Omaha, TX

Omaha grew out of a naming mix-up and a railroad opportunity. Thompson Morris laid out the town in 1880 under the name Morristown, but the post office used Gavett. In 1886, seven early settlers each put the name of an Alabama hometown into a hat; Omaha, offered by Hugh Ellis, won. The new name stuck as the community grew along the St. Louis Southwestern Railway and U.S. 67, about ten miles north of Daingerfield. By 1890 Omaha had three churches, a school, a weekly newspaper, and a population of 450.

The town later became known for a vegetable-plant shipping operation that sent millions of seedlings around the country, an unusually large chapter for a small Morris County place. Omaha incorporated in 1914 and still works as a local center between the larger county services in Daingerfield and the farms and roads north toward Mount Pleasant. Pewitt Consolidated Independent School District is based here, with its address on U.S. 67, keeping school life tied to the same road that helped the town grow. Omaha's personality comes from that combination: a chosen name, a rail line, a highway, and a practical agricultural economy.