IOOF Opera House

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

From the record

“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.”
Wikipedia article IOOF Opera House, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 6 National Register listings published here for Hamilton 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.
Address. N. Third and B Sts., Hampton, 68843
When was it listed? September 1988
Category. building
Also known as. Opera House Buildings in Nebraska 1867-1917 MPS
Precinct. Precinct 3
National Register reference number. 88000952 - 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

22 since 2005

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of IOOF Opera House between 2005 and 2020, burning about 178 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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	12
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	6
Equipment and vehicle use	3
Misuse of fire by a minor	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
28 June 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
7 May 2018	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
5 May 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
3 May 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
1 May 2020	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
4 April 2011	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
29 April 2018	Debris and open burning	1.0 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named
25 April 2019	Debris and open burning	20 acres	Nebraska Forest Service	not named

Every fire recorded in Hamilton County

Storms near this property

32 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hampton, the town this property stands in, in 32 storm reports between 1997 and 2025: 15 thunderstorm wind, 9 hail, 5 heavy rain, 3 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
June 2011	Tornado (EF2)	Hampton	$2,500,000	This tornado touched down approximately 5 miles south-southwest of Hampton, just south of Interstate 80, where a home suffered some roof damage and a grain truck was overturned. A cattle shed was also destroyed, trees were damaged, and a few wooden power poles were snapped. A few moments later the tornado crossed over the interstate in front of many spectators. Just north of the interstate, roof panels were ripped from an outbuilding and more power poles were broken. A roof was partially removed from a double wide trailer just southwest of Hampton and irrigation pivots were knocked over. The tornado continued on a path just west of Hampton, moving north-northeast. Along its path, grain bins and irrigation pivots were destroyed, numerous tree trunks were snapped and irrigation piping was destroyed, including being wrapped around trees and power poles. Approximately 60 power poles were destroyed, at least 16 irrigation pivots were damaged, along with 7 homes and 10 outbuildings. The tornado lifted 4 miles north northeast of Hampton, about 10 miles from its touchdown point. The maximum wind speed of this tornado was estimated to be 125 MPH.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	$800,000	Wind gusts estimated to be near 70 MPH resulted in several flipped irrigation pivots in the area. A semi truck was blown over on Interstate 80 near mile marker 339.
June 2014	Tornado (EF1)	Hampton	$500,000	This tornado was not witnessed by anyone as it occurred after dark. A large area of damaging winds occurred northwest of where the tornado apparently formed. Tree damage, snapped power poles, and overturned pivots were common from just south of Marquette to southeast of Hampton. The most evident tornado damage was observed at two homes north of Hampton. Both homes lost part of their roof. One home was a manufactured home and the other was conventional construction. The southern of the two homes had parts of the roof blown back to the west and southwest, while the rest of the debris was strewn southeast along the storm path. Leaves and mud were plastered on the east side of both homes. Radar data did not show any obvious tornado-like signatures. Due to the widespread damage, it was difficult to identify exactly where the tornado began and ended.
May 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	$150,000	Wind gusts were estimated to be 60 to 70 MPH. Emergency management reported at least two damaged irrigation pivots in the area.
June 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	$150,000	no account filed
April 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	$75,000	no account filed
April 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	$70,000	no account filed
June 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	$25,000	Wind gusts were estimated to be near 70 MPH by a storm chaser in the area. Emergency management reported that a semi-truck was blown over near mile marker 339 on Interstate 80, which is 1 mile east of the Hampton exit.
June 2020	Hail	Hampton	$25,000	Hail ranging in size from quarters to 2 inches in diameter was reported along this path.
July 2011	Hail	Hampton	$25,000	no account filed
May 2006	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	$25,000	no account filed
June 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	$25,000	no account filed
December 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	$10,000	Wind gusts were estimated to be near 70 MPH. Vehicle window damage was reported on Main Street.
August 2020	Tornado (EF0)	Hampton	$1,000	Minor crop and tree damage occurred. Debris was found in nearby powerlines. An old lean-to shed was destroyed.
April 2025	Hail	Hampton	-	Hail up to the size of half dollars was reported.
June 2024	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	-	Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
June 2022	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	-	Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
July 2021	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	-	Wind gusts estimated to be near 65 MPH near Hampton.
August 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	-	Wind gusts were estimated to be near 60 MPH.
August 2017	Heavy Rain	Hampton	-	A 24-hour precipitation amount of 3.30 inches was recorded 3 miles east-southeast of Hampton.
August 2017	Heavy Rain	Hampton	-	A 24-hour precipitation amount of 3.17 inches was recorded 1 mile northeast of Hampton.
April 2016	Heavy Rain	Hampton	-	Twenty-four rainfall was 3.45 inches.
April 2014	Heavy Rain	Hampton	-	A 24 hour rainfall total of 3.00 inches occurred about 2 miles east southeast of Hampton. This report was from an NERAIN observer.
May 2013	Heavy Rain	Hampton	-	A storm total rainfall amount of 3.04 inches was reported by a Nebraska Rainfall Assessment and Information Network Observer.
June 2010	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	-	Tree limbs ranging from 8 to 12 inches in diameter were blown down.
May 2022	Hail	Hampton	-	no account filed
June 2022	Hail	Hampton	-	no account filed
August 2020	Hail	Hampton	-	no account filed
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Hampton	-	no account filed
May 2016	Hail	Hampton	-	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Hampton	-	no account filed
September 2010	Hail	Hampton	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Hamilton 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

4 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
Hamilton County Courthouse	6.1 miles	1985
Temple Craft Building	6.2 miles	2014
United Brethren Church	6.2 miles	2008
Streeter-Peterson House	6.4 miles	1991

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 88000952 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Hamilton County	All 6 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.