Black and white photograph (20.5 x 15.5 cm.) of Florence Boulevard in Omaha, Nebraska. It shows an unpaved road lined with trees on both sides and a sidewalk on the far right side. There is probably another road on the other side of the trees to the left. No houses are visible.
The Omaha city engineer set the stakes for Florence Boulevard on October 10, 1892, which marked the beginning of Omaha's boulevard system. The initial stretch was constructed north from Ames Avenue to near the future location of Miller Park north of Kansas Street. It followed the bluff line along the Missouri River to afford views of the river valley. The route became popular for recreation drives, first by carriage and bicycle, later by auto. Because it was scenic and level and the roadbed was not broken by street railway tracks, the boulevard was described in 1895 as: the only suitable driveway in the city. In 1897 the existing linear road configuration along 19th and 20th Streets between Chicago and Ames was improved with landscaping and the addition of land, placed under the jurisdiction of the Park Commissioners, and became the south part of Florence Boulevard. Source: City of Omaha Planning Department, Omaha's Historic Park and Boulevard System. Omaha: City of Omaha Planning Department, March, 1992, p. 53-55.
