After a major confrontation from 1866-1868 between the U.S. Army and the Lakota (Sioux), the U.S. government agreed by treaty to abandon several posts along the Bozeman Trail. With the Union Pacific having reached the Rockies, the Army planned a single replacement post where troops could be wintered and sent out by rail as needed. Omaha, seeking economic growth, competed successfully with other towns by emphasizing its railroad and river transportation and established businesses. Civic leaders bought 42 acres from prominent Omaha banker Augustus Kountze and offered to lease the land to the government at an undervalued price, which the U.S. Army accepted. Construction of Omaha Barracks began in September 1868 and was completed in three months. The post housed a regiment of more than 650 men, with main buildings arranged around a large parade ground, and the first troops arrived in November: Battery C, 3rd U.S. Artillery from Fort Kearney, Nebraska. Over time, brick buildings replaced wooden ones. Infantry and Cavalry units were later followed by the Army Signal Corps from 1905-1913 and the Observation Balloon Corps from 1916-1919. The fort remained continuously occupied during the 1920's and 1930's, then after 1935 served as a residence post for officers on duty at Seventh Corps area headquarters. During World War II it functioned as a support installation for the Seventh Service Command. In 1947 the Army declared it surplus property, and the Navy took it over as a Reserve Training Center. In 1973 the Defense Department again declared Fort Omaha excess to its needs. Metropolitan Community College, created in 1974, received the deed in August 1975, and through extensive renovation and refurbishing transformed Fort Omaha into its first permanent campus. Army Reserve units still train there, while deed terms require the parade ground to remain an open field and the exteriors of the brick buildings to remain unchanged, preserving the historic character of the site.