Editing Omagh (section)

===County Town===

In 1768, Omagh replaced [[Dungannon]] as the county town of County Tyrone. Omagh acquired railway links to Londonderry with the [[Londonderry and Enniskillen Railway]] in 1852, [[Enniskillen]] in 1853 and [[Belfast Great Victoria Street railway station|Belfast]] in 1861. [[St Lucia Barracks, Omagh|St Lucia Barracks]] were completed in 1881. In 1899, [[Tyrone County Hospital]] was opened. The [[Government of Northern Ireland]] made the [[Great Northern Railway (Ireland)|Great Northern Railway Board]] close the Omagh – Enniskillen railway line in 1957.<ref name="Baker 1972 153, 207">{{cite book |last=Baker |first=Michael H.C. |year=1972 |title=Irish Railways since 1916 |location=London |publisher=[[Ian Allan Publishing|Ian Allan]] |isbn=0-7110-0282-7 |pages=153, 207}}</ref> In accordance with the [[Ulster Transport Authority#The Benson Report|Benson Report]] submitted to the Northern Ireland Government in 1963, the [[Ulster Transport Authority]] closed the {{rws|Portadown}} – Omagh – Londonderry main line in 1965,<ref>Baker, 1972, pages 155, 209</ref> leaving Tyrone with no rail service. St Lucia Barracks closed in August 2007.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.u.tv/News/Omagh-gets-green-police-station/3c7d0c97-9d23-48e5-9b14-ebcdd7c9b59d|title=Omagh gets green police station|date=14 September 2010|publisher=Ulster TV|access-date=12 October 2014|archive-date=20 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141020091712/http://www.u.tv/News/Omagh-gets-green-police-station/3c7d0c97-9d23-48e5-9b14-ebcdd7c9b59d|url-status=live}}</ref>

On 30 December 1942, a [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|Consolidated Catalina Ib]] of [[No. 240 Squadron RAF]] that was operating from [[RAF Killadeas]] crashed into the town. The crash killed all eleven occupants, however no one on the ground was killed or injured. The cause of the crash was never ascertained.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19421230-0|title=ASN Aircraft accident Consolidated Catalina Ib (PBY-5B) FP239 Omagh, Reaghan, Northern Ireland|first=Harro|last=Ranter|website=aviation-safety.net|access-date=9 November 2017|archive-date=10 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110005003/https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19421230-0|url-status=live}}</ref>

Omagh Town Hall, which opened on 29 September 1915, hosted a number of notable performers, including the actors [[Anew McMaster]], [[Micheál Mac Liammóir]] and [[Jimmy O'Dea]], before it was demolished to make way for the Strule Arts Centre in 1997.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://ulsterherald.com/2019/02/01/share-your-omagh-town-hall-memories/|title=Share your Omagh Town Hall memories|date=1 February 2019|newspaper=Ulster Herald|access-date=5 June 2021|archive-date=23 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210923152753/https://ulsterherald.com/2019/02/01/share-your-omagh-town-hall-memories/|url-status=live}}</ref>