Nebraska may be sorely lacking in large-scale amusement parks these days, but it wasn’t always that way. Peony Park operated in Omaha from 1919 to 1994 – an incredible 75-year run as Nebraska’s largest amusement park. Fun seekers came from all over Nebraska and neighboring states to visit this mecca of entertainment.

YouTube/Junior Jays’s Channel What began as a simple peony garden in the late 1800s grew into a music venue, then a park with a pool, and eventually an impressive amusement park with rides, a beer garden, ballroom, and music hall.

By Pub. by General Distributors Company, Omaha, Nebraska. “Tichnor Quality Views,” Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Made Only by Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston, Mass. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons The park hosted big-name musical acts like the Lawrence Welk Band, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, the Glen Miller Band, and the Les Brown Band. Although the park’s extremely popular pool was built in the 1920s, it wasn’t until 1958 that amusement park rides made Peony Park into a family destination.

YouTube/Junior Jays’s Channel

What began as a simple peony garden in the late 1800s grew into a music venue, then a park with a pool, and eventually an impressive amusement park with rides, a beer garden, ballroom, and music hall.

By Pub. by General Distributors Company, Omaha, Nebraska. “Tichnor Quality Views,” Reg. U. S. Pat. Off. Made Only by Tichnor Bros., Inc., Boston, Mass. [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The park hosted big-name musical acts like the Lawrence Welk Band, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, the Glen Miller Band, and the Les Brown Band. Although the park’s extremely popular pool was built in the 1920s, it wasn’t until 1958 that amusement park rides made Peony Park into a family destination.

This video – a student project by Goodrich Scholars at UNO – gives a great history of the park from its opening to its closing and beyond.

If you didn’t have the time to watch the entire 10-minute video above, this is a vintage Peony Park commercial that was featured in it.

This home video from 1957 shows one family’s fun day playing in the pool. The park was packed with people that day, as it was most days back then.

Do you have any memories of Peony Park? We’d love to hear about them.

If you’re looking for something fun to occupy the last few weeks of summer, these water parks in Nebraska fit the bill perfectly.

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