Douglas House (Omaha) |Town or city||Omaha, Nebraska| The
Douglas House was the second hotel in Omaha, Nebraska. Located
in present-day Downtown Omaha on the southwest corner of 13th
and Harney Streets, the hotel housed influential politicians,
speculators, and the first court trial in the Nebraska
Territory. A two-story frame structure, it supplemented the
earlier St. Nicholas Hotel. Built in the fall of 1854 by David
Lindley, the building used wood frame construction and was
reported to be primitive in accommodations and "completely
inadequate as sleeping comfort and the necessities of life were
concerned." For several years the dining room had no floor and
tables were made of rough cut cottonwood boards supported by
poles driven into the ground, with beds made of bed sheets
stuffed with prairie grass. The hotel became the city's first
post office in 1855, only to be usurped by a new dry goods store
called the Big Six. On July 4, 1855, Omaha's first ball was held
at the Douglas House, along with a barbecue