Transcripts For CSPAN3 American History TV In Omaha Nebraska 20240622

, that tour will begin at 2 00 p. M. , or trustees may have a Board Meeting at its 00 p. M. And were those of you with tickets at 3 00 p. M. Thank you very much for attending. Lady hale, thank you very much. [applause] you are watching American History tv. 48 hours of American History tv programming on cspan3. Follow us on twitter for a schedule of upcoming programs and to keep up with the latest history news. Welcome to omaha on American History tv. Founded in 1854 by speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, iowa this city on the banks of the Missouri River became a terminus for the Transcontinental Railroad, helping spur the towns growth in its early days. With a population over 400,000 today omaha is nebraskas largest cities. With the help of our cox Cable Partners, we will explore the history of this midwestern city. Coming up, here about omahas military history. The air force base was once a home to the Strategic Air command during the cold war. The might and strength of the air command and control the atomic weapons at that time, the bombers, was moved to omaha and makes omaha a natural a national site, and i guess on the National Psyche of the cold war. Leader here how the stockyards help them take control of the market. Though the stockyards are not there any longer, they created a population boom. South omaha was basically the stockyards. It was incorporated in 18 it 84 in 1884. It was called the magic city, because people thought it bloomed overnight. First though, we will look at the Union Railroad station. It tells the story of the once thriving Railroad Industry in omaha. We are standing in the main waiting room of Union Station here in a mock omaha, nebraska. It was the second station built by Union Pacific. The architect, Gilbert Stanley underwood, wanted to make a statement about what the railroad was. To him, it was strength, masculine, impermanence. That is what he wanted this building to embody. Omaha really started out as a frontier town, typical frontier town. Actually, the citizens from Council Bluffs decided they wanted to found a city on this side of the river. Everybody knew that there was going to be a Transcontinental Railroad area they just did not know where. They came through and said, we have a better chance of having this railroad if we have a city on the other side of the railroad if we already have this built. Delta bluffs did not think that omaha would get bigger then Council Bluffs. That was the founding city. Union pacific is one of the premier Railroad Companies of america. It was founded in 1862 with the Pacific Railroad act signed by abraham lincoln. It permitted several Railroad Companies to make Union Pacific and they were charged to build the railroad. They started here and they met up in utah. And that is really what propels us even farther. We become that point of moving west. A gateway to the west. This facility came about, the second Union Station to help the rail travel, all of the passengers coming through omaha. So, they needed a new, modern station. It was a brandnew, art deco building, different style. The first one was neoclassical. Art deco was in vogue in 1931. They decided to raise the old one to the ground, build a new one and showed the nation that omaha is the height of architecture. The height of rail travel was during world war ii, 1936. That brought 64 trains, coming and going. It was just a home of activity. What you would have seen was people coming and going and then dead silence. You would witness the next influx of people coming and going and you would have these great moms of activity and then dead calm, and then it would pick up again. That would be the norm for a typical afternoon at Union Station. We preserve the great hall as it would have been in 1931. Inches are what you would have benches are what you would have set on. The ticket window is the original ticket window. The layout is the same, the artwork, the window, all of that is original to the building. It has been kept in its original state and we have restored it to what it would look like some people can see the grandeur of the station that was built. So, they would first go to the ticket counter, purchased their ticket for where they were going and they would put their bags at the counter. The red caps were ushers helping people to an from the train, taking bags, making sure that people got where they need to go. And after you purchase your ticket, you had time usually to enjoy the amenities of the station. Union pacific made sure that there was a lot new. They had a restaurant. There was a sitdown restaurant that had table linens, china and then they had more of an all a card lunch counter for people to do a little bit of a meal. For people who wanted a quick suite treats, sweet treat they could go to the counter. We still have those, the best malts and down. There you could get your sweet treat. There was a uso canteen that took up pretty much the whole fourth floor, which is our Administrative Offices today that was set aside for servicemen and women coming to the station. If you were waiting to catch a cab somewhere, as a traveler they took care of you and made sure you could get everything that you needed at the station. Right now we are on the lower level. And where we are standing is what passengers would have walked through to get on their train. You would have baggage cars, porters, passengers running to and from, so there would be really cramped coat cramped quarters. This was open. It was closed in the 1990s. This overhang would have been your only protection from the cold or the heat or the rain and that would have let you get on the train or