STORY #11: Who Was Theodore “Ted” Metcalfe?
The next generation behind the Country Club District
Theodore “Ted” Metcalfe grew up surrounded by ink, headlines and campaign buttons. Born in Omaha in 1894, he was the son of Richard L. and Bessie Metcalfe—and journalism and politics ran in his blood.
By age 16, Ted was already city editor of a Nebraska newspaper. As a teenager, he edited papers in Fairbury, Nebraska, and later in the Panama Canal Zone. While attending the University of Nebraska, he became editor-in-chief of the campus publication The Awgwan and entered law school. His first love, however, was always news and public life.
Ted’s early years were anything but ordinary. He started his own paper in high school, unloaded railroad boxcars for 15 cents an hour, edited newspapers that folded, and worked for the Washington Post running a circulation contest that sent ministers to the Holy Land if their church members bought subscriptions. Adventure and ambition followed him everywhere.
During World War I, he served as an officer in the Nebraska National Guard and the U.S. Army Infantry. Back home, he passed the bar, briefly practiced law and published a weekly paper with his father. But a turning point came when N.P. Dodge offered him a job in real estate. Ted soon launched his own construction company and joined his father and brothers in what became the Metcalfe Company.
As secretary-treasurer of the Metcalfe Company and Country Club District, Inc., Ted helped turn vision into reality—overseeing the development of the Country Club Neighborhood. Public service remained central to his life: he was elected lieutenant governor of Nebraska (1931–33), founded Boys State as state commander of the American Legion and created the honorary “Nebraska’s Navy.”
Though he became a construction executive by profession, Ted’s heart never left journalism and politics. His drive and imagination helped shape not only a neighborhood, but a generation of civic leadership in Nebraska.
Together, Richard and Ted Metcalfe brought big ideas, public spirit, and lasting impact to Omaha—leaving their mark on both the city and the streets we still walk today.
Source: Metcalfe Didn’t Plan Success, It Pursued Him Omaha Sun, April 8, 1965; Nebraskana: Biographical Sketches of Nebraska Men and Women of Achievement Who Have Been Awarded Life Membership in the Nebraskana Society published in 1932
Photo Captions
Photograph of Theodore W. "Ted" Metcalfe from Nebraskana Book published in 1932.
Ted Metcalfe interview in the April 8, 1965 edition of the Omaha Sun.
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