Carver Savings and Loan Association (Carver Legacy Center)

The Carver Savings & Loan Association (Carver S&L), named for acclaimed scientist George Washington Carver, opened in 1944 as Nebraska's first African-American bank. Located on Lake Street next to the historic North 24th Street corridor, it ostensibly served as the heart of Omaha's African-American business district until the 1960s. Today, operating as the Carver Legacy Center, the building still serves as a financial center focused on supporting the growth of Black-owned businesses in North Omaha. 

African American soldiers returning home from World War II desired to enjoy the same freedoms afforded their White contemporaries, which included buying affordable homes. But, segregation prevented African Americans from access to Omaha's banks. Moreover, the Black business leaders wanted to create a financial institution to help keep Black wealth, savings, and investments within the Black community. So, a group of African American professional men, led by North Omaha attorney Charles F. Davis (1902-1959) and Dr. Craig Morris, M.D. (1893-1977), established Carver Savings & Loan, the first-ever Black-owned bank in Nebraska. (Dr. Morris also helped plan for the Provident Hospital, a Black-owned healthcare facility intended to serve African Americans in the community being developed at the same time as the Savings & Loan.) Davis also stated publicly that investment in the North Omaha area had significantly decreased since the town underwent a transition from an affluent white suburb to a predominantly working-class, African American town. He noted that the only housing built in the area since World War I was the Logan Fontenelle Public Housing Projects rather than new homes. Thus, the financial leaders recognized a need for African American funding to foster Black home ownership and investment in Omaha’s Black community, giving them another reason to create Carver Bank.

Throughout the 1940s and '50s, the Association involved with establishing Carver S&L worked with groups to improve housing for African Americans in Omaha, including the Urban League of Omaha and the Federal Housing Authority. In the 1950s, Whitney Young, then head of Omaha’s Urban League, worked with the Carver group to develop a special lending program for potential African-American home buyers. Designed to fight the city’s segregationist redlining practices, the program sought to counter the trend of Omaha’s banks restricting loans in neighborhoods they deemed less successful, which were usually Black neighborhoods. The program allowed Omaha’s African American families to buy more homes within three years of its creation than in the preceding decade through other banks in the city.

Still, Carver S&L struggled to grow. By the early 1950s, Davis moved his and his daughter's law practice into the building. His work with the Carver group and other civil rights efforts earned him awards such as the achievement award from the Urban League in 1959. Sadly, Charles Davis also died in 1959. Six years later, in 1965, the Carver closed permanently. Though it only operated for twenty years, The Carver S&L Association proved hugely beneficial to Omaha’s Black community, providing home loans, savings programs, and investment opportunities previously unavailable to Omaha's African Americans.

The building largely sat vacant for much of the late twentieth century until 2012, when the Bemis Center for Contemporary purchased and subsequently renovated the building. Theaster Gates, a nationally-known African American artist, helped design and launch the space as an art gallery. The art center operated for several years, hosting events and art shows, and then, in 2016, the North Omaha Arts Alliance bought the building from Bemis. 

In 2020, the new Carver Legacy Center occupied the historic building, hosting such businesses as a new banking institution, Revive Omaha Magazine and Revive Black Business Network, and retail spaces. The bank seeks to emulate the impact on Black residents provided by the Carter S&L, stating, " the Carver Legacy Center partners with [American National Bank] to provide banking services and relies on those who open 'Carver accounts' to help fund the future of the North Omaha community."

Biga, Leo Adam. "Artists running with opportunity to go to the next level." TheReader.com. May 1, 2013. https://thereader.com/2013/05/01/artists-running-with-opportunity-to-go-to-the-next-level/.

"Building on the Mission of the Original Black-Owned Banks." American Bank. Accessed February 22, 2023. https://american.bank/news/carver-legacy-center-history/.

Burbach, Christopher. "North Omaha center opens, aims to boost African American ownership of businesses and homes." Omaha.com. May 12, 2022. https://omaha.com/business/local/north-omaha-center-opens-aims-to-boost-african-american-ownership-of-businesses-and-homes/article_fbe4e1be-b44f-11ec-86ce-e71a7662eae5.html.

"History of the Carver Savings and Loan Association." North Omaha History. February 23, 2023. https://northomahahistory.com/2020/09/21/a-history-of-the-carver-savings-and-loan-association/.

Powers, Mathew L. on behalf of Black Archives of Mid-America. "Calvin Memorial Presbyterian Church (North Omaha Presbyterian Church)." Clio: Your Guide to History. February 24, 2023. https://www.theclio.com/entry/164421. Information regarding the transition of North Omaha from an affluent White suburb to a Black community are included in this entry.