- Sporting District
The Sporting District was an area near 16th and Harney Streets in
Omaha, Nebraska where city boss Tom Dennison kept the majority of hisgambling ,drinking andprostitution interests from the late 1800s until the end of his reign in 1933. [Menard, O.D. (1989) "Political Bossism in Mid America: Tom Dennison's Omaha, 1900–1933." University Press of America. p. 107.] "Cowboy"James Dahlman was reputedly voted to the first of eight terms as mayor of Omaha because he was more tolerant of the Dennison's "Sporting District" in the middle of the city. [Wolff, H. (2007). "Cowboy Jim rode out of Texas to find fame in Nebraska." "Victoria Advocate" (Texas). 4/20/07.]Establishments
There were a variety of venues inside the district. They included the Gayety Theatre, located at 1514 Harney Street, which was a notorious
burlesque house that civic organizations protested. The theatre was open from 1906 to 1928. [(nd) [http://www.memories.ne.gov/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/opl&CISOPTR=198&CISOBOX=1&REC=9 Gayety Theatre] . NebraskaMemories.com. Retrieved 6/21/07.] Tom Dennison kept his primary office at the Budweiser Saloon in the Sporting District at 1409 Douglas Street, the site of the currentUnion Pacific Center . [Larsen, L. and Cottrell, B. (1997) "The Gate City: A History of Omaha." University of Nebraska Press. p. 180] Anna Wilson ran a 25-room brothel in a mansion at 915 Douglas Street during this period, along with Dan Allen's gambling house, saloon andpawn shop . Another establishment in the Sporting District was the Diamond Gambling House located at 1312 Douglas Street. The "Big Four" Omaha gamblers of 1887, Charles Bibbins, H.B. Kennedy, Charles White and Jack Morrison operated the facility until 1893, when it was closed by the City. [Federal Writers' Project Staff (1939) "Nebraska: A guide to the Cornhusker state." Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Nebraska. p. 234]ee also
*
History of Omaha
*Culture in Omaha References
External links
* [http://www.memories.ne.gov/cgi-bin/getimage.exe?CISOROOT=/opl&CISOPTR=198&DMSCALE=100.00000&DMWIDTH=600&DMHEIGHT=600&DMX=0&DMY=0&DMTEXT=%20Gayety&REC=1&DMTHUMB=1&DMROTATE=0 Historic postcard] of the Gayety Theatre.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
