- The castle on Florence Boulevard, built in 1910, has stood for 115 years as one of North Omaha’s most distinctive and admired buildings.
- Owner Wesley Dacus first admired the castle as a seventh grader, later discovered his mother once lived there, and now works to keep its story alive.
- Once listed in the Green Book, the castle provided safe lodging for Black travelers during segregation and today symbolizes resilience, history, and neighborhood pride.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
At Florence and Burdette stands a castle—not in Europe, but right here in North Omaha. The 115-year-old landmark, once listed in the Green Book, is now on the verge of national recognition.
Wesley Dacus lives in—and owns—this three-story fourplex, built from concrete stone.
“I have not changed much since I bought it in 1995… it’s got a lot of—it’s got a lot of character to it,” he said.
But his connection to the castle goes back decades. As a seventh grader, he had a friend who lived there, and he would admire the building from afar.
“ME: how come you never came in? because we was kinda of scared of it," said Dacus. "Because there was a lot of scrubs around the place.. it looked haunted at one time,” Dacus recalled.
Years later, he discovered his own mother had once lived in the castle, too. That’s when he began digging into its history—and why he wants others to notice it as well.
“I think some of the kids in the neighborhood are kind of in aw with this because its the only building in the neighborhood that looks like this,” he said.
Built in 1910, the castle first served as a hotel. It became a safe place for Black travelers passing through Nebraska during segregation, when reliable lodging was hard to find.
“We make sure that young people are aware of this—the fact that this building is still standing in spit of everything that’s gone in North Omaha,” said Shelley McCafferty with Preserve.
Now, Preserve Omaha is pushing to get the property officially listed as a historic landmark. But as the city looks ahead, funding to preserve more areas next year could be at risk, with possible staffing cuts looming.
“It’s really a testiment to the resillancy of this community… and the history fo the community… and something to be proud of for the people here,” McCafferty added.
“Lets do what we can do to be successful… because people still need to know what this monument is… its very special,” Dacus said.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
