In 1804, when Louis and Clark met with the Otoe tribe of Indians on the banks of the Missouri River near present day Omaha, Nebraska, they could never have imagined the cosmopolitan city that is located there today. Named Omaha after the Omaha Indians that lived in that region, the name means “Dwellers on the Bluffs”. Long overlooked by some as merely a city in ‘flyover country’, Omaha, and its sister city on the eastern bank of the Missouri, Council Bluffs, Iowa are home nearly half a million people who are proud to call this thriving metropolis home, and for good reason.

According to USA Today, Omaha, Nebraska, is ranked eighth out of America’s fifty largest cities in terms of billionaires-per-capita as well as in the number of Fortune 500 Companies that are located within its environs. In fact, one of the richest men in the world, Warren Buffett, lives in Omaha, and along with his own Berkshire Hathaway Corporation, the city is home to Mutual of Omaha Insurance, ConAgra foods, and the Union Pacific Railroad, to name just a few. In addition, the city’s daily newspaper, the Omaha-World Herald is the largest entirely employee owned newspaper in America today.

Although it is not a travel destination on a par with Chicago, or Denver, Omaha does not play cultural ’second fiddle’ to either of these cities. Since the days of Rudyard Kipling (an early Omaha visitor) savvy travelers have long included Omaha in their travel itinerary when passing through the upper Midwest. Today, with the largest community theatre in the United States, and one of the nation’s premier symphony orchestras, this city is only beginning to hit its cultural stride.

Since the days of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, which Omaha hosted in 1883, the city’s contributions to the show business world have been significant. The list of Omaha born performers who have gone on to fame on the big screen reads like a Hollywood who’s-who and includes Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Henry Fonda (and son Peter), Nick Nolte, and Anne Ramsey.

And don’t forget the zoo. Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo at 3701 South 10th Street is widely recognized as one of the finest zoos in the United States.