travel down the concourse. Here on track one, we have three passenger cars and those allow people to walk through, get an idea of what it was like to travel on the railroad, see what these sleeping conditions were like. We are inside the southern pacific lounge car. This was the 1960s, mid 1950s. This is the type of car you would have come to to get some recreation while you were writing on the train. There are benches and chairs, things like that, just to give people an idea of what it would have been like traveling on the train and then the older visitors, sometimes they have memories of writing on trains. Its really one of those touch points where theres an opportunity for conversations between generations. This car was a pullman sleeper car and the would have been open seating on this car. These lowser berths actually fold. This becomes the lower bunk. The porter would come along with a key, open it and that becomes your upper birth, and it would have had a curtain across and some did not have the restraints like a net, so you would not feel like you would fall out. This was a lower price point than some of the others that are more of the individual rooms in the rest of the car. This also had a public bathroom. You had in on one side, women on the other. Its a little bit of cramped quarters, but it was the way to travel back in the day. This is still in the pullman car, but these are the individual cabins you would have been able to purchase instead of sitting out in the public area. These were little more expensive. You still have the berths that would have folded out to keep unp review could individually called the porter with the little button on the wall. Say you wanted to have your shoes shined. You could put them in the locker call the porter, and he would use this door, pop it open, pull your shoes out, get them polished, and put them back and he would never have to disturb you. It was very luxurious in that way that you can have things done without being disturbed. They ranged to have amtrak take the Passenger Service from the other railroads. Theyve been losing money due to the rise of the automobile and the rise of the plane as ways to travel faster, farther, more independently. So, that started to decline after world war ii. They could do their own thing. So, with that, with the amtrak legislation, all of the passengers stopped and the last train came out of Union Station at 2 00 a. M. And that was the end of an era. The station was closed. For the last 40 years it never closed its doors. It was a 24 hour operation. They did not even have a lock. They had to call a locksmith. They had never needed to close the doors. It was an end of that era, and that is when omaha banded together to make sure that the building was not lost, its legacy was not destroyed. And that is where the museum comes into place comes into play. Union pacific is still a huge railroad, and they do a lot freight back and forth. They are one of the Largest Companies in omaha. The Passengers Service may have ended, but their service to the community is still going strong. When you walk into the building, it is definitely inspiring. I love to look up and see this building. I think for visitors, we hope that they leave with an appreciation of not only what Union Pacific did for this community, but also the history and the people who built omaha over the years. All weekend, American History tv is joining with our Cox Communications Cable Partners to bring you the history of omaha, nebraska. We continue now with our look at the history of omaha. This is American History tv on cspan3. The Union Station operated and so 1971. The last train left out of here on may 2, and then sat vacant for two years and Union Pacific gifted it to the city to become a museum. We made the station our home. This exhibit focuses on omaha livestock. A very important industry for omaha as a city and eventually for omaha as a whole area Cattle Marketing centers are strategically located. These holding pens have handed more than 100 million cattle and here is our livestock trade, right on schedule, Early Morning arrival. The livestock industry begins as a fattening station basically. A place for cattle to get said, a feeding station to get fed a feeding station, before they are sent to a stockyard to get slaughtered. They started what we call the union stockyards. And that became this industry here. We have eight omaha city leaders to purchase just shy of 2000 acres of land and devoted 250 of those acres to the livestock pens and Exchange Building things like that. They started off in 1884. Omaha had the railroad and we definitely wanted to have the stockyards start here and utilize that going through to quickly move cattle and animals to slaughterhouses like chicago, for example. But having our own here proved very profitable. By the turn of the century, we had 26,000 people in the city of south are omaha south omaha had 29,000 people and this was only four miles from omaha. They grew together, and omaha annexed the city of south omaha and it was all one city at that point. It was called porkopolis. By the 1950s the stockyards employed triggered 52 400 people and would three to 52 ford are people. We had all kinds of industry associated with the stockyards that literally seem to bloom overnight. So that is the magic city. We had a lot of immigrants groups coming german, irish czech, pole everyone was coming here to work. It was a good living. You had everything you needed. They made sure that there were amenities and south omaha, and pretty much, you would work in the stockyards in some capacity. We had about 20,000 animals a day at the height. Each different type of animal, hogs cattle, sheep, they are the only ones that