‘This is a crown jewel’: One of Nebraska’s only original opera houses plans for future

TABLE ROCK - The Old Opera House in Table Rock is close to 130 years old and is one of the only remaining originals in the state of Nebraska.

“The opera house was built in 1893 and has had many uses over the years,” Milan Tomek, a member of the board of directors for the historical society, said. 

Despite its age, members of the Table Rock Historical Society are working to preserve its youth. One way the society is keeping the opera house young, is by bringing in young opera performers.

“The University of Nebraska opera section is interested in coming down here and putting on some shows and opera’s when we get the heat and air conditioning in,” Tomek said.

The society will need to make a few repairs, but once completed, Tomek sees good things for the opera house.

“We want to have regular entertainment of some kind up here,” Tomek said. “We still have to build another fire escape, so right now we’re limited as to how many people we can have up here, but once we get that all done and worked through, I think it’s going to be a real popular place.”

Table Rock is a town of under 300, but it has a unique piece of history in the heart of its town square. While the society has nine different historical buildings, Tomek knows this one is special. It even has the original 128-year-old background curtains.

“We have a large museum made up of several buildings,” Tomek said. “But I think this is a crown jewel here, the background curtains are priceless and they're the original ones.”