Poles in Omaha

Poles in Omaha, Nebraska arrived relatively early in the city's history. The first Polish immigrants came in the 1870s, and the community grew past 1000 in the late 1890s. By the 1930s there were 10,000 of Polish descent, and Omaha claimed the largest such community of the Great Plains. According to the 2000 United States Census, Omaha had a total population of 390,112 residents, of whom 18,447 claimed Polish ancestry. The city's Polish community was historically based in several ethnic enclaves throughout South Omaha, including Little Poland and Sheelytown, first dominated by Irish immigrants.

Poles have had a presence in Omaha since the late 1870s, when they started arriving to work in the meatpacking, , smelting and railroad industries. More arrived in the 1880s, but most after 1900. The state of Nebraska, and Omaha in particular, was advertised heavily in Poland as a destination for jobs starting in 1877 by the Chicago-based Polish Roman Catholic Union of America and the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad. Ralph Modjeski, a Polish-American civil engineer, helped build the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge in Omaha in 1872.

Poles continued to immigrate to Omaha, with most coming in the early 20th century, before immigration was reduced by World War I and new laws in 1923. By the 1930s South Omaha counted more than 10,000 Polish residents. As with other early 20th-century European immigrants, their industrial jobs contrasted with their traditional farming and rural pasts. Many were employed by the and the meatpacking plants throughout the area. Numerous Polish immigrants lived in the Burlington Road neighborhoodSheelytown, and the city's "Little Poland". This neighborhood extended west from South 25th to South 29th, F Street south to L Street. It eventually extended west to South 45th Street, earning the name Golden Hill.

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