Located at 2213 Lake Street in North Omaha, Nebraska, the Webster Telephone Exchange Building is an important Black heritage site in Omaha, Nebraska. Built in 1906 by the Nebraska Telephone Company, the neighborhood around the building included people of varying socioeconomic backgrounds, including African Americans, European immigrants, white Americans, and eastern European Jews.
The Easter Sunday Tornado of 1913 obliterated the neighborhood around the building, killing more than 100 people nearby. As a result, the building became a makeshift mortuary for African American victims and others. After the 1919 lynching of Will Brown, the Black neighborhoods in North Omaha were targeted by rioters, and in response US Army soldiers used the Webster building as a base. No violence came to nearby homes.
In late 1932, the Nebraska Telephone Company closed the facility. A year later, they donated it to the Omaha Urban League for use as offices. Called the Near North Side Community Center, it included a nursery, library, gymnasium, and medical and dental clinics. The Urban League operated it for more than a dozen years.
After the U.S. entered World War II, the building became the Wartime Community Center, with social services and events to support the families. In 1948, the Urban League gave the building to the new Near North Side YMCA, which stayed there until 1951. The building was then converted into apartments, but largely abandoned by 1965.
In 1976, Bertha and James T. Calloway purchased and renovated the building to open the Great Plains Black History Museum. Exhibits featured Buffalo Soldiers, homesteaders, cowboys, churches, Black women, the local NAACP, and local Black heroes. One of the largest museums devoted to African American history west of the Mississippi River, the institution developed a collection of more than 100,000 items, including paintings, rare books, photographs, and films. In 1977, the Webster Building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated as an official Omaha Landmark in 1980.
Due to Bertha Calloway’s declining health and without major funding, the building deteriorated, threatening the museum’s collection. The museum moved out of the building in 2001 and in 2017 it relocated to a Black heritage site on N. 24th Street called the Jewel Building. Under new leadership, it has since recovered, secured its collection, and received new funding, including a large grant from the State of Nebraska for a new building.
In 2016, the Webster Building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the 24th and Lake Historic District. That hasn’t stopped the building’s continuing decline though, and as of 2025 it remained empty for more than two decades. The Webster Telephone Exchange Building is one of Omaha’s most important Black heritage sites and one of it’s most endangered historic structures today. Yet as of February 2025, there are no signs anyone is trying to save it.
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Adam Fletcher Sasse, “A Biography of Bertha Calloway,” NorthOmahaHistory.com, Feb 5, 2020, https://northomahahistory.com/2020/02/05/a-biography-of-bertha-calloway/; Adam Fletcher Sasse, “A History of the Webster Telephone Exchange Building,” NorthOmahaHistory.com. Apr 5, 2020, https://northomahahistory.com/2020/06/05/a-history-of-the-webster-telephone-exchange-building/; Leo A. Biga, “Great Plains Black History Museum Asks for Public Input on its Latest Evolution,” The Reader, Feb 5, 2011, https://leoadambiga.com/2011/02/05/great-plains-black-history-museum-asks-for-public-input-on-its-latest-evolution/.
