Country Club Historic District

10/18/2026

STORY #66: Fred Berglund - The Builder Behind Three Kvenild Homes

An architect may draw the plans, but a skilled builder turns those plans into a home.

Our previous story introduced Birger Kvenild, the architect behind six known houses in the Country Club neighborhood. Three of those homes were constructed in 1933 by Swedish-born builder Fred Berglund.

Berglund was born in Sweden on Sept. 7, 1896, and immigrated to the United States in 1916. A skilled carpenter, he initially settled in the Pacific Northwest, where a large Swedish immigrant community offered both familiarity and employment opportunities.

The exact date Berglund arrived in Omaha remains unclear, but he had settled here by 1921. On June 9 of that year, he married Elsa Amelia Johnson. Born in Pacific Junction, Iowa, in 1898, Elsa was also the daughter of Swedish immigrants.

Berglund established his own residential building business in 1922. During the following years, he became a prolific builder of homes in Benson and in the developing areas north of Blondo Street and east of 52nd Street.

By 1930, Fred and Elsa lived at 4966 Ohio St. The following year, Berglund began a project that would introduce his work to the growing Country Club neighborhood.

In 1931, he secured a $5,000 permit to construct a one-and-one-half-story brick residence at 5037 Parker St. The permit listed Berglund as both owner and builder.

After selling their Ohio Street home for $6,500, Fred and Elsa moved into the new Parker Street house. Although it became their residence, Berglund also intended it to serve as a model home—a showcase of his craftsmanship that could attract additional clients in the Country Club neighborhood.

That opportunity came two years later.

In 1933, the Platte Valley Land and Investment Company hired Berglund to construct three brick homes designed by architect Birger Kvenild. Newspaper advertisements announced their completion that October and invited prospective buyers to inspect all three.

Although each house featured a distinctly different exterior design, their interior arrangements were similar. Each included a living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom and two bedrooms on the first floor. A large bedroom, second bathroom and storage space filled the upper level.

Advertisements promoted such modern features as colorful tile bathrooms, fireplaces, attached garages and warm-air heating systems fueled by oil burners.

The three Kvenild-designed, Berglund-built residences were:

🏠 2024 N. 52nd St., associated with Isaac W. and Nora E. Mickle. Isaac worked as a traveling representative.

🏠 2316 N. 52nd St., associated with Nelson B. and Grace S. Updike Jr. Nelson served as president of the Updike Grain Corporation, part of a family business closely connected to Omaha’s grain industry.

🏠 2320 N. 52nd St., associated with Donald T. and Alice F. Lee. Donald was vice president and manager of the Don Lee Furniture Company.

Berglund’s work on these houses helped transform Kvenild’s architectural plans into three distinctive Country Club homes. Together, they also reveal how the neighborhood developed: architects, land companies and skilled builders combined their talents to create houses that offered traditional craftsmanship alongside the newest conveniences.

Berglund eventually moved to Florida, where he lived for approximately 20 years. He died in Polk County on Feb. 11, 1987, at age 90.

His Country Club story, however, began with the house he built for himself at 5037 Parker St.—a home intended not only as a place to live, but also as an advertisement for what he could create.

We’ll take a closer look at that house in our next story. 💚

10/16/2026

🍂 Fall Cleanup Reminder!

Our neighborhood isn’t on this year’s Fall Cleanup schedule, but there’s a nearby option to take advantage of! Waypoint Church (1313 N. 48th Ave.) will host a cleanup this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

Check the link below for details on accepted items and other locations.

Fall cleanup is when Omaha residents can get rid of bulky items that don't fit in their cart. It's free and a joint effort between the City, Keep Omaha Beautiful inc., and the participating neighborhood organizations.

10/11/2026

Story #65: "Do you have a Kvenild?”

It sounds like a question Omaha architecture enthusiasts might ask with a touch of envy. During a career spanning approximately four decades, architect Birger J. Kvenild designed some of the city’s most distinctive homes—including six known residences in the Country Club neighborhood.

Born in Norway in 1879, Kvenild studied there and in Germany and England before coming to the United States. He worked as an architect and engineer in New York City, before arriving in Omaha around 1910.

That November, Omaha hired Kvenild as a draftsman in the city engineer’s office at a salary of $100 per month. By 1916, he had become secretary of the newly organized Omaha City Planning Board.

One of his early assignments was to create a detailed map of Greater Omaha showing its 35,221 residences, 3,835 stores and 212 office buildings. Kvenild gathered the information with help from postal carriers, who compiled data from their routes.

In 1920, Kvenild established a private architectural and engineering practice and became known for designing some of Omaha’s finest residences. In 1919, he designed and built his own home at 5118 California St. in Dundee, where he also operated his architectural firm.

