You are standing at the site of the original Union Pacific Omaha Shops.
From this point a railroad was begun that would fulfill a national destiny.
Even before Union Pacific was an American icon, it was an American dream. It was a dream as big, as bold, as heroic as the American president who envisioned it. In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act that created Union Pacific Railroad and charged it to bind the nation, east to west, with a ribbon of steel.
Beginning in Omaha and building westward, Union Pacific was called to vanquish frontiers and create a nation where no nation had existed before. In 1869 the Golden Spike was driven that marked the completion of the transcontinental railroad and the fulfillment of this mission. The success of this enterprise was a testament to the spirit and the courage of thousands of men and women who then, as now, committed themselves to creating and sustaining a great enterprise.
The Omaha shops played a key role in the creation of the transcontinental railroad. Beginning in 1865, as this site master craftsmen from all trades created the technology and built the equipment needed to enable such a tremendous task. From bolts to locomotives to freight cars to fine furniture for passenger cars, the employees of the Omaha shops provided it.
Immigrants from around the world found work at Union Pacific's Omaha shops and made their homes here.
Today, Union Pacific is still headquartered in Omaha and has grown to become the largest railroad in North America. It not only unites the nation but connects Canada, the United States and Mexico. The men and women of Union Pacific do a job so important that the economy of the continent could not function without them. As it has since 1862, Union Pacific continues to build a great nation and realize a great dream.
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