Welcome To Omaha SAFeDATA

In 2007, the Nebraska Legislature approved a plan to create a learning community for Omaha-area school districts with a central administrative board.

The city grew on the Missouri River, with the first settlement extending from the Lone Tree Ferry crossing from Kanesville, Iowa in the early 1850s. The beginning of the city included the vigilante Omaha Claim Club, as well as early leaders of the Nebraska Territory, of which Omaha was the capital until 1867.

At the turn of the century Omaha was known as a "wide-open" city, meaning that anything went, particularly under the administration of Mayor "Cowboy Jim" Dahlman and political boss Tom Dennison from the late 1900s through the 1920s. After rapid increase in immigrants and the doubling of African US populus between 1910 and 1920, the city`s social and racial tensions erupted in the lynching of Willy Brown in 1919. Continued problems with discrimination led to the development of a strong civil rights movement.

Today Omaha has a rich cultural background, including the Joslyn Art Museum, the Durham Western Heritage Museum, the Holland Performing Arts Center, and the Omaha Community Playhouse. The city boasts headquarters for such companies as Berkshire Hathaway, Union Pacific, Valmont Industries, and Conagra. In 2001 Newsweek identified the city as one of the Top 10 high-tech havens, showing how much the local economy had changed. Music in Omaha has always been important to the city, with North Omaha`s music scene being historically important and in modern times, the "Omaha Sound", defining an important trend across the nation.

The city`s historical and cultural attractions have been lauded by numerous national newspapers, including the Boston Globe and the New York Times.

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) N of existing 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.