His six known Country Club neighborhood residences include:

🏠 1927 — 2337 N. 55th St.
Kvenild designed this home for Colin E. and Gertrude C. Forbes. Colin worked for the Mutual Benefit Health & Accident Association, which later became Mutual of Omaha.

🏠 1928 — 5036 Decatur/1801 Country Club Ave.
This English-style brick-veneer home occupies a prominent corner overlooking Country Club Avenue and Decatur Street. Construction began in March 1928, when it was described as a one-and-one-half-story residence costing $6,500 to build.

Henry A. and Evelyn Hovey purchased the completed home later that year for a reported $13,500. Henry had recently returned to Omaha from Sterling, Colorado, to become an assistant cashier at the Stock Yards National Bank.

A newspaper feature described the home’s large reception hall, living and dining rooms, breakfast nook and kitchen on the first floor. Three large bedrooms and a tiled bathroom occupied the second floor. The house also featured a gas furnace and an attached two-car garage—an increasingly desirable amenity as automobiles became part of everyday life. Metcalfe Company served as the builder.

🏠 1929 — 2201 Country Club Ave.
Mary L. Kinsler commissioned this picturesque two-story brick-veneer residence, with George Rasmussen serving as contractor. Furnished by Thomas Kilpatrick & Company, it opened to the public as a model home and drew thousands of visitors.

The house later became the Country Club address of Tom Dennison, Omaha’s influential and controversial political boss. We shared its remarkable history in Story 49.

🏠 And three homes he did with builder Fred Berglund – 2024 N. 52nd St., 2316 N. 52nd St. and 2320 N. 52nd St. – which we will discuss more in the next post.

✨A Commercial Vision for Country Club✨
Kvenild’s influence on the area extended beyond its homes. He also prepared a rendering for a coordinated commercial district planned along Military Avenue at the edge of Country Club.

The ambitious development was envisioned as a Spanish-style shopping and entertainment district modeled after Kansas City’s celebrated Country Club Plaza. Plans called for shops, a drugstore, garage, theater and other businesses arranged in buildings designed to complement the surrounding residential neighborhood.

Most of that grand vision was never realized.

Kvenild did, however, design a commercial building constructed in 1930 at Military Avenue and Miami Street. Owned by S.H. Rosenberg and built by the Cooper Construction Company, the brick-and-tile “community center” cost more than $11,000.

Its first phase provided space for a drugstore, garage, shoe shop and barbershop. Kvenild’s plans allowed for eight additional storefronts extending south from the corner.

Kvenild left Omaha for California near the end of his life and died there in 1953. An obituary remembered him as the architect of “many of Omaha’s finest homes.”

His six known Country Club residences—and his plans for the neighborhood’s commercial edge—show the breadth of that influence. Kvenild was not simply designing individual buildings. He was helping imagine how a growing Omaha neighborhood might look, function and develop.

Nearly a century later, his houses remain among Country Club’s architectural treasures.

So, to the fortunate owners of these six homes: Yes, you have a Kvenild. 💚

10/04/2026

Story #64: Silent Witness - A Guest Post by Graham Herbst, Nebraska Forest Service

Trees are silent witnesses to the movement of our lives. They are there when we learn to swing on the playground. They hide us during games of tag until the streetlights turn on. When we take pictures for graduation and homecoming, they are behind us with arms outstretched like parents and siblings, blooming brightly for the camera.

In my daughter Evelyn’s first year (spring of 2012), I helped with a tree planting at Metcalfe Park which was near our house on Hamilton Street. The playground had received a major upgrade, and some new trees were the perfect way to finish the project once the construction was completed. Metcalfe Park has a few beautiful old zelkova trees that probably date back to the 1960s, so I picked a few more to honor those veteran elm relatives along with tree lilac, various oak species, Kentucky coffee tree and white fir.

Later in the day when the girls stopped by to see how things looked in the park, it was that lone conifer that seemed like the perfect backdrop for a photo of my wife and our wobbly, chunky little 3-month-old and her amazing full head of curly hair. Since evergreen trees are full and wide at the base and often smaller at planting than deciduous trees, it was the perfect scale for Evelyn to “stand” in front of (with some help from mom of course). This was her local playground, and we knew that we would be spending a lot of time there in the coming years.

