STORY #24: Hansen’s Addition at 52nd & Blondo
This 1927 photograph was taken at 52nd and Blondo Streets looking east, across open ground toward a neighborhood that was developing just ahead of the Country Club District.
What you see in the distance is Hansen’s Addition, a subdivision that was already filling with homes while the surrounding Country Club area was still largely open fields.
Hansen’s Addition was originally platted in April 1923. Its boundaries ran from Blondo Street north to Lake Street and from 50th Street west to 51st Street.
The development was the work of two Omaha business partners: Thorwald J. Hansen and Temple McFayden, along with their wives Margaret and Elsie. Hansen served as president of the Hansen Investment Co., while McFayden headed the Temple McFayden Co., a firm involved in real estate, building, lumber and coal.
Their timing proved perfect.
Within about a year, the subdivision filled with attractive new homes, reflecting the growing demand for housing in northwest Omaha during the 1920s building boom. Reports noted that lots in Hansen’s Addition were already valued at around $2,500—a strong return at the time.
The plat map shown here illustrates the orderly grid of lots and streets laid out by the developers. In the photograph, those carefully planned blocks are just beginning to fill in with homes.
Today it’s easy to forget that when the Country Club District began developing nearby in the mid-1920s, much of the surrounding land still looked like this—open fields slowly giving way to new neighborhoods.
Hansen’s Addition proved to be a successful early investment and remains part of the historic fabric of the area today.
Photo Captions:
This is a 1927 photo from 52nd and Blondo Street looking east. Courtesy The Durham Archives (BF20-120).
Hansens Plat courtesy of Douglas County Engineering.
