Published October 29, 2026 | Updated October 29, 2026

On one of our visits to Hanscom Park, I encountered a historical marker sharing the history and a map of the city’s park and boulevard system. The park even connects to two of these historic boulevards: Hanscom on the south and Turner via Woolworth Avenue on the north.

I took a drive along many of the system’s boulevards while doing my research. Along the way, I discovered that Omaha largely ignored its parks during its early history before they became a prominent feature of a city eager to counter its gritty industrial image dominated by the railroad, smelting plants, stockyards, and meatpacking plants.

After Omaha was founded in 1854, three public squares were set aside for parks, but only one, Jefferson Square at 16th and Chicago Streets, was established. It remained the city’s only park until 1872, when land was donated for its second, Hanscom Park, at 32nd and Woolworth Avenue.

In accepting the land, the city agreed to improve and beautify the rough, hilly terrain so it could be used as a park. Sitting at the sparsely populated western edge of town, the land was covered with brush and trees. By 1888 the city had failed to deliver on its promise, and the donors threatened to take it back.

In 1889 the legislature granted cities the authority to raise money through taxation for a system of parks, a turning point that led the city to establish a parks commission and elect Dr. George Miller as its president, considered the founder of the park system. Miller, Omaha’s first practicing physician, was also founder and editor of the Omaha Herald and helped secure Omaha’s selection as the transcontinental railroad’s jumping-off point. Two years later, voters approved a $400,000 bond issue for new parks.

The park commission hired prominent landscape architect Horace W.S. Cleveland in 1889 to develop a comprehensive park plan for the growing city, whose population would explode from 30,000 in 1880 to more than 100,000 by century’s end. At the time, parks were viewed less as recreation and more as a retreat that helped treat the stresses of living in a city.

Born in Massachusetts in 1814, Cleveland didn’t become a landscape architect until he was 40. He went on to focus most of his work on Midwestern cities including Chicago and Minneapolis. Cleveland’s plan for Omaha included a series of parks connected by “broad ornamental avenues, known as boulevards or parkways,” designed with “a tasteful arrangement of trees and shrubbery at [their] sides and in the center,” including new anchor parks in the north, south, and central portions of the city, plus improvements to Jefferson Square and Hanscom Park. The latter became the system’s showpiece, with its lakes, flower beds, trails, and fountains. With money from the bond issue, the city began acquiring land for the new parks.

The boulevards consisted of winding roads with hairpin and “S” curves that followed ravines, inclines, and streams, graded to leave the natural topography mostly unaltered. The roads also served as a development tool, leading to the construction of new neighborhoods.

Cleveland stepped away from the project in 1894 due to failing health, the same year Miller’s five-year term as park commission president ended. During that period, the city made significant progress on the park and boulevard system. Cleveland is credited with improving Jefferson Square and Hanscom Park, and with surveying and designing Florence Boulevard and Elmwood, Fontenelle, Miller, and Bemis Parks. He approved Riverview Park’s location but stepped away before drawing up designs, which park superintendent W.R. Adams completed instead.

After Cleveland set the foundation for the park and boulevard system, the park commission remained committed to fulfilling his vision. By the time the entire system was completed in 1918, it connected 18 parks via 26 1/2 miles of boulevards.

Florence Boulevard, nicknamed Omaha’s “Prettiest Mile,” connected Miller Park and Levi Carter Park, offering riders scenic carriage rides past trees and fine homes. Fontenelle Boulevard linked Fontenelle Park to the system’s anchor parks, Elmwood and Miller, and was named for Logan Fontenelle, interpreter and chief of the Omaha Tribe. Hanscom Boulevard connected Hanscom Park to Riverview Park. Belvedere Boulevard climbs to what may be the city’s highest point, at 1,200 feet, near Fontenelle and Miller Parks.

Riverview Boulevard was built solely to connect the park’s north entrance to Bancroft Street. Deer Park Boulevard served Deer Hollow Park, and Lincoln Boulevard connected Hanscom Park to Bemis Park; both were largely destroyed by the construction of Interstate 480 in the 1960s.

Several boulevards memorialized their names. Donated by Charlotte Turner in memory of her son Curtiss, the aforementioned Turner Boulevard connected Hanscom Park to Turner and Bemis Parks. Carter Boulevard, serving Bluff View Park and Levi Carter Park, was named for Levi Carter, owner of the Carter White Lead Company. John A. Creighton and Paxton Boulevards served Bemis, Fontenelle, and Adams Parks, memorializing Creighton, who founded the university that bears his name, and William A. Paxton, one of the founders of the Union Stockyards.

Mercer Park Boulevard served Mercer and Walnut Hill Parks, honoring Caroline Mercer, daughter of Dr. Samuel Mercer, whose family is responsible for turning the old City Market into the Old Market. Happy Hollow Boulevard served Fontenelle and Elmwood Parks, including land and the Dundee sunken gardens donated by brothers Charles C. and J.E. George of Dundee Realty.

While the boulevard system largely fell out of favor after World War II, and parts of Lincoln and Deer Park Boulevards were destroyed to make way for the interstate, much of the system remains. Omaha’s historic Park and Boulevard System was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

That same year, the city set out to improve a system that had suffered decades of wear and only patchwork fixes. Its master plan called for preserving the existing curbs, medians, and islands as well as the trees that line the streets; keeping the original alignment intact while adding streetlights and signage; improving lawns; and restoring historical connections. Achieving those goals is a work in progress, and the city remains committed to its park system, with $5 million in additional city spending planned for 2027, matched by the philanthropic community. The focus now is maintaining park quality and safety, including additional staff.

More than a century after Cleveland first planned the system, Omaha has grown from two parks to more than 250, including Memorial Park and the three Riverfront Parks, Gene Leahy Mall, Heartland of America, and Lewis and Clark Landing, all extensively renovated in recent years.

Omaha Exploration, 2026. All rights reserved. Excerpts and links are welcome with full credit given to Omaha Exploration and a link back to the original content.