Mexicans in Omaha, Nebraska

Mexicans in Omaha are people living in Omaha, Nebraska, United States who have citizenship or ancestral connections to the country Mexico. They have contributed to the economic, social and cultural well-being of Omaha for more than a century. Mexicans, or Latino people identified incorrectly as being from Mexico, have been accounted for in the history of Omaha, Nebraska since 1900. The entire Latino population of Omaha increased ninety percent between 1990 and 1997.

Mexican-Americans in Omaha have been extensively studied since at least the late 1920s. In 1998 a Mexican immigrant family in Omaha was featured in a Washington Post article. The article noted reluctance by some immigrants to assimilate, in terms of their thinking they had to give up their language or culture. Studies since then have noted that Latino children, like many immigrant children, have adapted more readily to the United States, but also like many immigrant groups, are proud to maintain traditions.

The presence of Mexicans in Omaha was documented to the beginning of the city in 1854, and the first permanent residents arrived with the railroads in 1860.

1900 was the beginning of the first large wave of Mexicans immigrating to the U.S. According to the University of Nebraska at Omaha, around 1900, five Mexican-born residents lived in Omaha, and by 1910 there were twenty-nine. In 1920 there were 682 Mexicans in Omaha; in 1923 there were about 1,000. They lived in South Omaha, close to the three packing plants and the stockyards where many worked. In 1950 the population of Mexicans in Douglas County was 450. The loss of jobs in the Great Depression drove many Mexicans back to Mexico, but approximately 900 stayed in Omaha.

In the early decades of the 1900s, Mexican families established themselves in colonias next to the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad depot south of Little Italy and Little Bohemia. The depot was called Gibson Station, and was located at South First and Hascal Streets near the Missouri River. Near South 72nd and Q Streets there was another barrio where Mexican families lived in railroad cars next to the Union Pacific-Santa Fe station. More Mexican families lived among Italian, Polish, Hungarian, and Czech immigrants. Much of the community is said to have lived in the Brown Park neighborhood, as well.

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