THE 1898 TRANS-MISSISSIPPI INT'L EXPOSITION AND INDIAN CONGRESS
AND
THE 1899 GREATER AMERICA EXPOSITION

Everyone's Invited to the

MARCH GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING

Monday, Mar. 19th, 2012, 7:00 p.m.
Pacific Hills Lutheran Church
1111 South 90th Street, Omaha NE
AUTHOR JEFF BARNES

Local author Jeff Barnes will talk about his new book "The Great Plains Guide to Custer: 85 Forts, Fights, & Other Sites" published by Stackpole Books. You’ll find not only directions to the battlefields and forts at which Custer served, you’ll also find locations where he met with Buffalo Bill Cody, the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia, and William Tecumseh Sherman. You’ll also learn of the personal conflicts Custer had on the plains, with commanders, fellow officers and even a buffalo.
The subject of Mr. Barnes talk will be "Custer in Nebraska: Omaha and the Great Buffalo Hunt."

Jeff Barnes is a former newspaper reporter and editor, past chairman of the Nebraska Hall of Fame Commission, former marketing director of the Durham Museum and past board member of the Douglas County Historical Society.

[Aerial view of the Exposition grounds.]
Aerial view of the Expostion grounds.

Omaha, Nebraska celebrated the centennial for the Trans-Mississippi International Exposition and Indian Congress of 1898 with many gala events in 1998. The 1898 expo actually lasted a second year because a group of local businessmen at the time wanted to keep it going. It was renamed The Greater America Exposition, but it had very limited success and is all but forgotten in history.

The Historical Association has been having bi-monthly meetings since 1990 and has gathered much memorabilia and learned many interesting facts from that exciting time in Omaha's history.

[Black and white photograph of building]

Shown here is the Manufacturer's Building and the Machinery & Electricity Building on the north side of the lagoon looking east. The Manufacturer's Building was 400 feet long by 148 feet in width and conformed to the Classic or Renaissance style of architecture which was required of all the major buildings. Note the visitors seated in the lower-center-left.
[Black and white picture of building]

This is a picture of the northeast corner of the Grand Court looking west. It shows the U.S. Government Building at the end of the lagoon with the Agricultural, the Manufacturer's, and the Machinery & Electricity Buildings to the right. Note the fair goers in the picture . . . any color of clothing as long as it was black.
[Black and white picture of buildings]

Looking southeast is the Arch of States and the Fine Arts Building on the southwest corner of the lagoon. Fine Arts was actually two separate symmetrical buildings joined by an open court surrounded by colonnades.

Omaha photographer Frank A. Rinehart was the exclusive official photographer of the Exposition, and the photographs reproduced here are from his collection. We will be showing different scenes each time we update our web site.


Everyone's invited to attend our meetings, the third Monday of each odd Month, at 7 P.M., at Pacific Hills Lutheran Church, 90th and Pacific Streets, Omaha. Always interesting programs and an opportunity to work on projects underway.

We have gotten state approval and have placed two historical markers. One in Heartland Park, the city park on the river front where the Jobbers' Canyon buildings used to be. It is on the walkway leading to the parking lot on the north. The other one is placed at the Exposition site in Kountze Park at Florence Blvd. and Pinkney Street.

The Durham Museum at 801 S. 10th Street has a special room with an extensive exhibit of Trans-Mississippi memorabilia that are well worth a visit. The exhibit includes a model of the exposition's Grand Court. It was professionally done by the Omaha and Lincoln chapters of the American Institute of Architects. It is valued at nearly a quarter of a million dollars and will almost give you the feeling you're at the expo! There are also two other model buildings there, built by students at Northwest High School.

We would be interested in any ideas you might have for additional ways we can celebrate these historical events. We also welcome any bits of information or personal stories which we can publish in our newsletter, and memorabilia to display at one of our meetings. Check in with us every few months for updates and new stories of interest.

Annual dues are only $10 for an individual, and that provides you with our bi-monthly newsletter and member discount on books and other memorabilia which we have for sale.

The various membership levels are as follows:

  • Individual $10
  • Family $15
  • Sustaining $25
  • Patron $50
  • Century $100

To join the organization, mail your membership dues to:
Trans-Mississippi Exposition Historical Association, Inc.
P. O. Box 145
Omaha, Nebraska 68101
 Please include your name, address and telephone number when you write about your membership or if you have information or material to send us. We are a 501 (C)3 non profit organization, so any amount you donate above the basic membership fee is tax deductible.

We need funds to publish a book about both expositions, the 1898 and the 1899. Included will be their histories, as well as memorabilia, with many color pictures of the souvenirs.

"We have links to two other great websites. We encourage you to check them out.

The Omaha Public Library has an extensive collection of pictures of the Trans-Miss buildings and their architects. It also features the priceless Frank Rinehart photos of the Native Americans who attended the expo. http://www.omahapubliclibrary.org/transmiss/

The Henry Madden Library at California State University, Fresno has the Underwood and Underwood pictures of the Trans-Miss which is part of their Donald G. Larson collection of International World's Fair pictures. http://www.csufresno.edu/library/subjectresources/specialcollections/worldfairs/1898omaha.html

Links to previous newsletters TRANS-MISS NEWS. September 2007, July 2007, May 2007, March 2007, January 2007, November 2006.