I never really decided that this would be the place where we came back for new pictures of her as she grew up. It became that place very naturally, as if the place chose us and invited us back somehow. This fir tree is our silent witness, a family member reminding Sarah and me of how quickly these days go by. It was only a few years later that we moved to a different home further away, but the fir tree at Metcalfe Park will always be where we stop by for a new picture of the young lady we see all the time and the tree that we don’t see all that often anymore. With love and understanding at planting time, the tree thrives and grows much faster than Evelyn, which gives me much happiness along the way, just like my family does. 💚

09/30/2026

We sensed a bit of "Merch Envy" at our Centennial Picnic! 👀
So, to make sure everybody is ready for 'sweater weather' we've opened up our CCHD Store until ✨December 1st!✨

Visit our website to order, we'll deliver to your door before Christmas! While you're shopping, be sure to check out our limited supply of Centennial Merch...when it's gone, it's gone! 💚

🔗 https://www.countryclubhd.org/merch

09/28/2026

Story #63: Nathan Dewell Home Picture - 2011 N. 53rd St. 📷

On Sept. 14, 1934, Robert P. Moore took ownership of 2011 North 53rd St., a classic two-story Tudor-style home. What brought the Moore family to Country Club neighborhood? American Telephone and Telegraph.

During the Depression, the Metcalfe Company relied on common-sense marketing to sell homes, and it worked. Moore was part of AT&T’s growing presence in Omaha, a hub for the shift to dial-tone phones. AT&T employees moved into Country Club along with a steady stream of executives from banking, insurance, publishing and corporations including Union Pacific Railroad.

Like many homes lovingly cared for in Country Club, the first owners of 2011 N. 53rd St lived there for more than 35 years. 💚

09/25/2026

Story #62: - Oscar T. Bowles – Architect

In the early 1930s, architect Oscar T. Bowles made a name for himself in Omaha’s neighborhoods including Country Club, Happy Hollow, Fairacres and Westside.

Bowles started out in his hometown of Central City, Nebraska, one of 11 children and the son of a union soldier in the Civil War. After studies at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and the Chicago Technical Institute, he managed the Almquist Wallpaper and Paint Co. The store served a steady stream of builders and decorators connected to every phase of residential and commercial construction in Merrick County and beyond.

Bowles’ and his wife, Josephine Stuben, an Omaha native, made the jump to Omaha in 1926 where they eventually bought a home in Morton Meadows. Bowles’ real-world experience in construction fit nicely with the Metcalf Company’s precise requirements for a “showplace” Country Club neighborhood.

Work permits show Bowles teamed up primarily with two builders – Frank Kurtz and August Julien. While his homes were primarily Tudor style, each had their own unique design and character.

✨Are you living in a Country Club home designed by Oscar Bowles? ✨

The National Historic Register application lists these13 homes:

5112 Parker St. built for Ray D. Kelley, 1932
2014 N. 52nd St. built for Max Selko, 1933
2029 N. 53rd St. built for James Kinney, 1933
2011 N. 53rd St. built for Robert P. Moore, 1934
2508 N. 52nd St. built for Henry E. Voss, 1934
2537 N. 53rd St. built for Norse Olander, 1935
2004 N. 52nd St. built for Harold A. Amsberger, 1936
2008 N. 52nd St. built for Dale McKinnon, 1936
5315 Grant St. built for Fred E. Lippold, 1937
2211 Country Club Ave. built for James W. Kostoryz, 1938
2207 Country Club Ave. built for Roy W. Callan,1939
2205 Country Club Ave. built for Lloyd E. Sherman, 1939
5061 Blondo St. built for Archie Kavich, 1947

By the mid 1930s, Bowles’ work in Country Club and adjacent neighborhoods gained recognition. General Electric selected a Bowles’ to represent Omaha in its nationwide competition to showcase the latest in home building. His “New American Home” in the Loveland neighborhood was front-page news in the Omaha World-Herald, promising to “save housewives many steps” with unmatched comfort and conveniences. Thousands of visitors toured the home packed with electronic conveniences including the chime doorbell.

By the 1940s, Bowles took on a new role—chief instructor at the University of Omaha. Fueled by his passion to make home building more accessible, Bowles launched the first of its kind home planning course. The 12-week series enrolled husbands and wives together to plan their dream homes.

With a steady stream of custom homes citywide and commercial projects including Farmers Union Insurance Co. building and the Calandra Camera Company retail store downtown, business boomed for OT Bowles and Associates. Bowles and his wife Josephine somehow found the time for their own dream. They moved into a sprawling midcentury home with adjacent offices at 6720 Dodge St. in 1949.

Bowles' flourishing career was cut suddenly short. According to an Omaha World Herald obituary, Oscar Bowles died of a heart attack when he was only 62 years old. Today, you will find examples of his work all over Omaha. Here in historic Country Club, his homes still contribute to the timeless character and grace that define the neighborhood. 💚