Herndon House
Encyclopedia
The Herndon House, later known as the International Hotel and then the Union Pacific Headquarters, was an early hotel located at Ninth and Farnam Streets in present-day Downtown Omaha
, Nebraska
. Built in 1858 by Omaha pioneer
Dr. George L. Miller
along with several associates, it was financed by the sale of city-donated land
and a $16,000 loan. Used as the headquarters building of the Union Pacific Railroad
for more than 50 years, it was demolished in 1922.
of the U.S. Navy
whose exploration of the Amazon River
in the early 1850s captivated the United States. Billed as the best hotel in town, it was one of the finest between Chicago, Illinois
and San Francisco, California
. The building had more than 100 rooms and featured a fine menu for visitors, including clams and oysters, as well as local game.
Numbered among the guests were political figures, soldiers, railroad men, Indian chiefs, river-boat men, and ranchers. They included William T. Sherman
, Major General Grenville M. Dodge
, James E. Boyd, David Butler
, Alvin Saunders
, General J. M. Thayer, Brigham Young
, Thomas C. Durant
, P. T. Barnum
, J. Sterling Morton
and P. W. Hitchcock
. In 1858 Logan Fontenelle
, Joseph LaFlesche
, and a contingent including Standing Hawk, No Knife, Young Crane, Little Hill and others stayed at the Herndon for several days, bound for Washington, D.C.
to see President James Buchanan
. A. J. McCune, one of the early operators of the hotel, also ran the Douglas House
, another early Omaha hotel.
Responding to President Abraham Lincoln
's call for soldiers to fight in the Civil War
, on May 18, 1861 the newly-appointed Nebraska Territory
governor, Alvin Saunders
, issued a proclamation calling for the immediate raising and equipping of a regiment. The men were mustered into Companies A and B, and were sworn in on the lawn south of Herndon House. In 1862 General James Craig
stationed the headquarters of the Military District of Nebraska at the hotel. This placement is credited with eventually leading to the placement of the Omaha Quartermaster Depot
, Fort Omaha
, and the Department of the Platte
in the city. On December 2, 1863 the hotel hosted a massive celebration, including a banquet and ball, for the first construction related to the development of the First Transcontinental Railroad
, which began in Omaha. By 1868 the building was billed as the International Hotel.
In May 1867 eccentric railroad promoter George Francis Train
was staying at the Herndon House when a windstorm
hit the building. Train requested an African American
steward in the hotel to stand with his back to the window he was sitting by, fearing the wind would blow it in and expecting the steward to block the glass with his own body. The hotel steward objected, and Train became angry and declared he would build a better hotel within 60 days. That same day Train bought the lot across the street from the Herndon House and secured a builder. Train asked how much it would cost to construct a three-story, 120 room establishment, and the builder replied $1000 a day. Train said, "Show me you are worth it. I will be back to Omaha in 60 days and expect to sleep in the building." The Cozzens House Hotel
was finished upon his return.
leased the building for use as its first general headquarters, and in 1875 the railroad bought the building outright for $42,000. In 1878 the building was completely renovated for $54,000. The offices on the first floor included UP officials in charge of land, express, and coal departments, as well as the Division Superintendent and train dispatcher offices. The auditor, cashier, general superintendent, general freight, ticket agents and paymaster's offices were located on the second floor, and the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company
occupied the third story. After vacating the building in 1911, the railroad used it as a storehouse until 1922, when it was demolished.
Downtown Omaha
Downtown Omaha is the central business, government and social core of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area, and is located in Omaha, Nebraska. The boundaries are 20th Street on the west to the Missouri River on the east and the centerline of Leavenworth Street on the south to the centerline...
, Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
. Built in 1858 by Omaha pioneer
Founding figures of Omaha, Nebraska
The following people were founding figures of Omaha, Nebraska. Their period of influence ranges from 1853 through 1900. Many in this group were members of the Old Settlers' Association and/or the Omaha Claim Club...