were processing meat. They were built in the 1890s and they were becoming out updates. Then the industry takes a different turn. The stockyards are unfortunately, not there. The only piece that is still prevalent is the it was pretty much a mini city when it was conceived. It had everything from barbershops to ballrooms. It was a onestop shop for south omaha and premuch anything you needed to do at the Stockyard Exchange would have been there. It is now a retail space and there are still proms in the ballroom for a local hospital. That is pretty much the only thing that is left in south omaha. The beef industry is still going strong. We have companies that ship meat to it from around the world. You still want to get an omaha steak. Things like that are still very prevalent. All weekend long, American History tv is featuring omaha nebraska. The martin bomber plant just outside omaha produced the b29 bombers the enola gay and boxcar. Those two planes dropped atomic bombs on hiroshima and not a sake during nagasaki during world war ii. Cspan cities tour staff recently visited many sites exploring omahas rich is free. Learn more all weekend here on American History tv. Port omaha was established in the 1870s. It was established all of the indian wars in this region were directed from here and it would have been instrumental in even little bighorn, toward the end of that. The cheyenne outbreak. I am at the general william crook house museum. It was named for general crook. The house is named after him because he was the first general who lived in the home. He started in 18s heavenly he started in 1870 and finished in 1889. The house is celebrating its 136 anniversary this year. When they deemed it was going to be a permanent for, part of the world was they would start to build the homes the buildings would be brick rather than wooden structures. This was the first brick structure built on the fort, and after that they were built along the same type of victorian italianate style. One of the things the fort is known for is Standing Bear during the Standing Bear trial he was held here at the fort. Hugh Standing Bear was from a small trial, north of where we are now. They had been there for generations. During a treaty that the americans actually more with these sioux, their homeland was given away by mistake and they were forced to move to oklahoma. And the original promise was, if you like it, we know you will like it, but if you like it, you go down there, that if you dont like it, you can come back, of course. They got down there and hated it. It was hot. The land was foreign to what they reuse to. They said, we want to go back. They said, you cant. Eventually the whole tribe made it to oklahoma indian territory of the time, what is oklahoma now. Many died along the way. In fact, one of Standing Bears daughters died. Shortly after they were there, his son passed away and it was his sons dying wish that he the buried in the land of his father, so his father with a small group traveled mostly by night on foot, made all the way up to north of where we are now in fort omaha to the reservations north of where we are now and it was there that they were finally caught by the army and the army demanded that theyd be sent back to oklahoma, and this is where general crook enters the picture. General crook served in the civil war. He was captured just before the end of the war. He really made his fame in the indian wars. He fought against iran amount, he fought against crazy horse at the velvet rosebud. Over time, he actually started his career in the pacific northwest, so he fought over several decades. And over time, he became sympathetic to the native americans and started to ensure as much as possible the treaties made were actually honored. He was interested in native american culture. He was interested in their history, their religion. Over time, i think he became interested in them and did not think of them as less than human, as his contemporaries did. I know it sounds ridiculous. I think he saw they had families who love their children, love their husbands and wives, and he felt that they were treated very poorly. He wanted to do what they could to make sure they were treated honorably. He took them to oklahoma with no delay. He felt that this was an injustice. He recruited a friend of his working for the omaha herald at the time and said, this is the story, told the story and said, i want you to rally support and i want you to sue me. The end result was, a trial was held to determine whether he would move back to oklahoma. What happened was, the 14th amendment had been passed not 2,too, too long before this. They had a couple lawyers webster and poppleton, to be Standing Bear for a lawyer. And they said they would use the 14th amendment. Native americans as strange as it sounds to us, were not considered persons under the law. They had to get the idea that native americans were persons and had certain rights, that the upshot of the trial was, the judge decided that he was a person under the law and had certain rights and could not be moved. The irony, of course, if this had held true for native americans all over the country all of these people on reservations would have been able to go back where they came from. There would have been mass chaos, so done the limited the ruling to Standing Bear and his 20 or so followers. They use the weapons that were available to them. They had never been a warlike people anyway. And the only really i think the reason it worked was because they use the white mans own weapons against him. They used the rule of law against him. If the white man word to refute their own law, it would have been almost is selfinflicted is selfinflicted wound. The work