Fort Calhoun Schools at Washington Square

The school's architect was born Johann Laternser in 1858 at Nendeln, Liechtenstein, and studied at the Polytechnic College in Stuttgart. After seven years as a draftsman in Chicago he opened his own office in Omaha in 1887, became staff architect to the Omaha School District in 1892 and designed at least twenty of the city's public schools, Central High School among them. His works include the Brandeis Building of 1906 and the Douglas County Courthouse of 1912, and in the 1930s Latenser and Sons buildings stood on 89 of downtown Omaha's 98 blocks.

What the plaque says

Fort Calhoun Schools at Washington Square Washington Square was the location for public education in Fort Calhoun from 1865 to 1972. The first school building was constructed in 1865 for about one thousand dollars. Black locust trees from the nearby Fort Atkinson site (1819-27) were transplanted on the grounds in 1868. Until 1892 the school provided only a ninth grade education. Tenth grade was added in 1893, eleventh grade in 1904, and twelfth grade in 1920. The first tenth grade class of three students graduated in 1893. As the community grew, additional buildings were constructed, including a one-room structure in 1890. A new two-story school designed by Omaha architect John Latenser was completed in 1899-1900, with a wing added in 1907. Another small building joined the complex in 1927, and an auditorium/gymnasium was built in 1954. The campus occupied the entire block of Washington Square. After construction of a new elementary school (1962) and high school (1972) at other locations, the buildings on Washington Square were sold or torn down except for the gymnasium, which the school district continued to use in 2011. Fort Calhoun Enhancement Committee The City of Fort Calhoun Nebraska State Historical Society, 2011

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Atkinson State Historical Park — 0.4 mi
  The first U.S. Army post west of the Missouri, a garrison town of more than a thousand people on Council Bluff from 1820 to 1827, rebuilt on its own foundations.
• Winter Quarters and the Mormon Pioneer Cemetery — 8.9 mi
  The Latter-day Saint camp of 1846 to 1848 on Omaha land in what is now Florence, where hundreds died the first winter, and the cemetery and trail center beside it.
• Malcolm X Birthsite — 12 mi
  The North Omaha lot where Malcolm Little was born in May 1925 and his family was driven out by the Klan, saved by Rowena Moore and now planned as a cultural center.
• Joslyn Art Museum — 14 mi
  Omaha's free art museum, a 1931 Art Deco memorial with two modern pavilions, and the keeper of Karl Bodmer's watercolors from the upper Missouri in 1833 and 1834.

More markers nearby

• Fort Atkinson — 0.2 mi
• The Death of Marshal Suverkrubbe — 0.3 mi
• Lewis and Clark Campsite: July 30-August 2, 1804 — 0.4 mi
• Fort Atkinson — 0.5 mi