Dr. George L. Miller
George L. Miller
Dr. George Lorin Miller was a pioneer physician, editor, politician, civic leader and land owner in Omaha, Nebraska. The founder of the Omaha Herald, which later became part of the Omaha World-Herald, Miller arrived in Omaha in 1854, the year the city was founded...
along with several associates, it was financed by the sale of city-donated land
Government of Omaha
The government of the City of Omaha, Nebraska consists of the Mayor of Omaha, the Omaha City Council and various departments of the City of Omaha, which in located in Douglas County, Nebraska. The city of Omaha was founded in 1854 and incorporated in 1857....
and a $16,000 loan. Used as the headquarters building of the Union Pacific Railroad
Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
for more than 50 years, it was demolished in 1922.
Herndon House
The hotel was originally named for Lieutenant William Lewis HerndonWilliam Lewis Herndon
Commander William Lewis Herndon was one of the United States Navy's outstanding explorers and seamen. He chose to go down with his ship while other lives were still aboard and while in command of the steamer Central Americas 44th trip, which sank in a three day and night hurricane off Cape...
of the U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
whose exploration of the Amazon River
Amazon River
The Amazon of South America is the second longest river in the world and by far the largest by waterflow with an average discharge greater than the next seven largest rivers combined...
in the early 1850s captivated the United States. Billed as the best hotel in town, it was one of the finest between Chicago, Illinois
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and San Francisco, California
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
. The building had more than 100 rooms and featured a fine menu for visitors, including clams and oysters, as well as local game.
Numbered among the guests were political figures, soldiers, railroad men, Indian chiefs, river-boat men, and ranchers. They included William T. Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman
William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. He served as a General in the Union Army during the American Civil War , for which he received recognition for his outstanding command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the "scorched...
, Major General Grenville M. Dodge
Grenville M. Dodge
Grenville Mellen Dodge was a Union army officer on the frontier and during the Civil War, a U.S. Congressman, businessman, and railroad executive who helped construct the Transcontinental Railroad....
, James E. Boyd, David Butler
David Butler (Nebraska)
David C. Butler was a U.S. political figure. He was the first Governor of Nebraska, serving from 1867 until 1871...
, Alvin Saunders
Alvin Saunders
Alvin Saunders was a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, in the United States, as well as the governor of the Nebraska Territory for most of the American Civil War.-Education:Saunders was born in Fleming County, Kentucky...
, General J. M. Thayer, Brigham Young
Brigham Young
Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...
, Thomas C. Durant
Thomas C. Durant
Thomas Clark Durant, was an American financier and railroad promoter. He was vice-president of the Union Pacific in 1869 when it met with the Central Pacific railroad at Promontory Summit in Utah Territory...
, P. T. Barnum
P. T. Barnum
Phineas Taylor Barnum was an American showman, businessman, scam artist and entertainer, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and for founding the circus that became the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus....
, J. Sterling Morton
Julius Sterling Morton
Julius Sterling Morton was a Nebraska editor who served as President Grover Cleveland's Secretary of Agriculture. He was a prominent Bourbon Democrat, taking the conservative position on political, economic and social issues, and opposing agrarianism...
and P. W. Hitchcock
Phineas Hitchcock
Phineas Warren Hitchcock was a Delegate and a Senator from Nebraska. Hitchcock County, Nebraska, is named after him.-Early life:...
. In 1858 Logan Fontenelle
Logan Fontenelle
Logan Fontenelle , also known as Shon-ga-ska , was a trader of French and Omaha ancestry, who served for years as an interpreter to the US Indian agent at the Bellevue Agency in Nebraska...
, Joseph LaFlesche
Joseph LaFlesche
Joseph LaFlesche, also known as E-sta-mah-za or Iron Eye , was the last recognized head chief of the Omaha tribe of Native Americans who was selected according to the traditional tribal rituals. The head chief Big Elk had adopted LaFlesche into the Omaha and designated him as his successor....
, and a contingent including Standing Hawk, No Knife, Young Crane, Little Hill and others stayed at the Herndon for several days, bound for Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
to see President James Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
. A. J. McCune, one of the early operators of the hotel, also ran the Douglas House
Douglas House (Omaha)
The Douglas House was the second hotel in Omaha, Nebraska. Located in present-day Downtown Omaha on the southwest corner of 13th and Harney Streets, the hotel housed influential politicians, speculators, and the first court trial in the Nebraska Territory. A two-story frame structure, it...
, another early Omaha hotel.
