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Historic Buildings and Ranch Homes

Omaha Livestock Exchange Building: The Last Monument of the Stockyards

An eleven-story tower from 1926 is what remains of the market that made South Omaha the nation's biggest stockyard town.

What is the Omaha Livestock Exchange Building?

The Livestock Exchange Building at 4920 South 30th Street is an eleven-story, H-shaped tower in South Omaha. According to the National Park Service page on the building, it was designed by the Omaha architect George Prinz and completed in May 1926, and it mixes Romanesque and Italian Renaissance revival styles. It replaced an earlier exchange building, which the National Park Service dates to 1885 and The Reader dates to 1886, so the sources differ by a year.

Its historical marker calls it the one lasting monument of Omaha's great livestock market era, as quoted by The Reader, which also puts the building's size at 240,000 square feet.

How did South Omaha become a stockyards town?

In 1883 cattlemen and businessmen founded the Union Stockyard Company on South Omaha farmland, with pens that held livestock bound for Chicago. The Reader's centennial article says a Wyoming cattleman and six Omaha businessmen created the company. Packing plants followed soon after, and the National Park Service says South Omaha earned the nickname Magic City for its rapid growth.

The company built its first Livestock Exchange Building in the 1880s to house meatpacking offices. By 1924 it had outgrown that building, and the 1926 tower was built to reflect the industry's prosperity.

Inside the 1926 building

The tower held much more than offices. The National Park Service lists a bank, Stockyards National Bank, along with apartments, ballrooms, a convention hall and other businesses. The Reader adds that the lobby used marble and tile imported from Italy and that Peter Kiewit and Sons built the structure.

The building once stood amid about 100 acres of pens, sheds and scale houses. The Reader reports that more than 1,000 people visited it daily in the 1940s and 1950s, a figure it attributes to reports rather than a count.

When was Omaha the biggest stockyard in America?

Four national packing houses operated in South Omaha in the 1940s: Armour, Cudahy, Swift and Wilson. In 1955, the National Park Service says, Omaha's stockyards surpassed Chicago's as the country's largest stockyard and meat processing center. The Reader adds that by 1957 the livestock industry employed half the city's workforce.

The peak did not last. Market changes in the 1960s led to decline, and three of the largest packing companies closed. The last major packing house closed in 1976, which the park service says ended the stockyards' great era. The stockyards themselves closed in 1999, according to The Reader.

A new life as a health center and apartments

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999, the same year the stockyards closed, according to The Reader, and it is also an Omaha Local Landmark. A public-private renovation finished in 2005.

OneWorld Community Health Centers has been the anchor tenant since 2005 and occupies three floors. The center serves more than 50,000 patients a year at 20 clinical locations in the Omaha area, according to The Reader. The building also holds more than 100 apartments and a top-floor ballroom. The tower turned 100 in May 2026, and OneWorld held an open house for the centennial.

What Made It Work

The Exchange Building survived the stockyards because the city and its partners found a use for it. The record shows a sturdy building plus a deliberate reuse plan.

  • Built to last: the tower used imported marble and tile and a heavy H-shaped plan, built by a major regional contractor.
  • A town inside a building: banks, apartments, ballrooms and offices meant many uses were already in place.
  • Landmark status: the National Register and local landmark designations support preservation.
  • Public-private renovation: a partnership with the City of Omaha completed work in 2005.
  • Mission-driven anchor tenant: OneWorld occupies three floors and plans expansion on the campus.
  • A cost to note: the building outlived the market that built it, and the packing houses and stockyards closed by 1976 and 1999.

Visit and learn more

The tower stands in South Omaha, where the old stockyards district is still part of the city's identity. For other livestock market stories, visit farm.FM's agribusiness section and read a story about the Omaha stockyards.

Timeline

  1. 1883Union Stockyard Company founded on South Omaha farmland
  2. 1885First Livestock Exchange Building built; The Reader gives 1886
  3. 1926Eleven-story Livestock Exchange Building completed in May
  4. 1955Omaha becomes the country's largest stockyard and meat processing center
  5. 1957Livestock industry employs half the city's workforce, per The Reader
  6. 1976Last major packing house closes
  7. 1999Stockyards close; building listed on the National Register
  8. 2005Public-private renovation completed; OneWorld moves in
  9. 2026Building turns 100

Frequently asked questions

When was the Omaha Livestock Exchange Building built?

It was completed in May 1926 and designed by Omaha architect George Prinz. It replaced an earlier exchange building from the 1880s.

What is in the Omaha Livestock Exchange Building today?

OneWorld Community Health Centers is the anchor tenant, and the building also holds more than 100 apartments and a ballroom after a renovation completed in 2005.

Was Omaha the largest stockyard in the United States?

Yes. The National Park Service says that in 1955 South Omaha's stockyards surpassed Chicago's as the largest stockyard and meat processing center in the country.

When did the Omaha stockyards close?

The Reader says the stockyards closed in 1999. The last major packing house had closed in 1976, which the National Park Service says ended the great era.

Sources and further reading

Profiles are compiled from public sources and reviewed against them. See our editorial policy to suggest a correction.

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