Omaha Exploration

Before there was Peony Park, there was Krug Park. Before that, there was Tietz Park. Tietz Park was named after German immigrant Charles Tietz who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. After the war, he acquired 160 acres of land northwest of Omaha via the Homestead Act. The act required that claimants live on and improve the land within five years. A portion of that land would become the town of Benson. 

Charles took 20 acres of his land and opened a dance hall near current day 52nd and Maple. The dance hall grew into Tietz Park. It developed a reputation and in 1893, the Omaha World-Herald said it was a place where “beer and whisky flow freely. It is a rendezvous for ex-pugilists and men of very shady character. It has been the only available place to obtain liquor on Sundays, and as a result fully 100 men are found there gambling and playing their nefarious games. It is a great resort for lewd women and has answered splendidly for a place of assignation.” 

Charles sought financing from Frederick Krug, founder of Krug Brewery, in order to expand the park by adding what may have been the area’s first bowling alley. It also paid for a trip back home to Germany with his new, much younger wife. By 1895, Fred acquired 16 of the 20 acres and installed a proper beer garden. When Charles passed away in 1903, his estate was unable to pay off the remaining debt so the rest of the park was turned over to Frederick. At that point, it became Krug Park which was often referred to as “Omaha’s Polite Resort.” 

Fred converted it into an old-world amusement park inspired by memories of his homeland.  In addition to the dance hall, beer garden and bowling alley, it also had an ice cream parlor, carousel, billiards room, ballroom, bandstand and a swimming pool in addition to rides such as a roller coaster and tunnel of love. If that wasn’t enough, you could watch as men were shot from cannons, horses launched into water elevated platforms and soar high adove the grounds on a hot air balloon. At various times you could see exotic animals like the time he acquired 18 monkeys from India. They even added cutting-edge technology such as soda dispensers and a system to purify the large swimming pool.

Intense neighborhood opposition prevented his liquor license from being renewed in 1908 causing him to close the amusement park. It had been put up for sale before reopening in 1913. The amusement park continued where it left off as the city’s amusement center. When prohibition began in 1920, the beer garden was closed but the amusement park continued to operate. The dance pavilion was popular, offering couples the opportunity to dance for five cents. The addition of lights strung above the park allowed it to remain open until 11 pm. At the time, it was the only place where citizens could experience thrill rides like those in Coney Island, NY. 

In 1930 Krug Park was the site of the worst roller coaster accident in the country. The “Big Dipper” coaster crashed on July 24 when a brake shoe fell off the front car and settled on the track. This caused the car to tilt off the track, crash through the wooden guardrail and along with the three other cars crash more than 35 feet to the ground. Four were killed and more than 20 injured. White it was deemed safe by a city inspector, one park worker said that there would be a terrible accident on the ride due to its lack of regular maintenance. That year the city council passed an ordinance to ban roller coasters in the city. 

Still reeling from the roller coaster accident, the park attempted to increase attendance by adding a new 4,000 seat arena for boxing and wrestling matches in 1932. The City Council soon banned these events due to complaints from neighbors. The worsening depression didn’t help things as it left little money for luxuries like amusement parks for most families. It didn’t help that a fire destroyed the huge two-story bathhouse that same year. The Krug family discontinued the amusement park in 1939 but left the dance hall which had been converted into a roller skating rink. Like the bathhouse, it was destroyed by fire in 1944.

The park hung in the balance as citizens and the city fought over its future. The area was neglected as a result causing weeds to grow six feet high and the swimming pool to fill with dark water while the burned out bathhouse looked like something from a war movie. Neighbors didn’t feel safe walking past it and the police commissioner called it the worst mess in Omaha. 

Omaha, which had purchased the park in 1945 wanted to sell the land to a housing developer. Nearby residents wanted the area turned into a city park. Led by Rachel K. Gallagher, the president of the City Improvement Council, the decade long fight to convert it to a city park was successful and in 1954, the old structures were finally removed. It was rechristened as Gallagher Park and today contains a fountain, playground, two ball fields and a swimming pool with water slides. 

Her charitable foundation donated $1.2M to the Omaha Parks Foundation in 2022 for renovations and improvements to her namesake park. The money will be used to purchase new playground equipment, renovations to the public pool to add a spiral waterslide, new water features, splash pad, basketball court, new restrooms and renovations to the Memorial Fountain Plaza.

Please feel free to comment and share your memories. Let’s keep exploring!

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