Near North Side, Omaha

It forms the nucleus of the city's historic African-American community, and its name is often synonymous with the entire North Omaha area.

[2] The area grew throughout the last half of the 1800s as Omaha's suburb, with the first streetcars running up and down its main thoroughfares of 24th and 30th Streets.

Holy Family Catholic Church served successive congregations of German, Irish, Italian and Czech immigrants in the area.

[5] The Idlewild Pool Hall at 2307 North 24th Street in the heart of the neighborhood was the scene of the greatest loss of life.

The victims were crushed by falling debris or overcome by smoke from fires begun when wood stoves used for heating overturned.

The riot followed weeks of increasing tensions inflamed by local newspapers and vice boss Tom Dennsion.

Properties for rent and sale were restricted on the basis of race, with the primary intent of keeping North Omaha "black" and the rest of the city "white".

These agreements were held in place with redlining,[9] a system of segregated insuring and lending reinforced by the federal government.

[10] During the height of the Jazz Age, the Dreamland Ballroom was the highlight of what is widely regarded as Near North Omaha's golden years.

Wallace Thurman, widely considered one of the great writers of the Harlem Renaissance, grew up in the Near North Side, along with jazz saxophonist Preston Love, political leader George Wells Parker and military hero Alfonza W. Davis.

In April 1968, the National Guard quelled North Omaha riots that erupted after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

In the summer of 1969, riots broke out after a white Omaha police officer fatally shot a 14-year-old girl named Vivian Strong in the back, in the Logan Fontenelle Projects.

Research showed that the area experienced a 30 percent housing loss and major increase in crime following construction of the freeway, which broke up the neighborhood.

[15] This period of social activism was when another generation of leaders emerged, such as Ernie Chambers, Brenda Council and Rev.

[16] However, while the stadium plan went through, the Storm Chasers chose to pull out of the project, feeling that the capacity of 24,000 was too large for the team's needs.

The new TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, opened in 2011, will now be used primarily for the College World Series, and as the new home for Creighton's baseball program.