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Webster Telephone Exchange Building

1906 establishments in NebraskaAfrican-American history in Omaha, NebraskaBuildings and structures completed in 1906Culture of Omaha, NebraskaHistory of North Omaha, Nebraska
Landmarks in North Omaha, NebraskaNational Register of Historic Places in Omaha, NebraskaTelecommunications buildings on the National Register of Historic PlacesTelephone exchange buildingsThomas Rogers Kimball buildings
Webster Telephone Exchange Afro American Museum, North Omaha
Webster Telephone Exchange Afro American Museum, North Omaha

The Webster Telephone Exchange Building is located in North Omaha, Nebraska. It was designed by the well-known Omaha architect Thomas Rogers Kimball. After the Easter Sunday Tornado of 1913, the building was used as the center of recovery operations. In 1933, American Bell donated the building to the Omaha Urban League (now the Urban League of Nebraska). The 33-room building is closely associated with Omaha's black history, serving as a home to Omaha's Urban League and its leader Whitney Young. In 1976 it was converted for use as the Great Plains Black History Museum. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and also designated a landmark by the City of Omaha.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Webster Telephone Exchange Building (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Webster Telephone Exchange Building
Lake Street, Omaha

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Wikipedia: Webster Telephone Exchange BuildingContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 41.281252777778 ° E -95.945430555556 °
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Address

Omaha Business & Technology Center

Lake Street
68111 Omaha
Nebraska, United States
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Webster Telephone Exchange Afro American Museum, North Omaha
Webster Telephone Exchange Afro American Museum, North Omaha
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Carver Savings and Loan Association

The Carver Savings and Loan Association (Carver S&L) opened in 1944 as the first African-American financial institution in Omaha, Nebraska. Located at 2416 Lake Street next to the historic North 24th Street corridor, it was in the heart of the Near North Omaha neighborhood, and Omaha's African-American business district.In the 1950s, Whitney Young, then head of Omaha's Urban League, worked with the Carver S&L to create a special lending program for prospective African-American home buyers. It was designed to fight the city's segregationist red lining practices, by which banks restricted loans in neighborhoods they thought to be less successful. These policies disproportionately afftected neighborhoods that housed minority/immigrant communities, making it difficult for their residents to take out a loan. Through the Carter S&L program, Omaha's black families were able to buy more homes within three years than they have previously bought in the last decade by using other banks in the city.The former building that housed Carter S&L is noted as important to the history of the neighborhood and to Omaha's African-American history. In 2012, the building became the cornerstone of plans for a redevelopment project to create an arts district on the North 24th Street corridor.The former bank building is being renovated by the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Theaster Gates, and the Rebuild Foundation to be used and operated as an art gallery. Students from Omaha North High School and the University of Nebraska-Omaha have contributed volunteer hours to rehabilitate the area.