IOOF Opera House was once Hampton’s cultural center

Building served as location for plays, concerts, dances for over 40 years

  • This photo of the upper floor of the Hampton Opera House looks east toward the stage of the building’s hall where many events took place. The picture was included in the documentation for the building’s inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
    This photo of the upper floor of the Hampton Opera House looks east toward the stage of the building’s hall where many events took place. The picture was included in the documentation for the building’s inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

    If a proposed plan to save and restore the Hampton IOOF Opera House is successful it will mean the preservation of a structure that has been a part of Hampton’s history and culture for more than 130 years. More recently the building has been known as the home of a bait shop and insurance office, but for the first nearly 40 years of its existence it served as the cultural hub of the community, play…