Early Omaha: Gateway to the West
Early Omaha: Gateway to the West |
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Collections | Exhibits | Street Map | Search | FAQs | Early Omaha Home |
The Omaha Smelting Works was one of the first businesses established in the city. It was located along the western bank of the Missouri River just north of the downtown area. This 1890’s photograph is of the smelting works looking north-northeast. OSW opened on October 15, 1870. Ten years later, they were the largest smelting works in the United States employing up to 250 men. The company used 1200 tons of coal per month to process raw ore into lead and precious metals. In August 1882, the Grant Smelting Co. of Denver, Colorado, merged with the Omaha Smelting Works forming the Omaha & Grant Smelting & Refining Company.
Text written by Lynn Sullivan, October 2003