Richard Pettit’s Pastry

Published April 15, 2024 | Updated July 11, 2026

April 15, 2024

The Jefferson Square neighborhood that once surrounded Pettit’s Pastry is nearly nonexistent, with many of its old buildings and even the city’s first park having been bulldozed. Against all odds, the donut shop still stands as the Builders District rises all around it.

1943 Durham Museum photo of the Dixie Cream Don-Nuts location near 20th and Davenport. I imagine Sylvester’s looked similar to this.

Its story starts in 1929 as Dixie Cream Donuts, a Dallas-based chain that aimed to provide comfort food for customers during the Great Depression. They were the first bakery to develop a donut mix that required only the addition of water and yeast, and expanded rapidly as a result. At its peak, the chain had more than 400 stores nationwide. While there had been other Dixie Cream Donuts in the area, by the time Glenn Simmons opened a location at 516 N. 16th Street in 1951, it was the only one.

1952 Durham Museum photo of Dixie Cream along N 16th near Canfield’s Army Surplus store.

Sylvester (Pete) Pettit was born in Kansas and relocated to Washington County, Nebraska, at a young age. By 27, he was managing an Alamito Dairy station, and just five years later he moved his family to Ohio, where he found work managing an Omar Bakery. By 1950, both of his sons, Jack and Richard, were also working at the bakery. That marked the beginning of a legacy that continues to this day.

1943 Durham Museum photo of the Dixie Cream Do-Nuts location near 20th and Davenport.

Pete and his family later moved back to Nebraska and settled in Omaha. By this time, he was ready to go out on his own. To do so, he purchased the Dixie Cream Donuts that Glenn Simmons had opened in the Jefferson Square neighborhood in north downtown Omaha. At that point, his son Richard was serving in the Korean War. Upon his return home in 1954, Richard joined his father at the bakery.

1946 Durham Museum photo looking north on 16th St from the corner of 16th and Chicago. Dixie Cream/Pettit’s Pastry would open five years later on the west side of the street.

Throughout the 1950s, the bakery continued to do well, but the surrounding area began to change. The streetcar that ran along 16th Street was discontinued, Jefferson Square Park was leveled for construction of Interstate 480, and the Hilton Hotel added a physical barrier between it and downtown proper. The changes had a profound impact on the working-class, melting-pot neighborhood that had supported businesses like Canfield’s Army Surplus and Gordmans, which grew to become a nationwide retailer.

2026 OE photo of Pettit’s Pastry with the growing Builders District in the background.

Despite the changing face of the neighborhood, the Pettit family remained an anchor within the Jefferson Square neighborhood even after Pete’s death in 1964. Richard and his wife Florence continued the business whose address changed to 502 N. 16th Street when the original building was demolished in 1968. The second-generation owners also changed the name to Pettit’s Pastry in 1974 to emphasize that it was a family-owned business. I imagine seeing his family name on the storefront was a source of pride for Richard and likely served as a tribute to his father, who had started the business nearly two decades earlier.

February 2024 photo of Pettit’s Pastry at is longtime home in North Downtown.

Pettit’s Pastry remains at this location and continues to endure the changes surrounding it, which now includes the acquisition of long-vacant lots and buildings by Creighton University and Kiewit Corporation, which built its headquarters in this long-neglected section of North Downtown. Seen as a catalyst for further growth, plans for the Builders District call for apartment complexes, retail, office buildings, and a new park.

The sign for Pettit’s Pastry in North Downtown Omaha.

In 2019, developers said that Pettit’s was safe for the foreseeable future, as it was located on the fringes of the district. The store is now run by the third generation of the Pettit family. Co-owner Mark Pettit said at the time that he believed they would be spared because the store brings many people to the area. He also felt that increased foot traffic would benefit his business.

Selection of donuts at Pettit’s Pastry when I was there in February 2024.

Long regarded as one of Omaha’s best bakeries, Pettit’s at one point had multiple locations throughout the city. Today, the bakery has two, both offering a simplified menu featuring donuts, rolls, cakes, cupcakes, muffins, and cookies.

In 2024, the Omaha City Council approved the commemorative renaming of a portion of 16th Street after Richard Pettit, who passed away in 2008. Richard was said to love baking and to have happily delivered his pastries all across town. Even after retiring, he continued to stop by the shop to help his sons. In an interview with WOWT in 2024, Mark said of his father: “My dad was a very humble man he wasn’t in it for the glory, but he just always pushed quality product and service and people keep coming back.”

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