The Ohiowa Auditorium

The village around this hall carries two states in one word. Its settlers came from Ohio and Iowa, and the town was platted in 1886, when the railroad was extended to the spot. It is an unusual name, built from two complete state names. Ohiowa counted 433 people in 1920, its highest census, and 326 in 1940, the year the auditorium was finished, so the WPA built a hall for a town of a few hundred. By 2010 the census found 115, and the auditorium still stands at Main and Grafton streets.

What the plaque says

The Ohiowa Auditorium The Ohiowa Auditorium, completed in 1940 and preserved in near original condition, is one of several Nebraska buildings constructed by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. The WPA, a federal government relief program, provided employment for local workers. During World War II the auditorium served as an entertainment center for soldiers from the nearby Bruning Army Air Field. A community landmark, the auditorium has also been used for dances, movies, roller-skating, craft shows, auctions, and as a polling place. Ohiowa Chamber of Commerce Village of Ohiowa 2008 Nebraska State Historical Society

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Rock Creek Station State Historical Park — 30 mi
  A stage and Pony Express station on the trail southeast of Fairbury where James Hickok killed David McCanles in July 1861, with the court papers that cleared him, and deep wagon ruts.

More markers nearby

• Sergeant Leodegar Schnyder — 6.3 mi
• Bruning Army Air Field — 6.4 mi
• The Pioneer Chapel and Český Bratří Cemetery — 7.0 mi
• The Blizzard of 1888 — 7.5 mi