Photograph of State Theatre — Photograph by Ammodramus, CC0 1.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Martha Ellen Auditorium

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

From the record

“The Martha Ellen Auditorium, now the State Theatre, was built in 1916 in Central City, the county seat of Merrick County in the state of Nebraska in the midwestern United States. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, as a well-preserved example of a Nebraska opera house.”
Wikipedia article Martha Ellen Auditorium, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 8 National Register listings published here for Merrick County · listed in 1988 · category: Building.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 1 building as contributing to the listing.
Listed as. Ellen, Martha, Auditorium - the National Register files a house under its owner's surname.
Address. 706 C Ave., Central City, 68826
When was it listed? September 1988
Category. building
Also known as. Opera House Buildings in Nebraska 1867-1917 MPS
Township. Lone Tree township
National Register reference number. 88000944 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

14 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 14 fires within 5 miles of Martha Ellen Auditorium between 2008 and 2017, burning about 82 acres in total. 2 started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	7
Natural	2
Arson/incendiarism	2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1
Fireworks	1
Equipment and vehicle use	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
23 August 2008	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
3 July 2017	Arson/incendiarism	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
1 July 2017	Fireworks	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
23 May 2008	Natural	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
19 March 2011	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
18 March 2017	Debris and open burning	5.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
12 March 2011	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
11 March 2008	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named

Every fire recorded in Merrick County

Storms near this property

60 of 74 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Central City, the town this property stands in, in 74 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 43 hail, 19 thunderstorm wind, 5 heavy rain, 4 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
May 2025	Hail	Central City	$1,000,000	no account filed
April 1994	Tornado (F1)	Central City	$500,000	A tornado touched down near the Platte River three miles south of Central City and then moved north to the east edge of town where it lifted back into the clouds. Outbuildings were damaged and tree tops were twisted off at three separate farms. The tornado blew the roof off of an auto body shop on the east edge of town.
May 2005	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$500,000	no account filed
June 2023	Tornado (EF0)	Central City	$400,000	A tornado touched down in rural portions of Merrick County a few miles northwest of Central City, with a maximum estimated wind speed of 80 MPH along a 4-mile path. The most noteworthy damage occurred at a large cattle company feedlot, where a large portion of a roof was blown off of a confinement barn, several outdoor pens and livestock shades were destroyed, and a few head of cattle were injured and had to be euthanized. In addition, several irrigation pivots were overturned. Some tree damage was also noted along the path of the tornado. At one farmstead, the home suffered gutter damage and an unoccupied tractor parked nearby had its windows blown out. There was also some hail damage to crops in roughly a 2x2 mile area.
October 2001	Tornado (F2)	Central City	$300,000	Tornado crossed from Merrick County into Nance County.
August 2007	Hail	Central City	$250,000	Hail ranged in size from 1.75 to 2.75 inches in diameter.
July 2004	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$250,000	no account filed
May 2002	Hail	Central City	$250,000	no account filed
May 2002	Hail	Central City	$150,000	no account filed
August 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$100,000	Wind gusts estimated at 70 MPH resulted in tree damage in Central City as well as in the Willow Bend Lake area. The main tree damage occurred in the Willow Bend Lake area, where large tree limbs were knocked down and a 90 foot tree was uprooted, clipping the corner of the roof of a nearby home. Boats were also pulled loose from structures on the shore.
May 2000	Lightning	Central City	$100,000	no account filed
August 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$75,000	no account filed
June 2003	Hail	Central City	$50,000	no account filed
May 1998	Hail	Central City	$45,000	no account filed
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$25,000	A wind gust of 65 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located two miles south-southeast of Central City. Tree damage was reported in Central City, including a few larger downed branches.
July 2023	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$25,000	Tree damage was reported in the area, including downed limbs which damaged a home, and a power pole was also damaged.
September 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$25,000	Tree limbs were downed in the area.
May 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$25,000	Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH resulted in tree damage in Central City.
July 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$25,000	Wind gusts estimated near 60 MPH knocked down tree limbs up to 5 inches in diameter.
May 2005	Hail	Central City	$25,000	no account filed
May 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$25,000	no account filed
May 2001	Hail	Central City	$20,000	no account filed
May 1998	Hail	Central City	$20,000	no account filed
August 1996	Lightning	Central City	$12,000	no account filed
August 2018	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$10,000	Wind gusts estimated to be near 60 MPH knocked down a few tree limbs in town.
June 2015	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$10,000	Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH resulted in some tree damage in Central City, with power line and pole damage also reported.
July 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	$10,000	Winds knocked down large tree limbs and caused power outages across town.
June 2008	Hail	Central City	$10,000	no account filed
May 2007	Flash Flood	Central City	$10,000	no account filed
May 2001	Hail	Central City	$10,000	no account filed
December 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	-	A wind gust of 58 MPH was measured by a mesonet station located four miles north of Central City.
August 2017	Heavy Rain	Central City	-	A 24-hour precipitation amount of 3.03 inches was recorded 2 miles northeast of Central City.
August 2017	Heavy Rain	Central City	-	A 24-hour precipitation amount of 3.03 inches was recorded 1 mile north-northeast of Central City.
June 2015	Hail	Central City	-	Quarter size hail occurred 2 miles southwest of Central City on Highway 30.
July 2014	Hail	Central City	-	Ground was almost completely covered by nickel size hail.
May 2013	Heavy Rain	Central City	-	A storm total rainfall of 3.03 inches was reported by a Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network Observer.
October 2013	Hail	Central City	-	Nickel size hail was ongoing at the time of the report.
October 2013	Hail	Central City	-	This report of nickel size hail was received via Facebook.
October 2013	Hail	Central City	-	This report of quarter size hail was received via an NERAIN (Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network) observer.
June 2011	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	-	Wind gusts were estimated at 60 MPH.
July 2011	Heavy Rain	Central City	-	Total rainfall over the past 24 hours of 3.64 inches was reported by a Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network observer.
May 2001	Tornado (F0)	Central City	-	Brief touchdown with no damage.
April 2025	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
June 2022	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
June 2022	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
June 2022	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
August 2020	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	-	no account filed
August 2018	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
June 2015	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
April 2013	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
May 2013	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
June 2010	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
April 2007	Heavy Rain	Central City	-	no account filed
August 2007	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed
April 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Central City	-	no account filed
April 2006	Hail	Central City	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Merrick County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

5 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Patterson Law Office	0.2 miles	1979
Heber Hord House	0.7 miles	1987
Wright Morris Boyhood House	1.3 miles	1980
Riverside Park Dance Pavillion	2.2 miles	1998
Nelson Farm	4.6 miles	2009

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 88000944 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Merrick County	All 8 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.