During the 1930s the Federal Writers’ Project described Omaha as a man’s town, and histories of the city have all but ignored women. However, women have played major roles in education, health, culture, social services, and other fields since the city’s founding in 1854. In The Women Who Built Omaha Eileen Wirth tells the stories of groundbreaking women who built Omaha, including Susette Bright Eyes LaFlesche, who translated at the trial of Chief Standing Bear; Mildred Brown, an African American newspaper publisher; Sarah Joslyn, who personally paid for Joslyn Art Museum; Mrs. B of Nebraska Furniture Mart; and the Sisters of Mercy, who started Omaha’s Catholic schools. Omaha women have been champion athletes and suffragists as well as madams and bootleggers. They transformed the city’s parks, co-founded Creighton University, helped run Boys Town, and so much more, in ways that continue today.

Eileen Wirth is a professor emeritus of journalism at Creighton University and a senior writer for Legacy Preservation in Omaha. She is the author or coauthor of several books, including From Society Page to Front Page: Nebraska Women in Journalism (Nebraska, 2013), Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, and A History Lover’s Guide to Omaha.