Responding to President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
's call for soldiers to fight in the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, on May 18, 1861 the newly-appointed Nebraska Territory
Nebraska Territory
The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebraska Territory was created by the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854...
governor, Alvin Saunders
Alvin Saunders
Alvin Saunders was a U.S. Senator from Nebraska, in the United States, as well as the governor of the Nebraska Territory for most of the American Civil War.-Education:Saunders was born in Fleming County, Kentucky...
, issued a proclamation calling for the immediate raising and equipping of a regiment. The men were mustered into Companies A and B, and were sworn in on the lawn south of Herndon House. In 1862 General James Craig
James Craig (Missouri)
James Craig was an American lawyer and politician from Saint Joseph, Missouri. He represented Missouri in the U.S. House from 1857 until 1861. He also served as an army Captain in the Mexican-American War....
stationed the headquarters of the Military District of Nebraska at the hotel. This placement is credited with eventually leading to the placement of the Omaha Quartermaster Depot
Omaha Quartermaster Depot Historic District
The Omaha Quartermaster Depot Historic District, including several brick structures built in Italianate and other styles, was built for the U.S. Army between 1881 and 1894...
, Fort Omaha
Fort Omaha
Fort Omaha, originally known as Sherman Barracks and then Omaha Barracks, is an Indian War-era United States Army supply installation. Located at 5730 North 30th Street, with the entrance at North 30th and Fort Streets in modern-day North Omaha, Nebraska, the facility is primarily occupied by ...
, and the Department of the Platte
Department of the Platte
The Department of the Platte was a military administrative district established by the U.S. Army on March 5, 1866, with boundaries encompassing Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota Territory, Utah Territory and a small portion of Idaho...
in the city. On December 2, 1863 the hotel hosted a massive celebration, including a banquet and ball, for the first construction related to the development of the First Transcontinental Railroad
First Transcontinental Railroad
The First Transcontinental Railroad was a railroad line built in the United States of America between 1863 and 1869 by the Central Pacific Railroad of California and the Union Pacific Railroad that connected its statutory Eastern terminus at Council Bluffs, Iowa/Omaha, Nebraska The First...
, which began in Omaha. By 1868 the building was billed as the International Hotel.
In May 1867 eccentric railroad promoter George Francis Train
George Francis Train
George Francis Train was an entrepreneurial businessman who organized the clipper ship line that sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco; he organized the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier in the United States, and a horse tramway company in England while there during the American...
was staying at the Herndon House when a windstorm
Storm
A storm is any disturbed state of an astronomical body's atmosphere, especially affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather...
hit the building. Train requested an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
steward in the hotel to stand with his back to the window he was sitting by, fearing the wind would blow it in and expecting the steward to block the glass with his own body. The hotel steward objected, and Train became angry and declared he would build a better hotel within 60 days. That same day Train bought the lot across the street from the Herndon House and secured a builder. Train asked how much it would cost to construct a three-story, 120 room establishment, and the builder replied $1000 a day. Train said, "Show me you are worth it. I will be back to Omaha in 60 days and expect to sleep in the building." The Cozzens House Hotel
Cozzens House Hotel
The Cozzens House Hotel, later known as the Canfield House, was a pioneer hotel located at 9th & Harney Streets in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. Constructed in by Union Pacific promoter George Francis Train, the 120 room hotel cost $60,000 to build in 1867...
was finished upon his return.
Union Pacific Headquarters Building
After the Herndon House closed in 1870, the Union Pacific RailroadUnion Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad , headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, is the largest railroad network in the United States. James R. Young is president, CEO and Chairman....
leased the building for use as its first general headquarters, and in 1875 the railroad bought the building outright for $42,000. In 1878 the building was completely renovated for $54,000. The offices on the first floor included UP officials in charge of land, express, and coal departments, as well as the Division Superintendent and train dispatcher offices. The auditor, cashier, general superintendent, general freight, ticket agents and paymaster's offices were located on the second floor, and the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company
Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company
The Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company was an American communications company that operated in the 19th century. The Maine Legislature chartered the company in 1854...
occupied the third story. After vacating the building in 1911, the railroad used it as a storehouse until 1922, when it was demolished.