Field Club - History

History

In its earlier years Field Club was a late 19th century suburb located at the southwest boundaries of Omaha. It was connected to the city center by the new trolley system which made it a convenient place to live for the well-to-do of the time. It was a highly desirable area, as it was plotted between two developed green sites. The first of these green areas, east of the neighborhood, was Hanscom Park, Omaha's first city park, which was founded in 1872. Hanscom Park was named for early Omaha attorney Andrew Jackson Hanscom, influential in the battle to secure Omaha as the territorial capital. He was a major donor of land that became that park. The second site, located on the west, was the Omaha Field Club. Founded in 1898, it was Omaha's first country club and golf course, and is the namesake of the neighborhood.

By the turn of the 20th century, many of Omaha's most noteworthy citizens had homes designed and built in the district by many prominent architects of the time. These beautiful, historic homes have been well preserved over the last 100 plus years. In the late 1990s a local historian named Edward J. Quinn began the research to get the neighborhood listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the support of the Field Club Homeowners League and the Nebraska State Historical Society. The Field Club Historic District was listed in 2000. For his work, in 2001 Mayor Fahey appointed Quinn to sit on the City of Omaha Landmarks Heritage Preservation Commission, and in 2007 Quinn was honored for his efforts by the Douglas County Historical Society. The research is posted on the district's website.

In 1941 the United States Amateur Championship for men's golf was held at the neighborhood's namesake golf club at Field Club. The Omaha Quartermaster Depot Historic District lies just outside of the neighborhood, to the east.