By Andrew Winter
1.
Boys Town today serves millions of children every year at eight locations all over the U.S. Its founding site in Omaha houses more than 400 impoverished boys and girls, and provides shelter and love for many more children in family-style houses. It is a veritable village inside Omaha, with its own post office. It is the only National Historic Landmark District in all of Nebraska. The Boys Town Research Hospital is a global leader in the study of deafness and behavioral health.
2.
Venerable Father Edward J. Flanagan was ordained for the Omaha Archdiocese in the early 20th century and had a great desire to help the homeless men of the area. He began “workingmen’s hotels,” places where men could find shelter, food, and employment. But Father Flanagan realized that the men didn’t want to change, they just wanted food, so he decided that if he was going to help Omaha permanently, he needed to start with boys.
3.
Father Flanagan opened his first boys’ home in 1917, and in a few weeks had 70 residents bursting the house. He knew that love and education were the only ingredients necessary to make boys who would grow up as tramps into prosperous and holy men. He famously said: “There is no such thing as a bad boy.”
4.
Totally overrun with incoming boys, Father Flanagan decided to move out to Overlook Farm, 10 miles from Omaha, in 1921. There, he built a real town full of boys, and began to teach the boys how to run it.
5.
Father Flanagan believed every boy should know a trade, so he opened schools within Boys Town and began farming with the boys. He started a radio station where the boys would share stories of their happy lives on the air. He even organized a travelling comedy show to build publicity and support for the endeavor. The boys had their own government too, and in May 2025, Boys Town celebrated the election of its 125th mayor.
6.
Sports were very important to Father Flanagan, and the boys played marbles, baseball, and football, and other sports. Because it had always accepted boys from every race, culture, and creed, Boys Town’s multiracial football team had to travel very long distances to play other desegregated teams. Boys Town was the first intentionally desegregated town in the country.
7.
In 1979, Boys Town also began admitting girls, giving them a chance to escape from poverty, abuse, and broken homes.
8.
Two popular movies were made about Boys Town, starring Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan, filmed on site at Boys Town. Tracy won an Oscar for Best Actor in the first movie, and the day after the award ceremony he gave the Oscar to Father Flanagan. It is now on display at the Omaha Campus in the Hall of History.
9.
Father Flanagan died in 1948. He is buried in the chapel at Boys Town, in a grave once visited by President Truman. His bust is displayed in the State Capitol Hall of Fame in Lincoln, alongside Willa Cather and Buffalo Bill, for he is one of the most famous Nebraskans of all time. He was declared venerable by Pope Leo XIV March 23.
