Omaha Methodist

Stewart County
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Org 1895
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Photography by Steve Robinson

There is not a lot of history available on the Omaha Methodist Church. We do know that the church was built on land that was deeded to trustees J. H. Carter and Arthus Allen in November of 1895. The Omaha Improvement Company sold nine lots of land to be used for a church and a parsonage and both were constructed at the same time. The parsonage was discontinued in 1930 and was sold and razed in the early 1940’s. The church history states that the pews in the church supposedly came from St.Luke church in Columbus but this is not authenticated. There is also mention of a large bell said to have come from England ‘a long time ago‘. The church at Omaha was the successor to the Florence church. The present church, though 120 years old, is still in remarkably good shape. It is a handsome structure of corner steeple design, a very popular style at the close of the 19th century. As seen above, the shingled steeple adds a pleasing decorative touch.

Omaha is an interesting little village located on the banks of the Chattahoochee River south of Columbus and at the top of Lake Eufala. “Omaha” is an Indian(Creek?) Tribal name which means “Upstream People” or “Against the Wind”. According to an old write up, ‘The village was founded in the 1890’s as a result of the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Omaha, a town in the western part of Stewart county, was incorporated by act of the legislature on Oct. 5, 1891. It is on the Seaboard Air Line railroad, in the Mineral Spring militia district, and in 1900 reported a population of 152. It has a money order post office, express and telegraph services, some good stores, schools, churches, etc. Besides the railroad facilities the town is near enough to the Chattahoochee river to profit by the rates offered by the river traffic, which makes it a good shipping point for the products of the surrounding county’. We would love to have some more history of either the church or the village of Omaha if anyone has any. It is worth a trip to look around. There is a similar looking Baptist church in the village and the three historic churches of Louvale (on this website) are located a few miles away.