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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.[note 1] 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.[2]

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.[2]

Its decline was partly due to the fact that Aurora, Nebraska, 6 miles away, and Grand Island, Nebraska, 26 miles away, offered more entertainment choices to car-owning residents.[2]

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.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ The NRHP registration document states once that it was built in 1880, but notes that "1893" is written on the parapet of the building, without explaining the discrepancy.

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