Mercer Block Number Three - Omaha - Old Market is a photograph by Susan Rissi Tregoning which was uploaded on May 12th, 2021.
Mercer Block Number Three - Omaha - Old Market
I am looking down 11th Street as it intersects with Howard Street in the Old Market Historic District of Omaha, Nebraska. The building in the... more
Title
Mercer Block Number Three - Omaha - Old Market
Artist
Susan Rissi Tregoning
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
I am looking down 11th Street as it intersects with Howard Street in the Old Market Historic District of Omaha, Nebraska. The building in the foreground with the Central Supply advertising painted on its side is Mercer Block Number Three. This building was recently fully renovated after a fire gutted it in 2016.
In the late-1800s, the heart of the Old Market District in Omaha, Nebraska, was teeming with produce dealers, shoppers, and transporters as the City's center for grocery business activity. All that came to a halt in the 1950s when radical changes to grocery marketing left the Old Market's century-old brick warehouses sitting vacant. The City threatened to condemn and demolish them to put modern buildings in their place.
Sam Mercer, whose family owned several of the building, equated it to "painting over the Mona Lisa." It was his vision to renovate these warehouse spaces into restaurants and shopping with living spaces above. By 1968, he had acquired the remaining building in the Old Market and begun his revitalization project.
Today, the Old Market buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places as a Historic District. The area is known for its restaurants, art galleries, and upscale shopping. In 2020, the Old Market celebrated 50 years as Omaha's entertainment district.
Copyright 2021 Susan Rissi Tregoning
Uploaded
May 12th, 2021
