The Illness That Led to Father Flanagan’s Boys Town

Published May 4, 2024 | Updated June 12, 2026

May 4, 2024

Edward J. Flanagan, the son of a herdsman in Ireland, ended up in Omaha only after contracting an illness. That move was prompted b y the fact that his brother was assigned to minister at St. Patrick’s Church. No one could have foreseen what he would establish just a decade later.

Born in 1886 to John and Honoria, Father Edward J. Flanagan attended college in Ireland before immigrating to the U.S. with his sister Nellie in 1904. After graduating from Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland where he received a Bachelor of Arts in 1906, he entered St. Joseph’s Seminary in New York. After contracting double pneumonia later that year, he was forced to take a year off to recover, prompting that fortuitous move to Omaha where he stayed with his brother Father Patrick Flanagan, and sister Nellie who helped nurse him back to health.

1964 Durham Museum Photo of the Livesy apartments at 207-2011 N 13th St. In 1916 Father Flanagan established a homeless shelter for transient workers here before forming Boys Town.

After he recovered, he continued his studies in Rome at Gregorian University. He fell ill again in 1907 during a particularly harsh winter, resulting in a return trip to Omaha in 1908. While regaining his strength, he took an accounting job at Cudahy Packing Plant. Following his recovery, he went back to Europe and starting in 1909, attended the Royal Imperial Leopold Francis University in Innsbruck, Austria. Following the completion of his studies in 1912, he was ordained a priest. Like his brother, his first assignment was as assistant pastor at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in O’Neill, NE. From there, he was transferred to St. Patrick’s Church in Omaha. At that time, Flanagan responded to the dead and the injured following the 1913 tornado outbreak. In 1916 he established a homeless shelter for transient workers at the Livesy apartments, 207-211 N. 13th Street. The four-story building had 68 rooms.

Believing that all children deserve to be valued and provided with the basic necessities, he founded a home for homeless boys regardless of race, religion, or creed. Run by the priest and nuns, the home was not considered a church institution, and religious indoctrination did not take place.

In its early days, funding was insufficient, causing it to move around before settling in a permanent location far west of the city. Flanagan first rented the Byron Reed home at 2502 Dodge Street in 1917 and moved to the German-American Home a year later. At that time, its members feared vandalism as a result of anti-German sentiment that occurred during the war. Rather than leaving it vacant, they allowed the boys to use it and its grounds at 4206 S. 13th Street until 1921. While there, they created a school and converted the dance hall into a gymnasium. Sleeping quarters were on the second floor while the basement contained a dining room and kitchen as well as a small shoemaking shop where boys learned the craft. The boys that lived at the home cared for the property while doing the gardening, cooking, and cleaning.

1917 Durham Museum photo of what would become Boys Town at 2502 Dodge St. Father Flanagan rented the home which belonged to Byron Reed.

Many of the boys were sent to him by the juvenile authorities. Flanagan said “I don’t think they are really delinquent. In many cases they have no parents, in others the parents are at fault, either not governing them wisely or in actually encouraging them in evil ways. Some of them are just mischievous. All respond to kindness and encouragement and confidence in their better natures in a surprising way.” The boys were not preached at or scolded and largely governed themselves.

1908 Durham Museum photo the German Ladies Auxiliary outside the German-American Home at 4206 South 13th Street. This would serve as the home to Boys Town starting in 1918.

By 1921 they had outgrown the German-American Home with 125 boys under his care. That year Flanagan purchased the old Overlook Farm at 132nd and Dodge for $100,000. The farm was 10 miles west of Omaha and comprised 160 acres, 13 buildings, animals, and machinery. The farm was a major step in his plan to create a community for the boys. The buildings were used to house the boys until they could construct a new one. The head farmer was retained to supervise the operation of the farm by the boys. At the time it was known as The City of Little Men and would become Boys Town in 1926. While its founder didn’t care for the name, it was chosen by the boys, and he went along with their wishes.

1918 Durham Musem photo of the German-American Home at 4206 South 13th St while it served as Father Flangan’s boys.

By the 1930s, hundreds of boys lived in the Village of Boys Town, which now included a school, dormitories, chapel, post office, gymnasium, and administration buildings. Boys between 10-16 could receive an education and learn a trade. The boys even elected their own government, including a mayor, council, and commissioners. By the late 1930s, Boys Town was featured in many newspaper and magazine articles, which ultimately led to a movie being filmed in the village. Boys Town the movie starred Spencer Tracy as Flanagan and Mickey Rooney as one of the boys. It premiered in Omaha in 1938 and went on to win two Academy Awards.

