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Forgotten Omaha Facebook Group Grows

Posted at 12:26 PM, Mar 17, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-17 13:26:20-04

A growing group is sharing old memories on Facebook.

It started with Chuck Marteans love for Omaha history.

"My greatest fantasy is being able to snap my fingers and go back in time," he said.

Growing up in Iowa, Marteans fondly remembers visiting Brandeis in downtown Omaha as a kid. In the 70's he officially called Omaha home. He's collected postcards, old photos, and stories from Omaha's past.

Then, January, 16, 2016 the fire at M's Pub in the Mercer building ignited another fire inside Marteans. He decided he couldn't sit on his pictures and postcards any more. He had to share them.

"Create a Facebook group. So I started this group, and I invited 110 of my friends," he said.

Forgotten Omaha is a Facebook group. Marteans hoped it would be a good for sharing links and photos to parts of history.  With a search, your news feed becomes your history feed.

This week, Forgotten Omaha hit the 26,000 member mark. Its grown beyond the places, it's connecting people to history, matching people with the pictures, sharing the stories of the past.

Marteans doesn't know what the future will hold for Omaha, much less the Forgotten Omaha group, but he does say this group that has brought so many people together is something he will never forget.