A History of Miller Park School (2024)

As Omaha’s suburbs grew, they needed schools to meet the needs of young residents. Many of these buildings have been engulfed by the city, and today one of them hides by a park, a community college, and a LOT of other historical places! This is a history of Miller Park Elementary School.

Staring in the 1880s, the Miller Park neighborhood began developing in earnest. There were small farmhouses and farms in the area between Saratoga Avenue and Kansas Avenue, from North 30th Street east to North 24th Street. However, when suburban housing tracts starting filling in the blocks things had to change. The neighborhood would need stores, a restaurant, eventually, gas stations, and soon, a school. Other public schools had been located on the periphery of the neighborhood including the Fort Omaha School and the Fort Street Special School for Incorrigible Boys, but none was equal to the grand factory-style building constructed at 5625 North 28th Avenue in 1928.

Building a Legacy

The namesake of the school, as well as the surrounding neighborhood and bordering park, was Omaha pioneer Dr. George Miller (1830-1920). Dr. Miller was the main owner of the new neighborhood’s land, and sold the properties quickly before he died in 1920.

Located halfway between Fort Street and the Miller Park, in 1910 a a four-room wooden schoolhouse built. Originally with only kindergarten through fourth grade, when it opened the original school had five teachers and 151 students.Within months the building was bursting with students, and a second building was built for grades five through eight.

Within a year, the Omaha school district wanted a new building for the school, and in March 1912, popular Omaha school architect John Latenser (1858-1936) was hired to design the building with a budget of $70,000. When it originally opened, there were more than 800 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. A decade after the new building opened in 1928, the school was a resounding success, and by the late 1930s several organizations studied the school’s programs, including theNational Education Associationand several independent education researchers.

In 1958, seventh and eighth grades were moved to McMillan Junior High School and Miller Park School returned to serving just grades kindergarten through fourth grade.

My Times in the Old School

When I attended Miller Park School in the 1980s, there was a racially integrating student body and packed classrooms. In 1984, areplicaof aone-room schoolhouse at Miller Park was featured by theNational Trust for Historic Preservation. It was setup as a “pioneer classroom” with period desks, a pot-bellied stove and other features.

My favorite teachers from all of my school career were at Miller Park in third grade with Miss Abramson and my fourth grade teacher, Mr. Jeff Koneck. My love for history is directly attributed to Mr. Koneck, who took my class to Fort Omaha to perform in the River City Roundup events there. As an awkward Canadian immigrant kid picked on because of my accent and poor country kid clothes, I finally found a place to belong, and today I spend a lot of time on this NorthOmahaHistory.com project because of that belonging, and ultimately Mr. Koneck, who I’m proud to call a friend today. While I attended the school, its long traditions of having a Cub Scout pack and Girl Scout troop, along with an active PTA and annual school fairs were all intact.

Modern Times at Miller Park

While many things have changed, Miller Park continues to be a positive and influential part of the Miller Park community. In 2002, the building got a major addition and renovation featuring new administrative space, a new gymnasium, cafeteria and classrooms. Today, the attendance area for Miller Park Elementary School goes from Redick Avenue on the north to Sorenson Parkway on the south, fromFlorence Boulevardon the east to North 30th Avenue on the west, as well as theFort Omahacampus. The school population wavers around 400.

As of 2024, the school is 90% students of color and 85% low-income. There is an equivalent of 26 full-time teachers and 1 full-time school counselor at the school.

You Might Like…

• A History of the Miller ParkNeighborhood
• A History of North Omaha’s MillerPark
• A History of the Miller Park Duplex Historic District
• Biography of Dr. George L.Miller