OMAHA, Neb. — Erin Gibbs was sent to Boys Town at age 12, hoping to find a stable home within the iconic Omaha-area enclave for troubled youths.
Erin Gibbs poses for a portrait on her terrace in Omaha on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Gibbs, 50, filed a lawsuit in February alleging sexual abuse when she was a resident at Boys Town from 1988 to 1991.
Erin Gibbs poses for a portrait on her terrace in Omaha on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Gibbs, 50, filed a lawsuit in February alleging sexual abuse when she was a resident at Boys Town from 1988 to 1991.
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Photos: Boys Town through the years
This run-down Victorian Mansion at 25th and Dodge Streets in Omaha was the first home of Boys Town when it was founded in 1917. The mansion no longer exists.
BOYS TOWN
If Father Flanagan hadn't been on a bus with Catherine Shields in 1917, there may have been no Boys Town. Shields overheard Flanagan telling mortician Leo Hoffmann that he had several homeless boys he wanted to help but nowhere to put them. Shields, pictured here, holds an orphan from Boys Town on the porch of the second location of Boys Town, the German American Home. She later became Flanagan's executive assistant for nearly 30 years.
HALL OF HISTORY & FATHER FLANAGAN HOUSE
Records don't include the names of these first five arrivals to Father Flanagan's Boys Home in 1917. Records do show that the number of boys increased rapidly after Flanagan opened the doors to the Victorian home at 25th Dodge streets, pictured in this photo.
BOYS TOWN
Santa is welcomed to Boys Town by Father Edward Flanagan on December 16, 1926.
THE WORLD-HERALD
October 16, 1927, was the City Sandlot Championship game between the Omaha Prints and the Brown Park Merchants. The game drew over 4,500 spectators because of two famous players, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Known as "Bustin Babe" and "Larrupin Lou", the two New York Yankees were on a barnstorming tour across the United States. The Babe played for the Parks and Lou for the Prints, but unfortunately the game was stopped because of darkness after a 10 inning 1-1 tie. Gehrig and Ruth spent an exhaustive two days in Omaha making publicity stops. Father Flanagan and the Boys Town Band, led by Captain Joseph Benesch, greeted the two heroes when they visited Boys Town.
THE WORLD-HERALD
An unnamed orphan, representing the children at Boys Town, is shown welcoming noted guests to the annual Christmas party on Dec. 26, 1935. From left: Senator Edward R. Burke, Aileen Cochran, the boy, Governor R.L. Cochran, Bishop James Hugh Ryan and Father E.J. Flanagan.
THE WORLD-HERALD
From left: Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, Dan Kampan and Father Flanagan in 1936.
HANDOUT
Maureen O'Sullivan, Spencer Tracy, producer John Considine and Mickey Rooney pose for pictures on the train to Omaha in 1938.
THE WORLD-HERALD
This statue was used for the fade-in scene of the movie "Boys Town". Left to right: producer John Considine, Monsignor Flanagan and director Norman Taurog, on May 18, 1938.
JOHN SAVAGE, THE WORLD-HERALD
Colleen Margaret Corcoran became the first girl citizen of Boys Town on January 23, 1940. She was born to the wife of the Boys Town's athletic director, Kenneth Corcoran.
JOHN VAN HOOZER, THE WORLD-HERALD
Boys file past the casket at Father Flanagan's funeral, held May 21, 1948 at Boys Town. Flanagan died on May 15 in Berlin, Germany.
THE WORLD-HERALD
The 1,260 seat Boys Town Music Hall was inaugurated in 1949 and remains in use today.
BOYS TOWN ARCHIVES
This story ran March 7, 1949 in the Indianapolis News. The photo caption reads: "Judge Joseph O. Hoffman shakes hands with 14-year-old Charles Manson and wishes him good luck on his trip to Boys Town. For the boy it's an answer to a dream."
THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR
1951 PHOTO: Lela Kragh Lillethorup, a fifth-grade teacher at Boys Town, displayed the Amazing Stinko plant there in the early 1950s. She was with Mike Palu, left, and John Shepherd.
WORLD-HERALD ARCHIVE
Arthur Mason with the Boys Town ball of stamps in 1953. He and stamp center curator D.O. Barrett were the ones who built the stamp ball in 1952-53.
NEBRASKA TOURISM COMMISSION
An NCAA cross country champion, Charles Deacon Jones set the American record in the steeplechase in 1957 and competed in the Olympics in the 3,000-meter steeplechase in 1956 and 1960. However, his first rewriting of the record books came while representing Boys Town where he set a national high school record in an AAU meet in ×îÐÂÐÓ°ÉÔ´´, Mo. Jones was the Nebraska high school Class A champion in the mile run and anchored Boys Town's champion mile relay team. He played outfield on Boys Town's baseball team, halfback on the football team and point guard on the basketball team. He earned all-state honors in football and basketball as a senior and helped Boys Town win the Class A state basketball championship his senior year. He went on to compete in track and cross country at the University of Iowa.
THE WORLD-HERALD
Luci Baines Johnson, daughter of President Johnson, visits Boys Town while in Omaha for a barbecue sponsored by the Young Citizens for Johnson and Humphrey. Jack Kelly, 17, Mayor of Boys Town (right) shows her the famous homeless statue with Gene Gordon on Oct. 24, 1964.
THE WORLD-HERALD
Seeking new efforts for troubled youth are, from left, Msgr. Nicholas H. Wegner, Archbishop Daniel Sheehan and Leo Daly, Jr., on May 3, 1972.
THE WORLD-HERALD
Boys Town as seen in 1983.
THE WORLD-HERALD
Banner proclaiming "There is no such thing as a bad girl" decorates Boys Town's new five-home residence building for girls on April 7, 1989. Residents Lakisha Gamble, 12, left foreground, Stephanie Pruit, 12, and Kim Simpson, 18, are pictured with family-teacher Pernell Gatson and his wife, Kim.
JAMES R. BURNETT, THE WORLD-HERALD
Undated photo of boy scouts with troupe wagon No. 1 of the Father Flanagan's Boys' Shows.
BOYS TOWN
If Father Flanagan hadn't been on a bus with Catherine Shields in 1917, there may have been no Boys Town.Â
HALL OF HISTORY & FATHER FLANAGAN HOUSE
Shields told Flanagan about a house at 25th and Dodge Streets, and Boys Town had its first location.Â
HALL OF HISTORY & FATHER FLANAGAN HOUSE
Shields later became Flanagan's executive assistant for nearly 30 years.
HALL OF HISTORY & FATHER FLANAGAN HOUSE
Father Edward Flanagan on the steps of his house.
HANDOUT
George Romney campaigns at Boys Town on February 10, 1968.
THE WORLD-HERALD
Photo of Joe Marsh as a 9-year-old boy with Robert F. Kennedy at Boys Town.Â
BOYS TOWN
Monsignor Wegnar (left) and George Romney smile during Romney's campaign visit to Boys Town on February 10, 1968.
THE WORLD-HERALD
The boys and Father Flanagan taking part in a parade through Omaha streets in this undated photo.
BOYS TOWN ARCHIVES
Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney in a still from "Boys' Town.
Nebraska requires mandatory reporting of child abuse or neglect
Erin Gibbs poses for a portrait on her terrace in Omaha on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Gibbs, 50, filed a lawsuit in February alleging sexual abuse when she was a resident at Boys Town from 1988 to 1991.
Erin Gibbs poses for a portrait on her terrace in Omaha on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. Gibbs, 50, filed a lawsuit in February alleging sexual abuse when she was a resident at Boys Town from 1988 to 1991.
