Early Omaha: Gateway to the West
Collections	Exhibits	Street Map	Search	FAQs	Early Omaha Home

FARNAM, 1866

This image is looking east down Farnam Street toward the Missouri River from 18th Street from near where the present Woodman building and Douglas County Court House now stand. It was early Omaha’s main street and was named in honor of Henry Farnam, a civil engineer who started his career on the Erie Canal, lived in New York and later in New Haven, Connecticut. He became interested in railroads and was a promoter of the Rock Island Road which extended from Rock Island across Iowa.

The small church on the north side of Farnam is First Congregational, located on the west side of 16th Street between Farnam and Douglas Streets. The Douglas County Court House is the large building on Farnam between 15th & 16th Street with the white fence, first occupied in 1858.

The Streets of Omaha: Their Origins and Changes. Omaha, Nebraska: Omaha Public Library, 1997.