There were settlers in the area of Omaha, located about five miles south of the Missouri state line on old Highway 65, well before the Civil War. In fact, when old 65 was built in the early part of the 20th century, it generally followed the pre-Civil War Springfield-to-Harrison road, which passed through the Omaha area. However, it was not until around 1873, when Omaha got its first post office, that the community took on any semblance of a town, and it was not until 1903, about the time a branch of the Iron Mountain Railroad was built through the area, that Omaha was actually platted.
With the coming of the railroad, the town prospered, as it became a stop along the route. The train depot was actually located about a mile southwest of Omaha at a station called Cricket, but the town of Omaha still benefited from the increased traffic through the area and the ease of access that the railroad brought.
When a representative of the Springfield (MO) Leader visited Omaha in December 1912, he found a thriving little town of about a 150 people that boasted, in addition to its post office, a school, a bank, a hotel, a real estate agent, a couple of doctors, two or three blacksmiths, a barber, a carpenter, a shoemaker, and several general stores, including one that had been in business in Omaha for 28 years. The main industry in and around Omaha, though, was timber. The Leader man thought the area around Omaha would be good land for agriculture and stock raising, but for the time being, timber was king.
I've estimated the 1912 population of Omaha by looking at 1910 census records, but I think my guess of 150 is fairly accurate. The figure seems to jibe with the town's population trend during future decades. Omaha had 146 residents in 1940, but it dropped off to only 91 ten years later. The population rebounded to as high as 207 in 1990, but it has experienced a general downward trend since then, fueled in recent years by the fact new Highway 65, built in the early 2000s, bypassed the town. Omaha's population as of 2020 was only 128 people. However, the town still has a school that serves grades K-12.
