Published March 26, 2025 | Updated May 19, 2026

The offices of Chicago Lumber Company are largely hidden from view, tucked into an area that sits just west of Little Bohemia and the thoroughfare that is 13th Street, just south of the Rail and Commerce Historic District downtown.

Chicago Lumber Company of Omaha is one of the city’s oldest. With its headquarters located at 14th and Pierce Streets, the historic brick building with a green tile roof stands out among the warehouse-like buildings that surround it.

The company dates back to 1876 when its founder M.T. Green established the company in Omaha. Before that, the Chicago native opened the company in his hometown before establishing several lumber yards in Missouri and Nebraska.

Omaha was growing quickly and, with only one lumber yard in town at the time, there was desperate need for a second. To satisfy that need, M.T. established a lumber yard at 702 Douglas Street and proceeded to turn its operations over to his brother-in-law Frank Colpetzer and Charles Guiou.

The business had grown so rapidly that it had taken on another partner, Henry F. Cady, in 1877. By 1881 the company had established yards throughout the state and had up to 20 million feet of lumber in Omaha alone. Many of its early customers read as a who’s who of early Omaha history and include names like Creighton, Paxton, Reed and Millard, just to name a few. They also included Krug and Metz, the famous Omaha brewers.

As Omaha continued to grow around it, the company relocated further south and west to 14th between Marcy and Leavenworth Streets around 1885. The thriving company often financed large projects and had a hard time storing its lumber. At times, it was scattered across the street, making it difficult to travel. I suspect that was part of the reason it moved from this location, which still stands at 814 S. 14th Street. For its third move, it went a bit further south on the other side of the tracks.

By the time the company moved to its current location in 1922, all three partners had passed away. This location, just south and east of the railroad tracks at 14th and Pierce Street, offered it a little more flexibility and room to grow in that it was somewhat disconnected from downtown.

The building at 1324 Pierce Street served as its headquarters starting that same year. The building was designed by prominent Omaha architect George Prinz. Prinz studied at MIT and spent time in Europe before coming to the city in 1891 as Thomas Kimball’s chief draftsman, then started his own firm in 1909. Prinz designed many commercial office buildings and warehouses over the course of his career.

This building continues to operate as Chicago Lumber’s headquarters today, more than 100 years later. The company owns 10 lumber yards throughout Nebraska and Wyoming and remains one of the largest lumber companies in the state and one of the oldest in the country. In addition to supplying lumber, plywood and boards, Chicago Lumber Company of Omaha distributes windows, doors and other building materials to a five-state region.

While not the city’s oldest (that honor belongs to Johnson Hardware and N.P. Dodge), there aren’t many older, and those that are have recognizable names including Byron Reed Company, First National Bank, Union Pacific, and Borsheims. That’s some impressive company to keep.

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More pictures

• Omaha World-Herald archives
• https://www.clc-omaha.com/
• https://www.linkedin.com/company/chicago-lumber-co-of-omaha/
• Beacon – Douglas County, NE – Report: 0322030006
• George Bernhard Prinz, 1864-1946 [RG1330.AM] – Nebraska State Historical Society