Omaha is a city in Morris County, northeast Texas, United States. The population as of the 2022 estimates was 1,403.
History
This area of Texas had been lightly settled under Spanish and Mexican rule. It was primarily settled after annexation by the United States by migrants from the South, many of whom arrived before the American Civil War. In that period, farmers had established cotton plantations. It was also an area of pine forests.
Omaha was first named as Morristown in 1880 by former Confederate Lieutenant Thompson Morris; it was a stop on the new St. Louis Southwestern Railway, which spurred the town's development as a trading center. The US Post Office had changed the name to Gavett. In 1886, a group of seven men from Randolph County, Alabama drew names from a hat to pick a new name; the winner, Hugh Ellis, was allowed to rename the settlement after a town in his home state, and he chose Omaha.[5]
"By 1890 Omaha had three churches, a school, a weekly newspaper, and a population of 450." The town was incorporated in 1914. A new enterprise of raising vegetable-plant seedlings for sale developed in the area. During the twentieth century, Omaha was the site of a shipping operation that sent millions of these seedlings to destinations throughout the United States. "In 1980 it had a population of 960 and twenty-three rated businesses", reaching nearly 1,000 by the end of the 20th century.[5]
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km2), all land.[7] There are 966.2 people per square mile.
^Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.[9][10]
Further reading
Jean Connor, A Short History of Morris County (Daingerfield, Texas: Daingerfield Bicentennial Commission, 1975).
