Woodmen Tower

Constructed from 1966 to 1969, this Omaha skyscraper is the headquarters of the Woodmenlife Insurance Company. Formerly called the Woodmen of the World, WoodmenLife was a fraternal insurance company founded in 1890 and grew quickly as the non-profit provided life insurance, annuities, and other financial products. The 30-story Woodmen Tower, designed by architect Leo A. Daly Jr., replaced a former city hall building and newspaper office. The skyscraper became a defining part of Omaha’s skyline, being the tallest building in Omaha from 1969 to 2002. The building has become well-known in recent years for hosting families of peregrine falcons on the roof.

The WoodmenLife Tower was and continues to be an important landmark in Omaha for its significance in Omaha’s history and the role of the WoodmenLife Company in Omaha’s development. During the late 19^th century, fraternal benefits societies such as the Woodmen of the World provided insurance to their members. Such insurance societies used fraternal initiations to remind members to pay their premiums. The first of these fraternal benefits societies was the Ancient Order of United Workmen, founded by John J. Upchurch in 1868. By 1897, that order had a membership of 315,000 and became a model for other fraternal benefits societies that emerged in the late 19^th century. In 1897, over 2.5 million members were part of a fraternal benefit society

In 1890, Joseph Cullen Root founded Woodmen of the World as a fraternal benefit society to make life insurance more available to members. The fraternal benefit society was established in Omaha in 1895 and soon grew into a prominent insurance company in Omaha, with over $26 million in assets and 134,000 members by 1933. In 1912, the Woodmen of the World built Omaha's first skyscraper, the Woodmen of the World Building. During the postwar period, the insurance and financial services industry grew rapidly in Omaha with companies like Woodmen of the World, Mutual of Omaha, and Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway. The construction of the Woodmen Tower in this period symbolized the changes and growth of Omaha’s economy during the postwar period.

The Woodmen Tower was originally planned to only have twenty-four floors, but design changes increased the number of floors to thirty. The skyscraper was designed with straight lines and little decoration, an aesthetic common to midcentury modern towers. In 1969, the Wooden Tower was completed and dedicated, with Nebraska senator Roman L. Hruska describing the Woodmen Tower as an “example, in stone and marble, of the way in which man’s spirit can soar when his purpose is noble.”^[1] Senator Hruska thanked the Wooden of the World company for both the new landmark and their overall contribution to Omaha. A time capsule containing eighteen items was also placed inside the Woodmen Tower at the dedication. After its completion, the Woodmen Tower became the office building for Woodmen of the World, replacing the old Woodmen of the World Building built in 1912. It symbolized the economic growth in Omaha and the importance of the Woodmen of the World in Omaha’s community.

In 2002, the Woodmen Tower became the second-largest building in Omaha after the First National Bank Tower was completed. Woodmen of the World rebranded itself as the WoodmenLife company in 2015, and the Woodmen Tower became the WoodmenLife Tower. In 2020, the Woodmen label on the top of the WoodmenLife Tower was replaced with a label that says WoodmenLife, with letters that can light up in the evening through LED lighting.

Overall, the WoodmenLife Tower symbolized WoodmenLife's and other insurance companies' role in Omaha’s economic development. Insurance companies including WoodmenLife made Omaha an important insurance center and help Omaha economically grew as the city’s economy transitioned during the postwar era. Today, Woodmen Life and other insurance companies continue to provide insurance to people and Omaha and remain a significant part of Omaha’s economy and community.

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Larsen, Lawrence H., Harl A. Dalstrom, Kay Calame Dalstrom, and Barbara J. Cottrell Larson. Upstream Metropolis: An Urban Biography of Omaha and Council Bluffs. Lincoln: UNP - Nebraska, 2007.

Omaha World-Herald. “Name atop Omaha’s Woodmen Tower to Change This Summer,” November 12, 2022. https://omaha.com/news/local/name-atop-omahas-woodmen-tower-to-change-this-summer/article_d2d5ec91-02a7-57c6-8b92-13d40d1f83a3.html.

^[1] Omaha World-Herald, June 6, 1969. NewsBank. https://infoweb-newsbank-com.leo.lib.unomaha.edu/apps/news/document-view?p=WORLDNEWS&t=pubname%3A1106B5BBD4B623A8%21Omaha%2BWorld-Herald/decade%3A1960%211960%2B-%2B1969&sort=YMD_date%3AD&fld-nav-0=YMD_date&val-nav-0=1969&fld-base-0=alltext&maxresults=20&val-base-0=woodmen%20tower%20dedication&docref=image/v2%3A1106B5BBD4B623A8%40EANX-.13823ED279E41B16%402440379-137997AF5F09AA6E%403-137997AF5F09AA6E%40#copy.

WoodmenLife. “WoodmenLife’s Storied History,” March 17, 2021. https://www.woodmenlife.org/about/history/.