Heartland of America Park spreads 31 acres at 800 Douglas Street in Downtown Omaha, Nebraska. This 31-acre park sits between Interstate 80 and the Missouri River, adjacent to Gene Leahy Mall and the Old Market, and it connects to Lewis & Clark Landing. The park was announced in August 1987 as part of Conagra's corporate campus when Conagra controversially said it would move its headquarters to the site of the Jobbers Canyon Historic District.
Originally known as Central Park East, plans revised in January 1988 added a lake, and construction began in 1989. Heavy rain and lead contamination delayed filling the lake in September 1989, but by January 1990 a pedestrian bridge linked Central Park East to Central Park Mall, and a fountain was added in May 1990. The park officially opened in September 1990.
After closing in 2019 for extensive renovations, the park reopened to the public on August 18, 2023. Stand here and imagine those years of change—the corporate announcement, the work that sculpted the lake and fountain, the bridge that joined downtown spaces. Notice the river, the mall, and the bridge nearby, reopened here in August 2023 after years of renovation.