N. Third and B Sts., Hampton, Nebraska. County/parish: Hamilton.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places September 28, 1988. NRIS 88000952.
1 contributing building.Also known as:
The IOOF Opera House in Hampton, Nebraska, United States, is a 40-foot (12 m) by 65-foot (20 m) building that was built in 1880 and was leased to the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) chapter in 1893. In 1988, when it was nominated for the National Register of Historic Places, it was the only two-story building in the retail business area of Hampton.
It was deemed significant at the state level in the areas of the performing arts; entertainment/recreation; and social history, as a well-preserved example of an opera house building in Nebraska.
Its decline was partly because Aurora, Nebraska, 6 miles away, and Grand Island, Nebraska, 26 miles away, offered more entertainment choices to car-owning residents.
It is a "two-part commercial block" building that served historically as a meeting hall, as a theater, as a specialty store, as a music facility, and as a financial institution. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/73919699