Omaha Exploration

Following a military career that saw him work on special missions that included the plane that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, John Wiebe settled in Omaha where he opened what may be the first enclosed mall in the country.

Born in the Oklahoma panhandle in 1922, Wiebe spent much of his teenage years riding the rails going from one job as a laborer to another. He enlisted in the Navy in 1940 and arrived in Omaha in 1943 to serve in a top-secret project to modify B-29 bombers for special missions including the Enola Gay, which dropped that fateful bomb on Hiroshima to end World War II.

After the war ended in 1945, he embarked upon a career as a successful building contractor which included 150 homes in the Loveland neighborhood in addition to churches, schools, airports, and factories. 

After his wife Harriet complained about the difficulty of parking downtown, then the primary shopping district, he observed traffic patterns downtown from his private plane. That provided the inspiration for Omaha’s first enclosed shopping center that would offer much easier access to parking.

He went to work finding the ideal location after hiring architects Kenneth Welch and J.G. Daverman of Grand Rapids, MI. They settled on undeveloped land at 42nd and Center across from the new Veterans Hospital and near the Field Club. In 1954 the work crews removed over 100,000 cubic yards of dirt from the 6 ½ acre site. 

When it was finished in 1955, the five-story mall had just 200,000 square feet of leasable space, small even by standards of the day. It was designed so that the first three levels were accessible from a multilevel parking garage that surrounded the retail core of the building. Initially the fourth floor consisted mostly of office space. He had hoped that Brandeis, the king of Omaha retail, would open in the mall. When E. John Brandeis declined, Des Moines-based Younkers agreed to a deal as the mall’s anchor tenant.

The mall attracted a number of tenants due to the location and the convenience including a parking garage that wrapped around the interior stores on the lower levels not to mention access to banks and a service station. Charter tenants included Thom McAn Shoes, Mode O’Day Frock Shop, Big Chief supermarket, Hested’s 5 & 10, and Carl S. Baum Druggists. Over time, new tenants were added to the mix as the mall expanded and as others left. Some of the more notable ones are Kimball Laundry, Reed’s Ice Cream, Omar Baking, Lollipop Lane, Center Coffee Shop, Calandra’s Camera Store, and Lerner’s Vogue.

The fifth floor was renovated in 1959 when the Sky Lanes bowling alley opened. The 24-lane bowling alley included two spectator lounges, a cocktail bar and a Kiddie Korral babysitting service. Meanwhile, the penthouse was the home to The Roof Garden Restaurant, which was renamed Al Green’s Sky Room Restaurant. It also housed a cocktail lounge whose name and concept would change multiple times over the years from Panther to Ben Kava’s Cimarron Room, Clink and Devil’s Nest.

The fifth floor was destroyed and the fourth floor significantly damaged in a 1969 fire that caused more than $5,000,000 in damage. The mall closed as the repairs were made and when it reopened it featured the Old English aesthetic that still appears within the building today. It took the mall more than one year to get its occupancy rate up to 80%.

Often referred to as “The Center Mall”, it proved so popular in its early days that traffic directors were hired during the holidays to control foot traffic to the entrances. Over time however, it had started to decline due to competition from larger malls located further west where new housing developments were being constructed. 

The competition started in 1960 with the Crossroads at 72nd and Dodge. Following the trend, Wiebe opened Westroads Mall even further west at 100th and Dodge. By the late 1970s The Center started its transition from a retail shopping center to an office complex. Despite that, Younkers and Sky Lanes remained open through much of the 1990s.

While The Center is often said to have been the first enclosed shopping mall in the country, it’s a matter of definition. Southdale Center in Edina, Minnesota is often considered the first fully enclosed, climate-controlled mall. Some claim that having just one anchor store rather than two disqualifies it. Either way, The Center pre-dates Southdale by about a year.

While Wiebe passed away in 2009, The Center Mall remains in use and contains mostly government and community assistance offices. It’s also the home for the South Omaha Immigrant History Museum, Mama’s Attic: African American Arts and Humanities Center, Gentle Dentistry, Access Bank and many other businesses.

Unlike some of the other malls that are in decline, The Center, while a little rough around the edges, remains viable and there’s even talk of extending its life further by converting it into apartments and offices.

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