City of Lincoln Planning South Bottoms Historic District

South Bottoms Historic District
Boundary/Address: A to J Streets, 1st to 9th Streets; & J to M Streets, 1st & 2nd Streets Designation: National Register
Ethnic German families colonized Czarist Russia in the eighteenth century, forming thriving agricultural villages while retaining their German language, customs, and religions. Many of their descendants emigrated from tumultuous Russia in the late nineteenth century, and Lincoln became a major settlement area. The "bottoms" land in the Salt Creek flood plains became "Russian Bottoms," with the larger settlement south of downtown around Lincoln's original park (now Cooper Park) and the adjacent Park School. A few larger houses flanked the park on the high (and dry) side, but the immigrant neighborhood was characterized by tiny houses based on Old-World models, and a half-dozen churches including Quinn Chapel AME Church (founded 1871).
Return to map

Go to Historic Sites Tour
Go to Alphabetic Listing of Historic Sites & Districts
Historic Preservation Planner Contact Information