1924 Durham Museum photo of the Overlook Farm at 132nd and West Dodge Street. This would become the current home to Father Flanagan’s Boys Town.

In 1943 Flanagan saw an image of a boy carrying his younger brother on his back with a caption that read, “He ain’t heavy, mister… he’s my brother” in a magazine. The image reminded him of a time he asked a similar question of Reuben Granger, who, along with other boys, often carried Harold Loomis, a boy who wore leg braces as a result of polio, making it quite difficult to walk. Reuben replied, “He ain’t heavy, Father… he’s my brother.” Flanagan wrote to the magazine asking for permission to use the image and quote, and they agreed. Boys Town adopted both to define its new brand.

1938 Boys Town movie poster based on Father Flanagan’s work with underpriveged boys at Boys Town.

Flanagan served on several committees and boards dealing with the welfare of children. In 1946 he traveled home to Ireland, where he was appalled by the conditions in children’s institutions. The Irish print media attacked him after his observations were published. In 1947 General Douglas MacArthur invited him to visit Japan and Korea to offer advice on improving conditions for children in the occupied countries. He visited Austria and Germany one year later in 1948. He passed away while in Germany in 1948. He was laid to rest at Dowd Memorial Chapel of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Boys Town.

1925 Durham Museum photo of three boys on a wagon next to a barn at 132nd Dodge. This is the current site of Boys Town.

Monsignor Nicholas H. Wegner took over as Boys Town’s second executive director, continuing Flanagan’s expansion plans by doubling its population and attaining financial security. With a waiting list of 3,000, the home took in around 50 boys per month, causing its population to peak at 880 in the 1960s. Monsignor Robert P. Hupp succeeded him in 1972, by which time it had become clear that dormitory-style care was ineffective. The spaces were redesigned, new family-style units were built, and the last dormitory closed in 1975, marking the transition to the Boys Town Family Home Program.

1938 Durham Museum photo of the Boys Town campus and some of its earlier buildings at 132nd and Dodge.

Hupp’s prior work as chaplain, teacher, and athletic coach for a home run by the Sisters of the Good Shepherd Convent had given him experience helping troubled girls, paving the way for the acceptance of five girls in 1978, growing to 26 by 1985. That same year, Father Valentine Peter was designated its next executive director as Boys Town shifted its focus and grew into a national organization, having opened its first Boys Town USA site in Tallahassee, Florida, two years earlier and eventually expanding to 17 cities. By 2005, it was recognized as one of the largest and most effective child and family care organizations in the United States, and under its fifth national director, Father Steven Boes, it began serving children at home with their families, an approach that proved more cost efficient while producing the same positive outcomes.

1930 Durham Museum photo of Father Flanagan’s boys standing in front of a new building at Boys Town on 132nd and Dodge.

The shift in philosophy coincided with the village in Omaha seeing its population shrink to just 410 as of the 2020 census. Today the campus, designated as a National Historic Landmark while also being on the National Register of Historic Places, is home to its national headquarters. It’s also the site of its Hall of History Museum, Dowd Memorial Chapel, the Chambers Protestant Chapel, the Leon Myers Stamp Center, and the Boys Town National Research Hospital. The restored home of Father Flanagan also remains on-site.

Nebraska State Historical Marker on the Boys Town campus.

In 2012 the Catholic Diocese of Omaha initiated the process of canonization for Flanagan. The man who was declared a “Servant of God” received many awards over the course of his life: in 1937 Pope Pius XI named him a Domestic Prelate, with the title Right Reverend Monsignor; in 1965 he was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame; a bust of Flanagan was created in 1967 by Paul Granlund for the Nebraska Hall of Fame; and in 1986, the United States Postal Service issued a 4¢ Great Americans series postage stamp honoring him. His likeness can even be found as far away as Ballymoe, County Galway.

Father Flanagan’s house on the Boys Town campus on 132nd and Dodge.

In a twist of fate, Flanagan came to Omaha due to illness. He remained here as he started the transformative shelter that became the nationally recognized Boys Town. The man who confronted the social ills of his time and who refused to let boys in need of belonging, regardless of who they were, became a social reformer and visionary who changed how we care for our children and families.

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