I have to swallow hard to get my pride down and admit that after a recent venture north into Huskerland — more specifically to Omaha for a Newspaper Association Managers friend’s being honored by the placing of his “Face on the Barroom Floor” at the Omaha Press Club — I am impressed.
The honoree was Nebraska’s secretary of state for 24 years before taking the reins of the Nebraska Press Association in 1995 — the same year I moved to Montana to assume the same sort of position — and the audience which gathered last Friday night at the OPC included both of Nebraska’s U.S. Senators, a federal judge, the current and a former lieutenant governor, a couple of former commanders of the U.S.S. Nebraska nuclear submarine, the dean of the University of Nebraska College of Journalism and Mass Communications, our counterparts from the Oklahoma and South Dakota press associations, and too many local luminaries to mention. The whole deal was emceed by Pat Combs, the public address announcer for Nebraska’s home football and basketball games.
Needless to say, a good time was had by all — especially this Missouri Tiger who was admittedly hesitant to venture much north of Rock Port, much less all the way into the heart of the hinterland.
Boy, was I in for a surprise! A rude awakening that was just about 180 degrees from what I had encountered when I recently traveled to Detroit. There are people in the radio business here in Maryville who spout the merits of their beloved Big Red, and others I see occasionally at the best little donut shop in America. But I had no idea what I would find there on the banks of the Missouri River.
I had been through Omaha several times traveling up and down I-29 since the early 60s, when I used to attend the NCAA College World Series most every year. I had seen the Council Bluffs casinos on my way through, but I did not remember such a skyline jutting up from the historic west bank of the river.
According to the 2007 Census estimate, Omaha, founded in 1854, is the 42nd largest city in the United States with a population of 424,832, just two notches below Kansas City — and actually two miles closer, but with less four-lane highway to travel getting there. With its suburbs, Omaha ranks as the nation’s 60th metropolitan area with 838,000 people in the eight-county area. There are 1.2 million residents within a 50-mile radius.
The now non-existent Omaha Stockyards were once the world’s largest, and its meatpacking plants attained international prominence in surpassing Chicago’s. They are all but gone now, giving way to much more sophisticated, high-tech employment at the likes of Fortune 500 companies Berkshire Hathaway, headed by the legendary “Oracle of Omaha,” Warren Buffett, the richest person in the world as recently as 2008; Con-Agra Foods; Mutual of Omaha; Peter Kiewit and Sons, Inc., the worldwide engineering and construction company, and Union Pacific Corporation. That collection ranks Omaha No. 8 on USA Today’s list of cities with 500 companies — and for its number of billionaires. TD Ameritrade and three others are in Fortune’s second-500 listing. Leo A. Daly Co., HDR Inc., and DLR Group, three of the world’s top 30 architectural and engineering firms; The Gallop Organization, First Data and PayPal also call Omaha home. Six national fiber optic networks converge there.
The OPC is located atop the First National Bank of Omaha, the largest privately held bank in the United States. (The One First National Center, across the street, is the city’s tallest skyscraper at 632 feet. It replaced the Woodmen Tower in 2002.) And there is more on the way. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska brings a $98 million headquarters online in 2011, when the new 32-story WallStreet Tower Omaha opens too.
The Bob Kerry Pedestrian Bridge is the newest focal point of Omaha’s riverfront developments that include the first of two Riverfront Place Towers. The giant bronze statuary saluting Omaha’s varied industries is another highlight in the area near the ConAgra campus.
That, however, is not the most striking artwork in downtown. In at least three First National parks, impressive, larger-than-life sculptures simulating wild geese arising from the water (and “flying” through the atrium lobby of the One First National Center), a herd of bison moving along one street and into a quarter-block green space, and a stunning replica of pioneers traveling in wagons, on horseback and afoot. The adult figures are a good eight feet tall.
Historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium is slated to come down, giving way to a new venue that will be the perpetual home of the CWS and complimenting the striking Qwest Center Omaha, an ultramodern facility for athletic events, concerts and expositions.
Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo, with its new elevated transportation/viewing system, is a world-class attraction that has drawn more than 25 million visitors over the last 40 years.
Oh, yes, there is another significant installation at Omaha — Offutt Air Force Base, home of the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM). If any more is said about that, I could come under CIA investigation, so I won’t go there. Not this trip, anyway.
