obliterated and scores of store buildings wrecked. At this point the width of the path is said to have been nearly half a mile wide." As many as 1,000 people were displaced by a flood in 1943, which sent the Missouri River, Carter Lake , and

1118-664: The late 19th century the East Omaha Lake (also called Cut-Off Lake and Lake Nakoma) was renamed after the founder of the Carter Lead Co., and is still called Carter Lake . The surrounding park was home to sailing events, Bungalow City, the Omaha Gun Club, and a YMCA Camp as late as the 1930s. In 1896 the United States Supreme Court ruled that Carter Lake, which was originally an arm of the Missouri River, belonged to

1161-548: The most favorable to them of the bills proposed. The OPS leadership vehemently opposed the plan. AM3142 was approved on the day it was introduced by a counted vote of 33 to 6 with 10 senators not voting. Five days later a motion to reconsider AM3142 failed in a roll-call vote of 9 to 31 with 9 senators not voting. The roll call showed legislators from Omaha split six in favor of the three-district plan (Sens. Brashear, Brown, Chambers, Jensen, Pahls and Redfield) and five opposed (Sens. Bourne, Friend, Howard, Kruse and Synowiecki). It

1204-480: The old Florence Lake into peoples' homes and businesses throughout East Omaha. One report states, The flood of April 13, 1952 led to 40,000 people being evacuated from East Omaha and Carter Lake. President Harry S. Truman personally visited the scene of the flooding in Omaha and officially declared it a disaster area. Carter Lake (Iowa%E2%80%93Nebraska) Carter Lake is a shallow oxbow lake in Nebraska and Iowa , located next to Omaha , and marks one of

1247-594: The only spots the Iowa-Nebraska border is not on the Missouri River. Soon after its formation the lake was called the East Omaha Lake , and then Lake Nakoma . The city of Carter Lake, Iowa , takes its name from the lake. The lake was formed from the Saratoga Bend in the Missouri River. The lake has native black crappie , bluegill , channel catfish , common carp , green sunfish , and largemouth bass . The lake

1290-489: The original boundary. They ruled that the community to become known as Carter Lake was still part of Iowa. ( Nebraska v. Iowa , 143 U.S. 359 (1892)). The Court delayed a final decree to allow Nebraska and Iowa to reach an agreement consistent with its holding, which they did. (145 U.S. 519 (1892)). Now, all roads into Carter Lake run through East Omaha and downtown Omaha. The largest single real estate deal in Nebraska up to 1890

1333-564: The original building was replaced with a large parish structure in 1927. Serving as many as 125 students in six classrooms, students used the parish hall in the basement and attended Mass in the sanctuary where regular services were held. The school closed permanently in 2012. A recent report named East Omaha "one of the most dangerous toxic waste sites in the nation" after the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) showed that more than 2,600 children in

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1376-451: The river. However, the Bend was cut off from the river after a flood and subsequent river reroute in 1877. Because of this change in the path of the river, the city of Carter Lake, which sits between the lake and the river, is the only city in Iowa to be west of the Missouri River. A beach resort with a large boathouse and two-story pavilion, a Rod and Gun Club, and a YMCA camp had all settled on

1419-478: The school districts in its area. In general, a learning community leaves the boundaries of school districts untouched. However, LB 1024 also calls for OPS to be broken into three separate school districts. The exact boundaries for three new Omaha school districts are to be chosen by the Omaha learning community. Their choices are limited by requirements of LB 1024 that each new district consist of contiguous high school attendance areas and include either two or three of

1462-417: The seven existing high schools. That allows about 20 ways to group the seven schools, depending on which adjacent high school attendance areas are grouped with the geographically most central area. The three-district plan for OPS was proposed in amendment AM3142, introduced on the day the legislature first took up LB 1024. The suburban school districts reluctantly supported the three-district plan, seeing it as

1505-529: The shores of Lake Nakoma by 1906. The Carter Lake and Levi Carter Park at 3100 Abbott Drive were named after one of Omaha's original industrialists named Levi Carter , who ran a white lead smelter in the area. Omaha Public Schools Omaha Public Schools ( OPS ) is the largest school district in the state of Nebraska , United States. This public school district serves a diverse community of about 52,000 students at over 80 elementary and secondary schools in Omaha . Its district offices are located in

1548-470: The south. Even these boundaries are in flux. The Omaha Chamber of Commerce has taken to referring to any area east of 72nd street as "east Omaha". In 1853, Edmond Jefferies filed a claim on 30 acres (120,000 m) of land in what was known as East Omaha. This area was Omaha's first annexation, joining the city in 1854. The CB&Q railroad's East Omaha Land Company was first formed in 1887 to develop land for homes and industrial uses. The Company spent

1591-513: The southeast and east of Carter Lake directly corresponds with streets in Carter Lake, but due to smaller block sizes in the East Omaha neighborhood immediately to the north of Carter Lake, north–south streets intersecting East Fort Street do not perfectly match between 8th St. E and 15th St. E. (for example, 8th Street East in Omaha is directly north of North 10th Street in Carter Lake). East Omaha

1634-472: The turn of the 20th century the area was home to numerous businesses important to Omaha's growth, with early examples including a hominy mill and a plaster mill. The Carter White Lead Company built a large scale plant in East Omaha. On its north edge, East Omaha was home to the Beechwood community. In 1948 the Beechwood School District joined Omaha Public Schools , almost eliminating all traces of

1677-464: The west bank of the Missouri River. In 1877, flooding caused the river to jump its banks and shortened the main stream. The meander became an oxbow lake , and residents on both sides of the river now found themselves on the right bank, attached to Nebraska . The area was home to "East Omaha Island", the "Florence Lake", and a number of icehouses on Carter Lake, which was then called Cut-Off Lake. East Omaha once included all of Carter Lake, Iowa. Due to

1720-484: Was once the site of East Omaha Island. In the crux of Carter Drive is an unnamed sulphur spring, and located south of there is Hardwood Creek. East Omaha was once the location of Florence Lake, which dried up at some point in the 1920s. The portion of East Omaha that lies east of 1st Street (based on the Greater Omaha street numbering system) loosely uses the street numbering of Carter Lake, Iowa. Numbering of streets to

1763-463: Was replaced in 1926 by a large brick structure. Designed with eight classrooms and an auditorium, the building had a large playground and a basement. After several floods and the expansion of nearby Eppley Airfield , it was demolished in 1975 and students were sent to Sherman and North High. St. Therese School was a Catholic school opened by Ursuline Sisters at N. 14th and Fort in 1919. Serving neighborhood students in kindergarten through eighth grade,

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1806-753: Was suspected that OPS may file a suit challenging the new law, but they did not. Instead, on May 16, 2006 the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed a suit against the governor and other Nebraska state officials charging that LB 1024, originally proposed by state senator Ernie Chambers , "intentionally furthers racial segregation ." The NAACP lawsuit argues that because Omaha has racially segregated residential patterns, subdivided school districts will also be racially segregated, contrary to United States law . According to April 2006, information published by Associated Press ,

1849-519: Was the preferred site for the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition of 1897. The area considered was between Carter Lake on the south and Florence Lake on the north, which is now where Beechwood Trailer Courts are now located. Florence Lake Hotel was once on this site. A period newspaper account reported that, However, the East Omaha site ended up losing out to a site in North Omaha . At

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