The Lodgepole Opera House shown above is uniquely above a garage built in 1911. The Opera House, now largely used only for storage, stands at Oberfelder and Front Streets and hosted dances, meetings, movies and even local basketball games. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
As the Nebraska Territory formed in 1854, the first settlers were frequently waiting in Iowa to be able to cross the Missouri River and legally live in the formerly Indian Territory. It’s no wonder then that actual settlement advanced westward only slowly before the arrival of the railroad. The original Nebraska counties were quickly designated by the legislature leaving the western-most areas empty. Cheyenne County was then a late comer as the Dakotas and Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains, spun off as separate territories. Interestingly the panhandle of Nebraska originally stretched west to the mountains.
Historian Jim McKee, who still writes with a fountain pen, invites comments or questions. Write to him in care of the Journal Star or at jim@leebooksellers.com.
The Lodgepole Opera House shown above is uniquely above a garage built in 1911. The Opera House, now largely used only for storage, stands at Oberfelder and Front Streets and hosted dances, meetings, movies and even local basketball games. It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