of webster and popple ton to use the white mans rules to get justice for the red man. After this thunder through the courts, as some would say Standing Bear and his interpreter, a woman her indian name was bright eyes along with a colleague who later married bright eyes the traveled across the country and it was a fundraiser, really. They would speak. They would charge admission. They would raise money to try to hire lawyers to make this decision affect a lot more than just a small group it affected. To try to change laws for native american rights. There were several the poet longfellow became a follower and a sympathizer. And in fact in his famous poem hiawatha, so the end result, again or ironically, one of the end results was that it was well intentioned, he was a senator who created this bill, but what it did was it was intended to provide censorship for native americans. Each native american would be given 160 acres. They would eventually citizenship for native americans. Its native american would be given 160 acres. They would eventually begin and citizenship. There were some parcels that were not claimed and white settlers came in and took those, or they would buy the 160 acres from the native americans from a very reduced price, and the reservations were gutted because of the act. While the intention might have been good, the result was horrific, it was disastrous. Just another further irony of this attempt to gain equal rights for native americans was misused and abused and resulted in perpetuation of their inferior status as opposed to what it was intended to do. People go back and look and say that this was incredible to do that the court went and said that a native american was a person. We look back at we go, how could that be . How could people not see this . Yet, there was also an error made in such a significant ruling that changed anything in saying it that it was such a significant ruling that changed everything, but it didnt. Native americans finally gained this in 1924. White males had it first, it was followed by africanamerican males, then it was finally white and it was finally women, and finally it was native americans. All weekend, American History tv is featuring the city of omaha, nebraska. Gerald ford was born in omaha, nebraska in 1913. Ford became president following the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974. Cspan it recently visited the city showcasing their history. Learn more on American History tv. In the late 1890s, omaha is deciding to show its health to being more than a front tier town front tier town. It is going to be the Transmississippi International Exposition that is going to be happening in omaha from june 1 until october 31st of 1898. This is omahas ability to unveil itself and to say, we have no we have arrived, we are no longer a backwater. We are able to showcase the invention of the western region. We have a very large exhibit dedicated to the transmiss, and it shows the kinds of dignitaries that represent a countries that were coming to visit and some of the souvenirs you would find. There is a model of the grand court. You get a feel of what it would be like to be in omaha at that time. As for artifacts, there are things that were entered, and so some of those things are on display as well, so in really just gives a flavor of what it would like to be there in that point in time. This was really conceived by the Business Leaders of omaha. This was greeted by a organism by an Organization Called aksarben, which was nebraska spelled backwards. The majority of the fundraising was done by orden wattles another prominent omaha businessman, and he was the king of aksarben, and omaha has the distinction of being the only an only exposition to be opened on time and under budget. Most of them were opened late and over budget, so omaha has the distinction of doing it on time doing it right, and knowing how much exactly it was going to cost. We are excited the transmississippi exposition here in omaha. This is a model of the grand court at the exposition to be at this is sort of the main area where the Commission Buildings for the new inventions that were brought to omaha would be showcased to the world and were exhibited. 2 Million People came to this over the course of the exposition and all of them would have wanted to be inside these exposition buildings, talk to people, it was sort of the tv and radio before there were tv and radios was tvs and radios. The exposition also wanted to have electric lights, and for some people, this was the first time they had seen electricity. So in these buildings the ones around the lagoon, these are some of the first buildings that had electric lights. It would be illuminated every night, and people were afraid that they would be able to explode and that people would be injured when they turned the switches on. So people wanted to see it but they also wanted to be a little bit away from it as well. The buildings of for the transmiss were only intended for the transmiss, they were not intended to be permanent fixtures in omaha. This is a reconstruction of the buildings. They were made out of lumber frames and covered over to get that wonderful white look over that and it was a mix of cement, horsehair, and plaster. On the interior, it was just open lumber, and the exhibitors would be in the halls and it was just wide open buildings. They served their purpose and than they were taken down. They were not designed to withstand the nebraska winters. After the buildings were demolished, all of the pieces were put into the lagoon and covered over in what was made to become a the park that now exists. Sometimes when there is a rainstorm, some of those pieces come back up, so some of