19th Century
In the late 19th century civil unrest in Omaha was chiefly related to labor disputes that arose with industrialization. During the 1880s and '90s, the Governor of Nebraska repeatedly sent in the state militia during labor disputes in the smelting, railroad and meatpacking house industries. In 1895 the American Protective Association threatened large-scale riots throughout the city after Nebraska state law forced a complete alteration of the police and fire boards in the city.
| Riots and civil unrest in Omaha in the 19th century chronological order | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Issue | Event | |||
| 1877 | Labor dispute | A railroad riot led to nearby military units coming forward to stop the events. The strikes were part of a nationwide series of strikes that were aimed at protesting the growing influence of railroad corporations in the U.S. Other similar events happened in St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri and Ogden, Utah. These events led General Phillip Sheridan to recommend the permanent stationing of a U.S. Army regiment in Omaha. Writing about the disturbances, Sheridan remarked, "There is no telling when greater trouble than the Indian difficulties on the plains may exist nearer home." | |||
| July 12, 1878 | Homelessness | A group of fifty homeless men forced their way onto a train near Neola, Iowa that was bound for Omaha. The conductor wired ahead and warned officials, who waited in Council Bluffs with an armed contingent of 200 to run the men out of town. 40 were arrested with warnings from the group that 200 were to follow the next day. | |||
| May 4, 1880 | Labor dispute | Hundreds of workers at the Omaha Smelting Works surround the plant on May 4, and go on strike. When more than 100 black men are brought in as strikebreakers the strikers intercede and offer to pay their fares back to their homes. The black workers reportedly accepted the offer, joining the white workers on the picket line until their transportation arrived. The strike continued until at least May 21. That day at least 700 men paraded with city leaders threatening the state militia. | |||
| March 9, 1882 | Labor dispute | The Camp Dump Strike pitted state militia against unionized strikers. Reportedly the first Omaha riot to receive national attention, on March 12 the Nebraska governor called in U.S. Army troops from Fort Omaha to protect strikebreakers at the Burlington Railroad. They brought along Gatling guns and a cannon for defense, and the event purportedly ended. | |||
| November 13, 1887 | Politics | A crowd of 200 gathered in the Sheelytown neighborhood of South Omaha and threatened the anarchists who hung an anarchist flag outside a building. As a larger crowd started gathering, police arrived and removed the flag without further incident. | |||
| August 2, 1891 | Labor dispute | A mob of 500 attacked the Omaha Granite and Smelting Works, later an ASARCO facility, damaging property and driving out workers. Police were reported powerless against the mob, and the mob was labeled drunk. | |||
| October 8, 1891 | Lynching | Joe Coe, also known as George Smith, a 50-year-old African-American railroad porter, was lynched by a mob after he was accused of raping a 14-year-old. Coe had an alibi and witnesses attesting to his innocence. Because he had been convicted of rape several years before in neighboring Council Bluffs, the mob decided he was guilty of this event. A crowd of 10,000 gathered for the lynching. | |||
| 1893 | Labor dispute | A strike by hundreds of butchers in South Omaha's packing houses was broken by the government bringing in six companies of militias and strikebreakers. | |||
| April 22, 1894 | Unemployment | Kelly's Army, an "industrial army" of 2000 homeless men, were traveling from California to Washington, D.C. to protest the continuing recession, the worst in the country's history to that point. They traveled through Omaha. Opposed to all government intervention, Kelly's Army was halted in Council Bluffs when a mob of Omaha supporters stopped a train bound for St. Louis, Missouri. The supporters wanted to commandeer the train for Kelly's Army to travel on, but were greeted by military forces from Fort Omaha. When the supporters first tried to get a train in Council Bluffs, they were thwarted by the railroads. They then crossed back over the Douglas Street Bridge and went to the Union Pacific Yards to get an engine and several cars. However, "General" Kelly would not accept the equipment as it was stolen. Soon Kelly's Army kept moving into Iowa on foot. | |||
| August 6, 1894 | Labor dispute | A general strike called on July 29 escalated when workers in the South Omaha meatpacking plants were replaced by strikebreakers. Widespread violence was reported against the imported laborers, and two companies of Nebraska state militia arrived on August 10 to ensure the physical safety of strikebreakers when protests became violent. After their arrival workers continued unabated. The strike was broken September 10. | |||
| March 12, 1895 | Racial tension | Fighting among Polish immigrants at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Omaha included clubs, fist fighting and a gunfight between a fake priest of the parish and parishioners who supported the local Bishop. When the Bishop took the side of the parishioners against the priest over ownership of the church, the case went to the U.S. Supreme Court. Upon hearing the Court's support of the Bishop, the dissident priest and his supporters burnt the building to the ground. The congregation disbanded and never reformed. | |||
| November 18, 1898 | Transportation | After the Trans-Mississippi Exposition many of the large streetcars employed to carry throngs of passengers were removed from service by the Omaha and Council Bluffs Railway and Bridge Company. In the face of increasingly uncomfortable crowding on the small cars, a large demonstration by a group of residents from the Walnut Hill suburb took over several streetcars in the city to protest. | |||
| February 5, 1899 | Legal process | Dozens of people were locked into the Vendome Hotel in Downtown Omaha during a smallpox outbreak that primarily afflicted guests. Several guests, mainly traveling businessmen, stirred to riot-like proportions when they were kept in the building after almost a week, claiming they were denied due process by being incarcerated against their wills. | |||
Read more about this topic: List Of Riots And Civil Unrest In Omaha, Nebraska
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