OMAHA — A bed of steel beams grows from a block-wide field of dirt in downtown Omaha. Cranes join tall buildings in dotting the skyline, the Omaha World-Herald reports.
If it weren’t for a telltale horse and buggy in the foreground or a trolley in the background of this historic photograph, the viewer might be tricked into thinking the year was 2002, not 1910.
Union Pacific Corp. spokesman John Bromley recently came across a photo depicting the construction of the company’s current headquarters at 1416 Dodge Street and was struck by the similarity to what is happening downtown today.
Roughly 92 years later, a new and larger headquarters for the Omaha-based railroad is taking shape across the street on the block bounded by 14th, 15th, Dodge and Douglas Streets. Construction workers, who broke ground on the building in March, are installing beams for the fourth floor of the Union Pacific Center.
The new $260 million, 19-story headquarters will be nearly 60 percent larger than the current 12-story headquarters, which was built at a cost of $1.5 million in 1910.
Bromley said construction of the new headquarters is on schedule, with workers putting up a floor about every other week. In addition, departments within the company are learning which floor they will occupy and are making plans for the interior design and furnishings.
Once the new building is complete in the summer of 2004, Union Pacific will turn over the existing headquarters to the City of Omaha. City officials have not announced a use for the building. Possibilities mentioned include a school, office space, apartments, shops and restaurants.
A STORIED HISTORY
Construction on the current headquarters started in 1910. The building was occupied in October 1911, though it didn’t officially open until January 1912.
Over the years, the building has undergone several additions: in the late 1920s, in 1957 and in the early 1970s.
Union Pacific decorated an artificial Christmas tree on its roof for three Christmas seasons, in 1966, 1967 and 1968. The tree, 42 feet high and 20 feet wide at the base, was purchased from Paxton & Vierling Steel Co. The company ended the practice because high winds at that elevation posed a problem for replacing light bulbs.