Story #49: 2201 Country Club Avenue (1929)
The Crime Boss Moves to Country Club.
Some Country Club homes have fascinating architecture. Others have fascinating owners. 2201 Country Club Avenue had both.
Construction began in July 1929 when Mary L. Kinsler commissioned a two-story brick veneer residence in the rapidly growing Country Club District. George Rasmussen served as contractor, and architect B. Kvenild designed the picturesque home.
Before anyone moved in, the house became a showcase for the neighborhood. Furnished by Thomas Kilpatrick & Company and marketed through the Metcalfe Company, it was opened to the public as a model home. Newspaper advertisements encouraged Omahans to "Follow the Crowd" to inspect the fully furnished residence, while one article noted that thousands visited the home during its open-house period.
The house featured a living room stretching across the south side with a fireplace and built-in bookcases, a formal dining room, kitchen with an old-fashioned butler's pantry, attached garage, and two bedrooms upstairs. Interior furnishings and decorations were supervised by Kilpatrick's decorating department.
Then the story took an unexpected turn.
The eventual purchaser was Thomas "Tom" Dennison, the man widely known as Omaha's political boss.
For more than three decades, Dennison had been one of the most powerful—and controversial—figures in Nebraska politics. Arriving in Omaha in the 1890s, he built a political organization that influenced elections, controlled patronage, and earned him nicknames such as the "Kingmaker" and "Boss Tom." Even after claiming to retire from politics in the late 1920s, newspapers still followed his every move.
In October 1930, the 72-year-old Dennison secretly married Nevajo Truman in Crown Point, Indiana. Omaha newspapers reported that the bride was 21 years old. Later court records revealed she had actually been only 17 when they married.
The newlyweds made 2201 Country Club Avenue their Omaha address, and Nevajo's mother also lived in the home. Yet despite the prestigious residence, Dennison appears to have spent only part of his time there. Newspaper accounts noted that he divided his time between Country Club and the former Ben Gallagher estate near 72nd and Military Avenue, where his beloved White Eagle Kennels housed what newspapers called one of the finest collections of wire-haired fox terriers in the West. He also frequently stayed with his daughter, Mrs. John (Francis) Reagan.
For a brief time, the young Mrs. Dennison became something of a local social figure. In 1933 she was listed as an entrant in the Ak-Sar-Ben Horse Show, riding the prize-winning horse "Peggy O'Neill." Her address? 2201 Country Club Avenue.
But the marriage was short-lived.
In August 1933, Nevajo filed for divorce from the 75-year-old political leader. Newspapers reported that the couple had reached a property settlement and that the action would not be contested. The divorce proceedings revealed both the large age difference and the fact that she had been only 17 at the time of their marriage.
Less than six months later, Omaha awoke to headlines announcing Dennison's death.
The man who had dominated Omaha politics for a generation died in February 1934. His funeral was held from his residence near 72nd and Military Avenue rather than from the Country Club home, further suggesting where he had spent much of his final years.
Today, 2201 Country Club Avenue stands as another beautiful home in the historic district. Yet for a brief chapter in the early 1930s, it served as the Country Club address of one of the most influential—and notorious—figures in Omaha history, a political boss whose story remains intertwined with the city's past nearly a century later.
Photo Captions:
Announcement that Mary Kinsler plans to build a home at 2201 Country Club from the July 14, 1929 Omaha World Herald.
The Omaha Bee advertises "Kilpatrick's Model Home" open for inspection in October of 1929.
Ad as it appeared in the October 20, 1929 Omaha World Herald for the model home at 2201 Country Club Avenue.
Dennison wedding announcement from the November 11, 1930 Omaha World Herald.
Divorce announcement published in Omaha World Herald from August 22, 1933.
Mrs. Dennison enters Ak-Sar-Ben horse show as reported in the November 9, 1933 edition of the Omaha Bee.
Rumors of Dennison's ill health are published and denied.
