Omaha Exploration

Today the building that houses The Old Mattress Factory Bar and Grill is party central when the College World Series takes over North Downtown each summer. Located within Baseball Village, the building dates back more than 140 years!

Fred Stabrie, an immigrant from Germany, was born in 1829 and arrived in the United States in 1858. He came to Nebraska around 1869 and settled on a farm in Millard. By 1883 he made his way to the Jefferson Square neighborhood in Omaha and proceeded to open a neighborhood grocery store.  At 3,500 sq ft, the two-story store was much smaller than the building we see today which is more than 16,000 sq ft. His son, Edward, continued to operate the grocery store but moved to another location after his father passed away in 1897.

The building remained in the hands of the Stabrie family though it was leased for various purposes. Among those were saloons operated by William Burke, Thomas Hart, John Buck, C.H. Yates, Edward Connelly and Charles Brown. With his lease ending, Charles refused to pay the additional cost and refused to leave when it did end. After that it operated as a feed and grain store and a barbershop. 

The second floor apartments were rented for various purposes over the years including housing, a massage parlor and vapor bath. It even operated as a brothel for a time. The building was listed for sale in 1905. At that time, the ad described it as having a frost proof cellar and five rooms above the store. 

After Grocers Specialty Company bought it in 1915, they added a two-story addition which tripled the original size. When the owner took on a partner, it was renamed as Horacek-Schneider Company by 1919. By that time it was operated by G. Horacek, F.C. Horacek, J.J. Schneider and Vaclav Schneider. It would later become Horacek & Sons. They operated out of the building until at least 1943.

By 1944 Central Mattress Factory Company moved in. In 1950 another two-story addition was constructed and brought the building to its current size. Sam Altusler founded the business in 1907 and initially operated it out of his house. They manufactured sofa sleepers that were delivered to retail stores across Nebraska. In 1987 Sam’s son, Harry, sold it to Ardon Adamson. 

It was sold again in 1995 Robert and Joan Miller who added a retail component to a business that had been almost entirely wholesale. At that time, the Central Mattress and Bedding which specialized in small contracts with hospitals, dormitories in small colleges in the area, converted the second floor to a showroom. They made improvements to the building including painting the exterior, refinishing floors, installing new windows, replacing the roof, repaving the dock, adding landscaping and replacing garage doors. They even installed a neon sign. Once the city announced it was building the downtown arena, the Miller’s put the building up for sale in 2000.

They ceased using it as a mattress store after that while Robert, an artist, used it as a studio while leasing space out to other businesses until they found a suitable tenant. That happened in 2007 when a group of investors including Jeff Lampe of McFly’s Center Street Tavern bought it. 

The intent was to open a bar and grill with some upscale touches and that could handle the large crowds attending an event at the CenturyLink Center (present day CHI Health Center). In order to turn the more than a century old building into a restaurant, they embarked upon a painstaking renovation including a major effort to maintain its original character. The interior walls were power washed in order to expose the brick. The concrete floors, too cracked and uneven to be repaired, were replaced. To honor its history, they named it the Old Mattress Factory Bar and Grill which is often referred to as “The Matt”. 

Inside the space has exposed brick, high ceilings as well as the building’s original wood support columns. It started a beer garden during the CWS in 2009 after the North Downtown stadium was announced. Since then, adjacent to the Matt as far back as Mike Fahey Drive and from 13th to 12th Streets turns into Baseball Village during the tournament.

The space is large enough that multiple spaces are available for events including wedding receptions, rehearsals and the like. The Stabrie (my research suggests it should be Stabrei) is located on the main floor. Upstairs is Burke’s Hall with pinewood floors, brick walls and wooden pillars. It is an available events space and is the same place I had my wedding reception. It is adjacent to the outdoor Upper Deck which looks out towards the ballpark to the north.

Today the building is one of few in the area that date back to the 1880s when it was largely a residential area. Back then the neighborhood was full of wood frame houses and even had a school and a park. Residents worked as laborers at the nearby Union Pacific shops or Omaha Smelting Works until those employment opportunities went away. Over time it became an industrial area and became further isolated from the downtown business district to the south and the commercial district to the west after Interstate 480 was constructed. Its impressive run as well as its history as both a grocery store and grocery wholesaler earned it a place on the National Register of Historic Places in 2008.

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