3837 Cuming Street - a brief history

I originally wrote this in April, 2015 for the Joslyn Castle Association newsletter. I don't know if it was ever published, but since Restoration Exchange Omaha hosted a tour of this beautiful Queen Anne Victorian, I thought it was worth republishing what little I could find on this home. It is currently in the hands of a new owner who is restoring it to its earlier grandeur, and I look forward to seeing what he makes of this beautiful home!

3837 Cuming Street - this land was originally owned by Omaha's
first Mayor, Jesse Lowe

The Theater Arts Guild is staging Hamlet at 3837 Cuming Street, but perhaps instead of a tragedy, they should stage a mystery. 3837 Cuming Street ought to be a mystery, because for a Queen Anne house dating back to the late 19^th century, it didn’t show up in the historical records until about 1950. 

Research into the history of 3837 Cuming Street turned up nothing prior to 1951. I turned to the 1910 Baist insurance maps through the Omaha Public Library website, and once I located the home in Sherwood Park subdivision, I found that it was originally listed as 3825 Cuming Street. On April 3, 1950, Harry Helgeson took a permit out for the duplex currently two houses east of 3837. This duplex became 3825 and the Queen Anne Victorian became 3837 Cuming. In 1966, apartments were built directly east of 3837, which became 3833.

With some time spent perusing early census reports, perhaps we could narrow down the earliest occupants of 3837. An 1866 map of Omaha City confirms that Jesse Lowe, first Mayor of Omaha and one of the earliest land investors owned the area encompassing this home, and lived on Oak Grove Farm, then on the western end of Cuming Street. 1870s maps confirm Sophia Lowe owned the lots that became the 38^th and 39^th and Cuming Street homes.  The earliest recorded resident in the Omaha World-Herald was John W. Griffith. His first appearance is in an October, 1895 classified ad seeking a cow that had wandered off the pasture at 38^th and Burt. He must be relatively new to the property in 1895, because he is listed in the Excelsior Family Director of Omaha for 1890-1891 as living at 2537 St. Mary’s Avenue, then an affluent area. John W. Griffith worked with Union Pacific Railroad for 40 years, retiring as purchasing agent in 1911. His wife was an active member in womens’ social circles, including Daughters of the American Revolution, a charter member and second President of the Omaha Society of Fine Arts, and a charter member of the Omaha Womens Club. 

In 1913, John Griffith, his son Walter, and partner Frank Bacon purchased the Drummond Motor Company for about $75,000. Drummond Motor Company had just built their warehouse at 26^th and Farnam in 1912, designed by architect John MacDonald, across from Kountze Memorial Lutheran Church (the Barnhart Press building today) on land known as Paxton Pasture. In August, 1915, the Drummond Motor Company announced it would build “the Drummond,” Omaha’s own locally built automobile. Griffith may have sold his ownership by 1916, because he was no longer listed as President in advertisements and articles, and Bacon is listed as President instead. 

Drummond Motor Company building. Barnhart Press
occupies the building at 26th & Farnam today.

John W. Griffith died at age 76 on August 11, 1925. Mrs. Griffith continued to live at 3837 (then still listed as 3825) until she passed away at age 85 years in December, 1941. Their son Walter lived there until 1932, when he moved to a home he had built by builder and realtor Jesse. L. Schroder at 650 N. 57^th Avenue.

The home appears to have become apartments after that point, and has remained apartments ever since.  

Lost Omaha V: St. Mary's Congregational Church (27th & St. Mary's Avenue)

27th and St. Mary's Avenue church in 1917, about the time it was acquired by
the Memorial Seventh Day Adventist Church

Driving down the streets of midtown today, it seems almost impossible to sense the ghosts of the old neighborhoods and communities that inhabited the corners where businesses are today.
Sometimes these ghosts still cast a shadow, such as a building that still has echoes of its former glory and purpose even if the beautiful terra-cotta or ginger bread woodwork has long since been stripped off. Others are gone without a trace.

One such structure was St. Mary’s Congregational Church, at 27th and St. Mary’s Avenue, gone without so much as a trace that it was even there.

16th and Farnam Street Congregational Church, c. 1880s

Congregationalism dates back to May 4, 1856 when the first Congregational Church was founded by the Rev. Reuben Gaylord, meeting in the assembly room of the territorial capital building. This was the first protestant church founded in Omaha.

In 1856, a small church was built on 16th Street, just north of where US National Bank stands on Farnam. In 1870, a new church was built at 19th and Chicago. This church became inadequate by 1888, and the congregation moved to 19th and Davenport, in what was considered the most beautiful church in the Midwest.

The second Congregational church incorporated in 1882, originally known as the St. Mary’s Avenue Congregational Church and later as the Central Congregational Church. The congregation built a church at 27th and St. Mary’s Avenue in 1889. (1)

First Central Congregational Church in 1921
at 36th and Harney

In 1916, St. Mary’s Avenue Congregational Church had sold the 27th Street property and began searching for a site for a new church, proposing to build a church costing about $100,000. Owners and agents were asked to submit sites between Dodge and Pacific Streets, “In the west part of the city” from 36th to 40th Street. (2) A lot was selected at 36th and Harney, and the architect was George Prinz who designed a church in the English Gothic style. (3) Work was delayed on the church both for WW1 in 1917 and for the merger of the First and Second Congregational churches in 1918. The new congregation became known as First Central Congregational Church, and continues to meet at 36th and Harney today.

The St. Mary’s Avenue church was purchased by the Seventh Day Adventist church for $18,000 in 1916, and was known as the Memorial Seventh Day Adventist Church. Since the Congregational Church was not yet ready, the two congregations shared facilities for about a year. (4)

Proposed design for Seventh Day Adventist
Church on North 72nd Street in 1963

The Seventh Day Adventist Church was organized on January 25, 1890 and met near the corner of 18th and Cuming. In 1891, they moved to their Mission Church at 21st and Burdette. In 1897, they purchased a church at 25th and Indiana, until they moved to the 27th and St. Mary’s Avenue church in 1917. (5)

In 1963, the Adventists began construction of a new church costing $225,000 at 840 North 72nd Street. A pipe organ from the 27th Street building was to be rebuilt and installed in the new building.
The old church was sold to J.D. Casey, owner of Casey Paint Company, which occupies the lot. (6)

Look at the corner of 27th and St Mary’s Avenue today. Other than the old rowhouses north of the lot, there is no sign that a church – or even a neighborhood – existed on this corner.

Corner of 27th and St. Mary's Avenue today
(courtesy of Google Earth)

(1) October 25, 1925, Omaha World-Herald
(2) November 17, 1925, Omaha World-Herald
(3) September 22, 1918, Omaha World-Herald
      March 4, 1918, Omaha World-Herald,
      October 7, 1916, Omaha World-Herald
(4) October 7, 1916, Omaha World-Herald
(5) June 6, 1954, Omaha World-Herald
(6) January 12, 1963, Omaha World-Herald