Omaha Button Factories

The Omaha Daily Bee, Sept. 21, 1891, announced that a button factory had opened in Omaha. It would manufacture what were known as “pearl” buttons made from the shells of mollusks such as abalone, conch, or even fresh water clams and mussels. The factory was located at 1818 Williams Street and employed seven workmen. The article noted that England and Austria had been the world’s main producers of pearl buttons from sea shells harvested in the Malay Archipelago off the north coast of Australia. A decline in the Austrian button industry had induced many of its Bohemian craftsmen to move to the United States, some settling in Omaha.