STORY #17: Early Businesses Along Military Avenue | 52nd to 56th Street (South Side)
When the Metcalfe Company began planning the Country Club neighborhood, they imagined something extraordinary along Military Avenue — a Spanish-inspired commercial village known as the Country Club Plaza. Designed to serve as a lively shopping and gathering destination just west of 52nd Street, it would have been Omaha’s answer to Kansas City’s famous Plaza District. But the vision never came to life.
By the 1940s, duplexes and apartment buildings filled much of the property originally reserved for the plaza, welcoming new residents drawn to the area’s tree-lined streets and easy access to Military Avenue.
Businesses and institutions also filled in the land along Military Avenue and Corby Street. In June 1933, St. Paul United Methodist Church completed its new 14,000-square-foot home at 5410 Corby St., quickly becoming both a spiritual home and a community anchor for the growing neighborhood.
Just steps away, neighbors stopped in at Paul Wohlner’s grocery store at 5419 Military Ave. — pictured here in 1937 — where familiar faces, fresh groceries and conversation were part of the daily routine along what is now Northwest Radial Highway.
And for a little fun during the early years of the Great Depression, families could visit the “Little Country Club” miniature golf course at 55th and Military Avenue, a reminder that recreation and community connection mattered just as much as commerce.
Omaha may never have built its own version of Kansas City’s Country Club Plaza, but something just as meaningful took shape — a welcoming mix of homes, apartments, churches and neighborhood businesses that helped attract residents and define the character of the Country Club neighborhood we know today.
Sources: Omaha City Directories. The Durham Museum Photo Archives. Jewish Press July 11, 1930.
Photo Captions:
Sanctuary of St. Paul Methodist church in 1941. The Durham Museum Archives (BF24C-022)
Paul Wohlner's Groceries was located at 5419 Military Avenue in this 1937 picture. The Durham Museum Archives (BF5265-024).
Advertisement for the miniature golf course from the July 11, 1930 edition of the Jewish Press.
