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middle-rear six rows of seats. Two sets of stairs along the walls of the auditorium lead to the balcony. Pillars are located around the edges of the balcony. Many of the original opera chairs remain in the balcony but on the lower floor, the original seats have been replaced by conventional movie seats. Aisles are carpeted and the pink-tinted peach colored plaster walls maintain their original color scheme.
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early 1900s thus marked a period of considerable growth in
Central City with a number of buildings built and businesses established. It was a time before radio or television, when silent movies were only beginning to become available in rural Nebraska. Entertainment was available to rural Nebraskans in the form of musical concerts, comic operas, performances by touring companies, and
365:. The original windows on the second still exist but have been boarded up. The retail spaces on the lower level originally housed specialty stores including a barber shop. Alterations were made both to these storefronts and interiors since the auditorium was built. A marquee and sign were added when the building became the State Theater.
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At some point prior to 1988, the name of the establishment was changed to "State
Theatre". A marquee bearing that name was added to the building's facade, obscuring the original "Martha Ellen Auditorium" sign. The State Theatre was closed in 2013; the owners cited the cost of changing from film to
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The horseshoe-shaped balcony is 9.5 feet (2.9 m) deep on the sides and it extends all the way around the auditorium to the proscenium wall. The sides of the balcony have three rows of seats, while the middle-rear has six rows. A 13 feet (4.0 m) deep projection booth is centered behind the
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Col. C. Shelton deserves the patronage of every resident of our city as renumeration for his progressive spirit in giving the play goers of
Central City such a house. The investment was prompted by a spirit of community advancement for the returns cannot possibly pay interest on the investment Mr.
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The early 1900s were a time of relative prosperity in
Central City, Merrick County, and Nebraska more generally after the recession of the 1890s; this episode of prosperity culminated with World War I (1914–1918), which increased the demand and raised the prices for agricultural products. The
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The proscenium arch is 22 feet (6.7 m) wide and approximately 14 feet (4.3 m) high. The wings (17 feet (5.2 m) long) contain movie speakers. The backstage area is entered through a door to the extreme stage right of proscenium wall. The stage is 15 feet (4.6 m) deep from the
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offerings became too costly for small-town halls. The rise in automobile ownership made it possible for more and more people to travel to larger cities for their entertainment rather than making do with what the local venues had to offer. Under these circumstances, the Martha Ellen
Auditorium
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The original Martha Ellen
Auditorium sign is still on the building but hidden by the State Theatre movie marquee. The auditorium is accessed through doors under the current movie margues. The lobby immediately inside the doors is approximately 13 feet (4.0 m) in depth.
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business district. The auditorium is a brick One-Part
Commercial Block structure approximately 80 × 58 feet (24 × 18 m). The exterior of the building has minimal decorative brick trim and broad inset panels.
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digital projection equipment as the reason for the closing. The nonprofit State
Theater Foundation raised $ 100,000 to renovate and reopen the theater, using $ 45,000 of the money to purchase digital projection equipment.
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The lobby has been remodeled the original auditorium was built. The auditorium is entered from the lobby and it is approximately 51 × 56 feet (16 × 17 m). It has no windows. The sides of the
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curtain line to the back wall. The dressing rooms no longer exist, but they were under the stage. In all other respects, the structural and historical integrity of the building and auditorium have been preserved.
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Opera-house entertainment went into a decline beginning about the end of World War I. Increases in the cost of rail tickets cut into the profits of traveling companies; even the relatively inexpensive
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walls, outside of the arch are curved. The original boxes there have been covered and the rails hidden behind the covering. The now hiddend stage-left box once functioned as a barber shop.
287:, operas, lectures, plays, and a heavyweight wrestling match. Both traveling and local performers occupied the stage: in December 1916, for example, the Martha Ellen presented the opera
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It was in this context that the opera house was built in 1916 by
Colonel William C. Shelton, who named it after his daughter. When the
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On page 156, the Martha Ellen
Auditorium is referred to as an opera house called "the Academy of Music in Central City" in the
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Ehlers, D. Layne (2000). This week at the opera house popular musical entertainment at Great Plains opera houses, 1887–1917.
