Ralston's place in the area golf pantheon has given way to a future in another stick sport (this one played on ice), but building interest in the city's long links tradition is resulting in a closer look at that history at the Frank and Velma Johnson Ralston Archives Museum.
And if you thought Lakeview Golf Course was the only show in town, you're only half right.
Turns out Ralston — as an early 20th century resort town for the big wheels in far-off Omaha — boasted a grand 18-hole course tucked in a woodland glade extending from present-day 72nd and Q streets to the western edges of what is now Oak Park.
"It was apparently quite the place," said Lauralee Grabe, who said her relatives told stories of parking their cars on L Street and hiking roughly a mile through dense forest and hills to get to the clubhouse, nearer Q Street. "They'd say they were going up into the hills to get there, but it was a place that got a lot of golfers."
At the turn of the last century, the Ralston area was an attraction for families looking to escape the noise and rush of Omaha in relatively more bucolic environs.
Ralston had a burgeoning vacation community largely because of Seymour Lake, a manmade body of water created in 1892 after an artesian well had been drilled at the site and a dike constructed to contain 47 acres of water.
The lake became a popular getaway where boaters, swimmers and fishermen could find recreation and relaxation of a hot summer day.
It wasn't too long, however, before the area also attracted notice from developers who envisioned other forms of well, recreation at least.
And in 1915, the Seymour Golf Course was built.
"It has a very interesting history once it gets started," Ralston Archives President Jan Gorman said. "It was really a major attraction for people from Omaha who would come out here for a vacation and we have some very good photographs of people who were on the course."
Among those who frequented Ralston and its golf course in the early days was James "Cowboy Jim" Dahlman, who served as Omaha's mayor between 1906 and 1918, and again from 1921 until his death in 1930.
The Archives has several photographs of Dahlman in his golfer's regalia on the course and also relaxing in the cottage he maintained on Seymour Lake.
According to Ralston Archives records, the course changed hands and names several times over the next three decades, eventually ending up as the Ralston Country Club in 1938.
Along the way, the developers holding the land, along with the Cudahy Packing Co., also deeded the land and Seymour Lake to the city for eventual public development.
By 1942, membership at the club had dwindled to fewer than 200 members — mostly employees of the Omaha Livestock Exchange — and the pumping of water into the lake was halted, making for a substantially smaller body of water.
Over time, the course fell into disuse, its clubhouse was razed in 1948 and it would be almost another 10 years before another group of investors pooled their money to create what is now remembered as the nine-hole Lakeview Golf Course out of the remnants of the 18-hole course.
At the Archives Museum, the hope is to document more fully the prospects and plight of Ralston's golf history, starting with the 18-hole course.
"We're looking for anyone with memories, with memorabilia," Grabe said. "Maybe a scorecard from the course. It would be a really neat thing to show everyone."
The museum is already out to a good start with the photo albums showing vacationers at play in northeast Ralston, including golfers. A map created by an area high school student is also on display, showing the layout of the golf course.
Gorman said she hopes more people might come forward with additional information on the links.
"As the golf season gets here, maybe someone will take an interest," she said. "I hope we can get enough to have an exhibit. I think people would find it fascinating."
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