Standing Bear Lake
park in West Omaha, Nebraska
Standing Bear Lake, also known as Dam Site 16, is a park located at 6404 North 132nd street in West Omaha, Nebraska.
The park has a 135-acre (55 ha) lake with boating in the summertime, and ice skating in the winter. The park and recreation area covers about 396 acres (160 ha) of land surrounding the lake, with a 131-acre (53 ha) wildlife area is located on the west side of the park.
History
Standing Bear Lake park opened in 1977, and includes fishing and boating, trails, and picnic areas.
Also known as Dam Site 16, the lake was originally built as a dam for flood control on Papillion Creek in the Lower Papio Valley. Recently the Nebraska State Game and Parks Commission added trout fishing to the lake.
The park is named after Chief Standing Bear, who with his people, was told to leave his homeland along the Niobrara River in northeast Nebraska for Indian Territory in Oklahoma. After finding no supplies in Oklahoma and many of his people dying, including his own son, Standing Bear led 30 members of the Ponca Tribe back to Nebraska. He had to fight for the right to be recognized as a human being and his basic humanity, saying, "I am a man. The same God made us both."
Features
The main entrance to Standing Bear Lake is located on Fort Street at 138th St.
The public source identifies “Standing Bear Lake” as park in West Omaha, Nebraska. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Standing, Bear and Lake.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Standing Bear Lake”, the useful work is to connect “park in West Omaha, Nebraska” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 21, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7598481. Authority coordinates are 41.315, -96.126. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1977.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Standing Bear Lake”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Standing Bear Lake primary sources, Standing Bear Lake archive and Standing research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
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This entry incorporates text from “Standing Bear Lake” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.