Tangier Shriners

Tangier Shriners was the second of the three Shrine Shrine Centers chartered in Nebraska. Tangier was created by Imperial Charter on April 24, 1889. Back then Omaha had only five public parks and only 65 miles of paved streets. At Union Station one hundred thirty passenger trains arrived daily. Among our early members we are fortunate to include prominent Nebraskans and our history includes such familiar names as William F. "Buffalo Bill" Cody, who was created on March 22nd of 1892, and many others. That same year Tangier hosted the Imperial Council Session during which the first Imperial Shrine Parade was held under the auspices of Imperial Potentate Sam Briggs. That year Noble Henry C. Akin was elected our second Potentate and he went on to later become Imperial Potentate.

Tangier Shrine Center is located near the intersection of south 84th and Center Streets in Omaha. Our current membership includes close to 2,000 Nobles and we have about 40 Units and Clubs with activities for all desires. We are very fortunate to have the wholehearted support of our spouses who add to our success.

We support a current patient population of 350 who have appointments at our two closest Shriners Healthcare facilities which are Shriners Children’s in Minneapolis and Shriners Hospital for Children St. Louis. We also send patients to Cincinnati and Chicago. We are very proud of our Shriners Children’s Clinic in Minneapolis. It is serving as a model for those SHC entities which can no longer justify the expense of inpatient care facilities. Our Roadrunners Club members drive patients to the closest appointments in our patient vans but we must fly others by commercial air to distant facilities. Some Roadrunner teams are made up of Shrine couples and having ladies on the team is very much appreciated by some of our families.

Tangier is a very active Shrine Center with activities scheduled six days a week. Our Lounge is open noon to late evening and our office staff is available from 8am to 4:30pm. In addition to our own activities, we rent meeting and event spaces to the public for receptions, corporate meetings, public organizations, etc. We also host monthly American Red Cross blood drives and other community events.

Fundraising is a major need for all Shrine Centers and Tangier is no exception. We host a seven performance Shrine Circus in normal years including a free show for those living in care facilities. Our annual Corned Beef and Cabbage Feed on St Patrick’s Day serves over 2,400 meals, including about a third of them in our Drive Through lane. We hold an annual Spaghetti Feed and in 2020 served almost 2,500 Drive Through meals since we could not have customers in the building. Our Feztival of Trees in November is outpacing even our Circus as our main income producing event, drawing over 13,000 people in 2019. We are looking for even more attendance in 2021. Keeping Tangier in the public eye pays dividends in candidates and donations.

The next time you are visiting Nebraska please set aside some time to visit. We’d love to show you around.

Clubs and Units:

Clubs:

• Arbor Shrine Club
• Boone & Crockett Club
• Corvette Club
• Mo Ri Shrine Club
• Vintage Iron Club

Units:

• Keystone Kops
• Kruzin’ Kushions
• Mobile Nobles
• Provost Guard
• Shrine Bowl