From 1892 to 1978, a large building dominated the corner of 16th and Corby. It was a busy corner for more than a half century, with a massive movie theater and large stores on each corner. However, this building seemingly came and went with little fanfare, until now. This is a history of the Kyner Block at North 16th and Corby Streets in North Omaha.
The Building
The history of the lot at the southeast corner of North 16th Street and Corby Street begins with its position along the developing corridor once known as Sherman Avenue. In the 1880s, property records identified this specific tract of land as the holdings of the heirs of S. Kyner. Their grandson, J. H. Kyner (1846-1939), was a railroad builder and Civil War veteran who had moved to Omaha in 1878. Within a few years in his successful career, he managed a vast real estate portfolio in the city worth $250,000. As a contractor, Kyner was one of the main developers in North Omaha, grading streets for his neighborhood’s grid, including Sherman Avenue.
During the 1880s, the Kyner family grew in its powers and their land was in an importantly booming area, situated near the large estates of early Omaha figures like Herman Kountze, yet poised for the dense commercial expansion that followed the city’s northward growth. Located just south of the massively important intersection of 16th and Locust, in the 1880s, Sherman Avenue was becoming this was a busy street that was just beginning to build up. By the early 1890s, it was located on the streetcar line to the East Omaha Factory District and led to the bustling Saratoga neighborhood, the industrial railroad roundhouses in Sulphur Springs, and other important industries nearby. Surrounded by the Kountze Place and Lake School neighborhoods, North 16th Street was also on the commuter’s journey to the village of Carter Lake, the town of East Omaha, and the growing Sherman neighborhood.
In 1892, a building permit was issued to Naomi Kyner (1852-1895) for $35,000 that marked the final chapter of the rural past in this section of North Omaha. It was a huge investment that changed the whole neighborhood by building a massive structure that effectively became a permanent commercial anchor. The new half-block long structure called the Kyner Block measured 150 feet along North 16th, and was 85 feet deep…