Tour Stop N: Double Barracks/Commissary
Constructed in 1906, this double barracks building housed noncommissioned officers of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, which had reactivated Fort Omaha in 1905. During World War I, this building served as South Post Headquarters for the Army's first balloon training school. In 1929, it became Staff Officers Headquarters of the 7th Corps Area. Between 1933 and the end of World War II, the building served a dual role of barracks and Post Commissary.
In 1947, the Army transferred command of Fort Omaha to the Navy, which used it to train local Naval and Marine Corps Reservists. When a nationwide Naval Reserve Command was established in 1956, this building became headquarters for a Rear Admiral and his staff. The Admiral's two-star flag and the bell of the cruiser USS Omaha displayed at the building entrance attested to the Navy's unique presence at a former Army fort.