1934 – Boys Town, Omaha Neb. I chose a slice of this picture for the header but wanted you to see the whole thing. I took this re-snap about a year ago when we visited there.
Tag Archives: Boys Town
On The Road – Omaha (Day 6) More on Boy’s Town… 3
A rather boring day today. We left Omaha about 10:00am and made almost 400 miles of Interstate driving before settling down near St. Charles MO. But given that there was little walking it was good for my aching knees. Tomorrow we will visit the picture puzzle super-store and then likely make a dash for home.
Since not much happened today I thought I would give you a little more about Boys Town. Here is the info on the sign in front of the history center. It does a pretty good job of providing a short-hand version of the history of the place. This picture to the right is that famous saying I quoted yesterday.
A warm welcome to the Boys Town Hall of History. This museum is a cherished place for us at Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home. It houses our precious memories of the earliest days when we were a small shelter for a few homeless boys from the streets. It graphically depicts our joys and sorrows, our trials and tribulations, as decade by decade we have welcomed homeless, neglected, abused, and handicapped children. We have changed with the times. Today we care for boys and girls, for high risk inner-city youth, and for children with speech and hearing handicaps.
Our story is one of struggle, growth, and change. But what has not changed since 1917 has been our deep trust in God, our love for the young, and our goal-to impart the values of family living to generations of troubled young people whose own families failed them. We are proud of these efforts and hope that they may inspire you, our visitors, to believe as we do that there is no such thing as a bad boy or girl.
One of the billboards in the center talked about even in the 1930s they stood strictly against segregation. They welcomed everyone. Around 1980 they changed from a dormitory type living to more of a family centered approach. They currently house about ten kids in a family unit headed by a very well-trained husband/wife and often kids. To the right is one of those houses. There are probably fifty of them on the campus.
I pray that Boys Town continues to be funded into the future. They certainly fill a need..
On The Road – Omaha (Day 5) 2
It was a very interesting day today. We spent the first part of it at Father Flannigan’s Boys Home and then went to the Spirit of Nebraska Wilderness Project in the downtown area.
It is nice to see that the Boys Town is still a thriving mission and that they have been welcoming girls for over thirty years. The story of the place was quite inspiring and the history center did a good job of relaying how it has changed over the years. One thing that hasn’t changed is their dedication to wayward kids. They currently have over 200 there now. Here are a few pictures.
The Wilderness Project is made up of bronze bigger then life statues of wagons, buffaloes, and geese spread out over a six block area.
Of course we had dinner in the Market District again; Mexican this time at Trini’s. It was good as usual. Yvonne and I both carry pedometers now and discovered that over the past three days we have walked over 17 miles! Not bad for two old people I guess. We are back in our hotel in time to get the evening milk and cookies and then veg out for a few hour before calling it a day.
It has been a very nice three days in Omaha; it will rank in the top three places we have visited on our April vacations of the last 26 years. One surprise about the city is how windy it has been since we have been here. It seems that it blows between twenty and thirty mph almost all the daylight hours. I don’t know if that is typical or not? I know they get a lot of fronts moving through this area but the wind was a surprise.
We will get a good rest and then it is another road day tomorrow heading for St. Louis and the 25,000 picture puzzle store.