these pieces can be found on ebay. This would have been in the ground court grand court. One of the main pieces in the exposition was the grand jubilee week, and that was celebrating the end of the spanishamerican war. This was a culmination of that week here and omaha. And here is some information here that commemorates William Mckinleys visit and the invitation letter. And another thing to happen here at the exposition was the indian congress. This is not a typical thing that would have happened. Edward rosewater, who was the editor of the omaha daily bee, wanted to petition the government to have an opportunity for the tribes to come together for an ethnographic study. They could see the tribes in their native dress, in their native homes, doing their daily lives, and there would be more of an educational piece. After they got approval for it, and the villages were set up, according to tribes, they had over 35 tribes participate, and they lived in their traditional homes, but people really wanted to see things like war reenactment and dances and things like that, not just People Living their daily lives. So it did really become more of a show like war dances or the ghost dance or things like that, which during this time period, this was a little touchy, because this had just happened during the situation near wounded knee and people were worried about how it would be received, but that is what the people wanted to see when they came to these tribes came to see these tribes. The famous apache leader geronimo was here, but he was a prisoner of war at the time, so they had geronimo with general nelson, miles, and president mckinley, who are his captors all here in omaha at the same time. It is a unique thing for the omaha exposition, but it is a little sad. For the western parts of the nation, we are looking at this perception that the west is still wild and it is untamed so to attract people to new york city to grow your population, you have to show that you have some amenities that they want so instead want, so instead of having the exposition here, you want to show that omaha is a place to live in a place that has something to offer. This would help businesses that were already here, and so that is why they were beating out places like denver sacramento, and this is why it was so coveted, because you would actually be on the world stage. People would actually be talking about omaha worldwide and you would basically be on the map, basically. All weekend American History tv is featuring omaha, nebraska. In 1955, omaha became the nations largest meatpacking center, surpassing chicago. Cspans city two hours ci ties tours staff visited omaha. Learn more on American History tv. We are in the command post of the Strategic Air command in omaha, nebraska. In this location some for stories underground the activities are controlled every hour of every day. The controllers who man this facility communicate with the president through the joint chiefs of staff and commanders of the air command. They get the strongest and most military most ready military forces ever conceived. Here at the air force museum, our mission is to commemorate the history and heritage of the Strategic Air command and its legacy going back into world war ii but also to inspire and to educate our community and the next generation about space, science, technology, engineering, and math. The engineering history goes all the way back into the late 1800s as calvary cavalry and the u. S. Army developed an outpost. This was for the aggressions by the native americans and to protect the pioneers as you had different trails headed west. It then developed into a Training Facility in the early 1900s, and the field of their was renamed off it field offett field, who was an aviator who died in world war i. This went all the way up into the 1930s and going into the 1940s, when you then have a big leap into the military support and military activity. The support is held by the bomber plant out at fort crook. The secretary of war had deemed for new plans that needed to be built on the interior, and this is to prevent military palming and sabotage, and the u. S. Government thats government suspected there was a good chance of attack. In september of 1940 the company was commissioned to build the plant specifically at the field for crook. By 1942, the plant was in full production. That production continued with the b26. The plant built over 1500 of these mediasized bombers to help contribute to the war effort and in all theaters of the war. It was after that that the Production Assembly of the b29 was put into place. How this fits into war history is that the b29 became the iconic bomber of the war in the pacific. Designed to carry more destruction and carry entire amounts faster and farther than ever before, this flies right into the heart of japan. Those particular airplanes were manufactured at the martin nebraska bomber plant where colonel tibbetts actually personally came and chose his bomber that would eventually be named the enola gay after his mother and to become the first b29 aircraft bomber that would drop the first atomic bomb. To tell you a little bit about our b29, it was produced actually in wichita, kansas, and did not get to see action in world war ii. It was manufactured in 1945 but was delivered to the Army Air Force and at the time was used primarily for training. It was used to train navigator and Radar Systems and also used to pilot drones for targeting. When it was dropped in 1959 from the air force inventory, it was then transferred to, at the time, the sac museum for the air force base. The role that it played in going from world war ii going into the cold war, which many historians will tell you overlap