Florence Nebraska

Former town, now part of Omaha · Douglas County · incorporated 1857; annexed by Omaha 1917

About Florence

Florence is a neighborhood on the Missouri River bluffs at the north end of Omaha, about 6 miles north of downtown, with N. 30th St. (US 75) as its main street. It was a town of its own from 1854 until Omaha annexed it in 1917, and it stands on the site of Winter Quarters, the Latter-day Saint camp of 1846–48.

History

Latter-day Saints driven from Nauvoo, Illinois, crossed the Missouri in 1846 and built Winter Quarters here under Brigham Young. It sheltered 3,000 to 4,000 people; more than 600 died in 1846–47, about half of them children. The companies left for the Salt Lake Valley in 1847–48. James C. Mitchell visited the empty site in 1853, and the Florence Land Company had it platted in the fall of 1854 into 270 blocks. Mitchell named the town for Florence Kilbourn, described as his wife's niece or his adopted daughter. By January 1857 Florence had about 100 houses, four stores, a hotel, a bank and the Courier newspaper, and it incorporated that year.

The Panic of 1857 ended the boom, the Bank of Florence failed in 1859, and Omaha pulled ahead; Florence had fewer than 200 people in 1882 and about 600 in 1890, when it held the water works that supplied Omaha. The Chicago & North Western ran through on its Omaha–Sioux City line. Omaha annexed Florence in 1917 without a vote, and the post office (Winter Quarters in 1854–55, then Florence) closed in 1918. The Mormon Bridge opened to Iowa in 1952–53 and has carried I-680 since 1977. Florence Boulevard and Fontenelle Boulevard were listed on the National Register in 2013. Florence Days continues each May (May 16–17 in 2026), though its long-running parade was ended in 2026.

Things to see

Mormon Trail Center at Historic Winter Quarters, 3215 State St. (Monday–Saturday 10–5, Sunday 1–5) · Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, 3301 State St., with 359 recorded pioneer burials and Avard Fairbanks' bronze "Tragedy of Winter Quarters" (1936) · the Winter Quarters Nebraska Temple (2001) · Florence Mill, 9102 N. 30th St.: the mill the Saints began in 1846, rebuilt in 1856 and run by the Weber family from about 1860 (National Register), now a museum and art gallery with a summer farmers market · Bank of Florence and Florence Depot museums: the 1856 bank, 8502 N. 30th St. (National Register), and the 1887–88 depot, 9000 N. 30th St. (Memorial Day–Labor Day, Friday–Saturday 1–5) · the Florence Firehouse (1888), the Keirle House and the Mormon Bridge Tollhouse · Zesto, 8608 N. 30th St., since 1953 · Hummel Park and Neale Woods in the bluffs to the north