Of the dozens of buildings that once made up the Jobbers Canyon Historic District, only one still stands. The McKesson-Robbins Warehouse, tucked within Gene Leahy Mall, was spared while the rest were bulldozed.
Located at 900 Farnam Street, the warehouse was built for M.E. Smith and Company, the largest wholesale dry goods firm in Omaha. Founded in 1870, the company started in Council Bluffs before moving to Omaha in 1886 where it continued to expand and began to manufacture clothing.
The warehouse was one of two buildings that were originally called the Nash Block as they were financed by Catherine B. Nash. Born in Quebec, she moved to Omaha with her husband Edward Nash in 1868 where he served as the president of American Smelting & Refining Company (ASARCO) for a number of years.
Nash hired prominent local architect Thomas Kimball to design the buildings, which stretched along 9th Street from Farnam to Douglas. The two buildings were separated by the Union Pacific Railroad tracks that ran along an alley in between. Among his other work, Kimball designed the old Omaha Public Library and St. Cecilia’s Cathedral.
Kimball designed the buildings in a Renaissance Revival-style with a French Industrial interior. The eight-story warehouse fronting Farnam Street had a full basement and was constructed of a combination of masonry bearing walls and heavy timber. Its exterior included cast-iron lintels, arcing brickwork and arched windows below the roof eaves, corbelled brick cornice and limestone.
It was the first warehouse in the city to utilize modern fire protection including brick enclosures for the stairs and elevators as well as fireproof doors and an automatic sprinkler system. It included other notable features that were not common at the time, including a cafeteria and recreation room in addition to medical and sleeping rooms as well as a nursery…