This 5 3/4" x 4" black and white drawing shows a two-story brick school building. The building has windows on both levels, a cupola on the roof, and two spires on one end. The building sits slightly higher than street level, and a two sets of steps lead up to the school's yard, which is surrounded by a fence. Three trees stand on the school grounds, and there are people on the sidewalk running in front of the building. "Dodge School" is printed near the bottom of the drawing in the center.
Omaha Public School Archive Collection / Educational Research Library
Local Accession/Call Number
Archive Files: Dodge Street School File
Historical Notes
The Dodge Street School, located on the southwest corner of 11th and Dodge Streets, opened in 1876. It was originally referred to as "East" School. The building was closed in 1898 and sold to the city to house the city police department and jail. This area of Omaha was considered by many citizens to be no proper place for a school. An oft-heard complaint at the time was that there were 17 "houses of ill-repute" in a two-block radius of the school. On July 10, 1894, a work crew excavating a cellar under the school discovered a skeleton. Over the next two weeks, two more skeletons were recovered, the third one missing the skull. One was guessed to have been a woman from the smaller stature and "several hundred small, round, white beads that surrounded the neck". The only other artifacts recovered with the bones were the heel of a ladies' shoe, pieces of felt, and a soldier's cap. Theories abounded, including one that the school had been built over an Indian burial place. That was discounted quickly. Due to the location and shallowness of the burial sites, the remains would have been uncovered when the footings for the building were dug. No reliable explanation for how the bodies came to be there was ever made.
