The nation's 40th-most populous city , Omaha had a population of , as of the census. Omaha's pioneer period began in , when the city was founded by speculators from neighboring Council Bluffs, Iowa. The city was founded along the Missouri River, and a crossing called Lone Tree Ferry earned the city its nickname, the "Gateway to the West".
Omaha introduced this new West to the world in , when it played host to the World's Fair, dubbed the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. During the 19th century, Omaha's central location in the United States spurred the city to become an important national transportation hub. Throughout the rest of the 19th century, the transportation and jobbing sectors were important in the city, along with its railroads and breweries. In the 20th century, the Omaha Stockyards , once the world's largest, and its meatpacking plants gained international prominence.
Modern Omaha inventions include the Reuben sandwich ; [ 11 ] cake mix, developed by Duncan Hines ; center-pivot irrigation ; [ 12 ] Raisin Bran ; the first ski lift in the U. Various Native American tribes had lived in the land that became Omaha since the 17th century, including the Omaha and Ponca , Dhegihan-Siouan language people who had originated in the lower Ohio River valley and migrated west by the early 17th century; Pawnee , Otoe , Missouri , and Ioway. In the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed the riverbanks where the city of Omaha would be built.
Between July 30 and August 3, , members of the expedition, including Meriwether Lewis and William Clark , met with Oto and Missouria tribal leaders at the Council Bluff at a point about 20 mi 32 km north of present-day Omaha.
The Mormons built a town called Cutler's Park in the area in Through 26 separate treaties with the United States federal government, Native American tribes in Nebraska gradually ceded the lands that now make up the state. The treaty and cession involving the Omaha area occurred in when the Omaha Tribe ceded most of east-central Nebraska.
