What was built
- Established or development period
- 1880s–1919
- Peak period
- 1920s–1950s
- Who built the community
- Black packinghouse and railroad workers and Great Migration families on the Near North Side.
- Black population
- Roughly 10,000 Black residents by 1920.
- Businesses
- Black-owned businesses along North 24th Street.
- Financial institutions
- Not yet documented
- Churches
- St. John's A.M.E. and other congregations.
- Schools
- Not yet documented
- Hospitals
- Not yet documented
- Newspapers
- The Omaha Monitor and later the Omaha Star.
- Entertainment & cultural institutions
- Not yet documented
- Other community institutions
- Not yet documented
- Black land & property ownership
- Black home ownership concentrated on the Near North Side by restrictive practice.
- Economic significance
- A Black workforce central to Omaha's stockyards and packing industry.
What happened
- What happened?
- On September 28, 1919, a white mob of thousands stormed the Douglas County Courthouse, lynched Will Brown, burned the courthouse and nearly lynched the mayor. Federal troops occupied the city; Black residents were terrorized and confined to the Near North Side.
- Trigger or precipitating event
- An accusation of assault against Will Brown, a Black packinghouse worker.
- Underlying historical context
- Machine politics, inflammatory local press, labor conflict in the packinghouses and Red Summer violence.
- Method of destruction / displacement
- Mob Violence · Lynching · Arson
- Date or period of destruction
- September 28, 1919
- Confirmed / documented deaths
- 3 deaths, including the lynching of Will Brown.
- Estimated deaths
- Not yet documented
- People displaced
- Not yet documented
- Homes destroyed
- Not yet documented
- Businesses destroyed
- Not yet documented
- Acres or property lost
- Not yet documented
Afterward
- What happened to the land?
- Black settlement was further confined to the Near North Side by redlining and covenants.
- Was compensation paid?
- None.
- Was the community rebuilt?
- Yes: North 24th Street became a thriving Black commercial corridor into the 1950s.
- What was rebuilt?
- Not yet documented
- Destroyed or displaced again?
- Yes
- Second displacement date
- 1960s–1970s
- Second displacement cause
- Construction of the North Freeway and urban renewal that cut through and depopulated the Near North Side.
- What exists there today?
- The Will Brown memorial marker, the Great Plains Black History Museum and a partially rebuilt North 24th Street corridor.
- Descendant, reparation & restoration efforts
- A 2019 centennial marker at the lynching site and community commemoration.
- Historical significance
- A Red Summer lynching that destroyed a county courthouse and shaped a century of segregation in Omaha.
Destroyed / displaced again
This community experienced a second documented episode of destruction or displacement: Construction of the North Freeway and urban renewal that cut through and depopulated the Near North Side. (1960s–1970s).
Sources
- Source lookupFind
Nebraska State Historical Society / History Nebraska collections
- Source lookupFind
Orville D. Menard, 'Lest We Forget: The Lynching of Will Brown,' Nebraska History (2010)
- Primary recordFind
Library of Congress, Chronicling America: 1919 Omaha newspapers
"Find" opens a focused search for legacy references that do not have a stable link; "Open" goes directly to the source.
Last verified: 2026-09-20. This is a living historical collection. Additional communities and documentation will be added as research and verification continue.