Editorial

Preservationists note irony of ConAgra's move

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Rows of historic warehouse buildings were torn down 25 years ago to make way for a new office complex more more like a college campus because that's what ConAgra wanted.

It worked for a while, but now ConAgra is moving its Omaha headquarters to an old, converted downtown Chicago warehouse building, because that's what young, creative employees like.

Meanwhile, the surviving Omaha warehouse district now known as the Old Market is one of the state's top tourist attractions, with its shops, restaurants and apartments.

"Jobbers Canyon" was central to Omaha's role as a major transportation hub in the late 1800s, with workers unloading equipment, food and furniture for sale across the upper Midwest.

Its demolition for the ConAgra campus is still the largest demolition of a district on the National Register of Historic Places.

The city did try to talk ConAgra into using some of the 22 warehouses in Jobbers Canyon, but the CEO at the time, Mike Harper, was not interested in any of the "ugly red brick buildings."

Now his successor is moving workers into similar buildings in Chicago.

Long-time McCook residents will recall the controversy when B Street bricks were removed to make way for modern pavement on U.S. Highway 6-34. Thankfully, the "on the bricks" flavor of lower Norris Avenue survives with its shops, restaurants and bars.

Thousands of jobs for 25 years is nothing to be sneezed at, but was it worth the sacrifice of irreplaceable, century-old structures? That question's even more valid now that the whims of fashion have changed to favor old downtown buildings.

One thing for sure, once the old buildings are gone, they're gone forever.

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