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527:. Nebraska State Historical Society: State Historic Preservation Office. Archived from the original on November 16, 2006.
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675:. The owners' concerns about the cost of making the transition to digital projection were described in Bob Fischbach,
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It has a flat roof and is divided into bays (three bays on the front and five bays on the side) by full height brick
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The new venue furnished a variety of entertainments. A list of events from 1916 and 1917 includes films, among them
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increasingly showed motion pictures, and nothing else, ending its career as a venue for performing arts.
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Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Nebraska (1939).
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University and college buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places
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631:"National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Martha Ellen Auditorium"
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636:. Nebraska State Historical Society. Archived from the original on June 10, 2011
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461:"National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form"
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State Theater (formerly Martha Ellen Auditorium) viewed from the southeast.
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List of jails and prisons on the National Register of Historic Places
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Kay, John, Lonnie Dickson, Robert Kay, and Kathleen Fimple (1992).
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National Register of Historic Places in Merrick County, Nebraska
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Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Nebraska
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The Martha Ellen Auditorium is located in the center of the
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Shelton is putting into this building (2 Nov. 1916:1).
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in the midwestern United States. It is listed in the
502:"Nebraska National Register Sites in Merrick County".
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Buildings and structures in Merrick County, Nebraska
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performers, but only if there was a suitable venue.
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History of the National Register of Historic Places
262:announced the opening of the theater, it declared:
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821:List of U.S. National Historic Landmarks by state
668:The closing was announced August 23, 2013 at the
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725:DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln
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537:: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (
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240:National Register of Historic Places
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16:United States historic place
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598:"Martha Ellen Auditorium".
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361:further characterizes the
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295:The Dream That Came True
182:Architectural style
284:The Avenging Conscience
224:Martha Ellen Auditorium
177:Col. William C. Shelton
150:41.114722°N 98.003056°W
27:Martha Ellen Auditorium
1098:Minor Outlying Islands
1081:Lists by insular areas
795:Keeper of the Register
699:Great Plains Quarterly
600:Central City Nonpareil
573:Great Plains Quarterly
409:. The Stratford Press.
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260:Central City Nonpareil
800:National Park Service
780:Contributing property
507:Retrieved 2012-12-31.
442:National Park Service
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278:The Birth of a Nation
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155:41.114722; -98.003056
52:Viewed from the east.
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79:Show map of Nebraska
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682:Omaha World-Herald
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153: /
141:98°0′11.0″W
138:41°6′53.0″N
129:Coordinates
1238:Categories
1057:Washington
977:New Mexico
972:New Jersey
847:California
705::183–195.
640:20 January
583:20 January
470:20 January
418:References
375:proscenium
253:vaudeville
1067:Wisconsin
1032:Tennessee
937:Minnesota
912:Louisiana
579:: 183–195
359:corbeling
347:pilasters
174:Architect
1223:Category
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1002:Oklahoma
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957:Nebraska
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932:Michigan
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907:Kentucky
887:Illinois
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852:Colorado
842:Arkansas
650:cite web
533:cite web
480:cite web
331:Nebraska
321:Building
236:Nebraska
207:88000944
123:Nebraska
114:Location
1169:Related
1072:Wyoming
1047:Vermont
952:Montana
892:Indiana
872:Georgia
867:Florida
837:Arizona
827:Alabama
363:façades
355:parapet
351:cornice
246:History
1007:Oregon
962:Nevada
902:Kansas
877:Hawaii
832:Alaska
768:Topics
1139:Palau
1037:Texas
917:Maine
882:Idaho
634:(PDF)
525:(PDF)
464:(PDF)
389:Notes
353:with
166:Built
1093:Guam
1042:Utah
997:Ohio
897:Iowa
656:link
642:2013
585:2013
547:link
543:link
539:link
486:link
472:2013
281:and
222:The
169:1916
275:'s
202:No.
191:MPS
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
