Near North Side, Omaha

The Near North Side of Omaha, Nebraska is the neighborhood immediately north of downtown. It forms the nucleus of the city's historic African-American community, and its name is often synonymous with the entire North Omaha area. Originally established immediately after Omaha was founded in 1854, the Near North Side was once confined to the area around Dodge Street and North 7th Street. Eventually, it gravitated west and north, and today it is bordered by Cuming Street on the south, 30th on the west, 16th on the east, and Locust Street to the north. Countless momentous events in Omaha's African American community happened in the Near North Side, including the 1865 establishment of the first Black church in Omaha, St. John's AME; the 1892 election of the first African American state legislator, Dr. Matthew Ricketts; the 1897 hiring of the first Black teacher in Omaha, Ms. Lucy Gamble, the 1910 Jack Johnson riots, the Omaha race riot of 1919 that almost demolished the neighborhood and many other events.

The vernacular term "North North Side" fell out of favor in Omaha in the 1970s when the Urban League of Nebraska insisted the media and politicians stop using it, as it was a synonym for white misconceptions of Black people in Omaha. Today, it is not used within the city anymore. Instead, several smaller areas within the old boundaries are identified as neighborhoods including the Long School neighborhood, the Concord Square neighborhood and the Conestoga Place neighborhood. The 24th and Lake Historic District and the Nicholas Street Historic District are both within the former boundaries of the Near North Side, as well.^[1]