About this property
Saint Cecilia Cathedral is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. Located at 701 North 40th Street in the Gold Coast Historic District, the cathedral was ranked in 1905 as one of the ten largest cathedrals in the country. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1887, Bishop James O'Connor, leader of the Apostolic Vicariate of Nebraska, erected Saint Cecilia Parish in the western area of Omaha. The parishioners had already constructed a small wooden church on a leased property with a 50 feet (15 m) bell tower. It was close to a railway line, making it easy for Catholics from other parts of the city to worship there. It was dedicated in 1888. Also in 1888, Pope Leo XIII elevated the Apostolic Vicariate of Nebraska into the Diocese of Omaha, with Saint Philomena Church designated as its first cathedral. In 1898, the lease on the Saint Cecilia property ran out. Although the landlord said he would extend the lease, the parish leaders thought it wise to plan to move the wooden church to a property they owned. Then in 1901, Bishop Richard Scannell decided that this parish property should become the site of the new Saint Cecilia Cathedral, replacing Saint Philomena. In 1904, the Saint Cecilia wooden church was moved to a section of the property, to serve the parish until the cathedral was constructed next to it. Scannell hired the architect Thomas Rogers Kimball of Omaha to design the new cathedral. The cathedral plans were finalized in 1905. Scannell and the construction committee agreed that the diocese should not go into debt over this project and decided to build the cathedral at a slow pace. Many Catholics in the diocese disagreed with the choice of its location as being too far from the population centers. The cornerstone was laid on October 6, 1907, with 30,000 spectators watching the ceremony. The first mass in the unfinished cathedral was held in 1916. In 1917, a severe windstorm blew the scaffolding off the cathedral onto the wooden church, demolishing it. In 1945, Pope Pius XII elevated the Diocese of Omaha to the Archdiocese of Omaha. After decades of construction, Saint Cecilia was finally consecrated in 1959. In 2004, a $1.2 million pipe organ was installed in the cathedral. In 2007, a painting of The Virgin Immaculata was stolen from Saint Cecilia. The painting was an 8-by-5-foot (2.4 by 1.5 m) image, part of a collection donated to the cathedral in 2002. It had an estimated value of $100,000. An Omaha man in 2009 pleaded no contest to the theft; the painting, sold in Mexico, was never recovered.
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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).
Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
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Questions about this property
When was St. Cecilia's Cathedral listed on the National Register?
St. Cecilia's Cathedral was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 25, 1979.
What type of historic resource is St. Cecilia's Cathedral?
St. Cecilia's Cathedral is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for St. Cecilia's Cathedral?
The period of significance for St. Cecilia's Cathedral is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1905.
Can I research the history near St. Cecilia's Cathedral?
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