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Past and Present:

Images of the UNMC Campus

The University of Nebraska Medical Center is an iconic fixture of Midtown Omaha with its heart situated along 42nd Street, between Emile and Dewey Streets. But the school has not always been known by this name, nor has it always been at this location.

 

It all began in 1881 with the foundation of the Omaha Medical College at 11th and Mason Streets. That wooden building was moved to 12th and Pacific Streets in 1886 and was replaced with a brick building in 1893. Later expansions accommodated growing class sizes. In 1902, the College joined the University of Nebraska as the College of Medicine, but still operated in Omaha. Medical students took their first two years of basic science classes in Lincoln, and their last two years of medical school studies and clinicals in Omaha.

 

Fast outgrowing its facilities, several prominent Omaha physicians lobbied for the State Legislature and Board of Regents to consolidate the college on one campus in Omaha, and to provide new and updated facilities. This they did in 1913 with the construction of the North Laboratory building on the corner of 42nd and Dewey Streets.

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