each other , going back to the pot stamm conference pot stamm conference potsdam conference, there were feelings caught up in that. How omaha falls into this history going to the martin bomber plant and the testing of aircraft at the field to then becoming a National Air Force base in 1947. With that Strategic Air command, which was put up in 1946, it was looking for a new home. They were placed in control of the strategic bombers and primarily the atomic bombs. It was a big challenge. Should we have to launch an atomic attack somewhere, we have to obtain the bombs from one Government Agency and transfer them over to a command. So i mentioned the department of defense and is just eject and the Strategic Air Traffic Control controlled all of that. They ventured into greater weapons and ultimately pursued Ballistic Missiles and controlled all Nuclear Weapons and became the Nuclear Deterrent of the cold war. In addition to the b29 here at the museum we have a variety of aircraft that range from world war ii all the way up to the end of the cold war. He had a b52 we have a beb 52, and we have one of the first intercontinental bombers that could fly to the United States and to the from the United States to the soviet union and back. And this aircraft mirrors the control that some of the Strategic Air command had over all Nuclear Weapons should headquarters be taken out from 1961 taken out. From 96 to one1990, we happen to control all of the aircraft the flu the mission. We have them here mainly for preserving the error and the history of all of those people who were a part of that. All weekend American History tv is featuring omaha, nebraska, the starting point of the union Pacific Railroad and the Transcontinental Railroad. Union pacific, along with the central Pacific Railroad were tasked with the root of creating a railroad to california. It was created in 1869. Our Cox Communication partners recently traveled with their cspan cities tour group to bring you this information. It is all week on American History tv. This is the gerald r. Ford birth site and gardens. He was born here, but when he was born here, he was born as leslie king. He was born july 14 1913, and stayed in omaha for about two weeks. Gerald fords mother and father didnt really get along. And this was evident from the beginning, apparently, and so they separated. They moved from here to around the chicago area and then to michigan. He took his adopted fathers name, gerald r. Ford, and thats how we know him today. I think it is very interesting that someone from a singleparent family was able to go on to be president of the United States. This was a vacant lot when gerald ford became president. Fellow republican and Community Supporter of omaha james m. Pax ton saw this site as nothing more than a weedy lot and cannot see it as something befitting of a president. He decided to make something of this corner lot. Well, i am one of the Landscape Architects a part of the team that developed the winning Design Competition for the birth site gardens right here. And to start with, there was a student Design Competition with the university of nebraska at lincoln for the architectural students and they developed the design for the birth site here where we are standing, and here are the garden walls and the pattern of the foundation of the home, so these would be the front stairs coming up to the home. You can imagine sitting on the porch out here overlooking the park and our task as Landscape Architects would be to show president ford going from his birthplace to his place in the white house. So that is the second half of this project. President ford visited the garden several times, but the most memorable time for me was the dedication of the Betty Ford Rose garden in 1980. We are standing in the north half of the garden, and this was the part of the design and they asked the bird they asked the participants to continue to participate in, and the president ial colonnade here is modeled after the portico from the white house. Visiting a day with president ford, we walked up to the central plaque commemorating his presidency here. There is a quotation of his inaugural speech included in the plaque. And the bronze plaque piece is from the department of the treasury, and we call this the colonnade because it has a list of all the president s past and present here. He was telling me about the museum in michigan and he was wanting to have at that time more connection to his birthplace, but it was just fun to stand there with him and to talk about the things that he saw here and the things that he would like to see in michigan as well as that connection between his birthplace and where he grew up. We are located at the interpretive gazebo. This design of this gazebo is representative of a high portion or a tower of the home. Each one of these windows here show a little segment of president fords life. The next window around covers some of his presidency. It shows things that were important to him during his administration. The window directly behind me is dedicated to betty ford. This particular one we are standing in front of shows present ford as an athlete. He loved golf and skiing. We asked a have some of his golf clubs that were donated here. Now were standing in the Betty Ford Rose garden. This was a plan that was developed in 19791980. It was originally thought that once the project got started the birth site got started, mr. Paxton started securing property to the west, which became the rose garden here. Our design allowed for a passageway and then ultimately this arbor and then what we call the governors circle where we talk about the history of nebraska and all of the territorial and state governors are listed here