Omaha Quartermaster Depot (South Omaha, Nebraska)
South Omaha · Nebraska · World War I
History & Significance
General William Tecumseh Sherman ordered the Quartermaster Depot built in 1881, replacing a smaller depot established after the Civil War. In 1892, the depot commissary from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, moved to Omaha.
The depot provided support for Army troops sent west during the 1870s and 1880s to keep Indian tribes on reservations, doling out millions of pounds of food, lumber, and tools to smaller frontier forts. After the Massacre at Wounded Knee in December 1890 concluded the last major conflict of the Indian Wars, the depot's use waned until the United States entered World War I. Peak activity came during an 18-month period of World War I in 1917–1918 when 278 million pounds of goods passed through the post's gates, fueling 150,000 troops at three Midwestern Army posts and National Guard units from seven states.
Following the Armistice, the Depot lay virtually dormant until the 1930s when some buildings were used by the Civilian Conservation Corps and others refurbished by the Works Progress Administration. With the outbreak of World War II, the Quartermaster Depot provided supplies to recruiting depots, served as a school for officers and an automotive training center, and towards the end of the war, one building housed Italian prisoners-of-war. The depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district in 1979.
Key Facts
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Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omaha_Quartermaster_Depot_Historic_District
- https://www.nps.gov/places/omaha-quartermaster-depot-historic-district.htm
- https://preservation.cityofomaha.org/location/omaha-quartermasters-depot-historic-district/
- https://omaha.com/business/1880s-compound-served-troops-first-next-up-are-events-offices-omahans/article_7c9f5de5-1d8d-5b34-9348-d6da28e75e66.html
- https://omaha.com/news/want-to-buy-army-s-old-corral-it-s-for/article_b912d5b7-33d9-57c4-a716-d276681d13d3.html