The Durham Museum, Omaha, Nebraska

You hear about many museums in many cities across the United States of America. If you ever visit the city of Omaha, Nebraska, the Durham Museum is one of those museums that you must see. The museum depicts the history of the western frontier of the United States and the history of the Omaha region.

Now some of you are saying, “That is nice to hear about this museum, but Omaha is not on my bucket list of cities to visit. Besides, since this museum has nothing to do with railroads, I have no interest in this museum.”

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Durham Museum in Omaha, Nebraska. As you pull into the parking lot, you notice something familiar. Yes, it is next to a major railroad line, but you notice something else. Yes, it looks like a train station. That is because the Durham Museum is housed in the former Omaha Union Station. The parking lot is just the scratch of the surface.

You enter into the museum, and you see the vaulted ceilings in the same way many train passengers saw it when it was a working station. You walk past the old ticket windows which now houses the museum gift shop. You see the old benches where passengers sat as they waited for the trains to arrive. There are many statues of people set up in the way that the passengers would have looked back in the train station days. As you walk around, you are taken back to a time where railroad passengers filled the station.

There is more.

You go downstairs to the area where the trains once pulled in and out, and you see trains. Well, these trains are on display to show how it looked as passengers boarded and de-boarded. It features a Union Pacific Caboose, the 1243 steam locomotive, a streetcar, passenger cars, a parlor car and model train displays. The trains may no longer pull in and out of this station, but they are still here at the Durham Museum.

The Durham Museum is located at 801 10^th Street at the 10^th Street Bridge. It is next to downtown Omaha minutes from Interstate 80. You can go to www.durhammuseum.org for information about admission and for museum hours.