STATE CENTER — Built in 1890, State Center’s once iconic opera house was demolished Dec. 31.

“I was sad to see it demolished,” said former mayor, retired history teacher, preservationist and resident Harlan Quick.

Conversely, Quick said he is glad the opera house site will be used to enlarge and remodel the town’s Fire/EMS station and benefit town and area residents for decades to come.

“The site will be put to good use,” he said.

The State Center Opera House, like other opera houses in Iowa, flourished over the years as a community and entertainment center. Many, like State Center’s, were built near railroad lines.

However, like the once novel Ford Model T — which, more than a century later, was transformed into the sleek, powerful Ford Mustang Shelby GT5000 — the opera house’s initial purpose changed and diminished over the years, giving way to progress.

It had been once owned by the town’s Masonic Lodge. The fraternal organization sold it to the West Marshall Community School District, which utilized it for storage.

The school district then sold it to the town – with a population of nearly 1,700 (2022 US Census) — to make room for the Fire Station/EMS project, an initiative the town’s residents and city council said has been needed for years due to increased emergency and fire call volumes, among other factors.

In November of 2024, voters approved a $1.5 million bond issue that will allow the town to add on and renovate the fire station. Iowa law requires that such issues attain a “supermajority” of at least 60 percent in favor to pass. Ballots from 723 voters registered 439 – or 61 percent – in favor and 284 against, according to Times-Republican archives, after the previous bond issue had failed by an extremely narrow margin.

To date, more than $477,000 has been raised and will be melded with the bond issue , according to the volunteer fire department’s Facebook page. A bid opening is scheduled later this month.

One staunch historic preservation supporter readily acknowledges the need for the improved Fire/EMS but told the Times-Republican Thursday she wished the city council had taken more time to examine other uses for the building and solicit public comments.

Catherine Noble, a State Center native, preservationist and resident, said she is in favor of the enhanced public safety features the new facility will offer.

“I am strongly in favor of improved Fire/EMS services in State Center,” she said. “But I wish more time had been spent to determine if there was a way the building could have been preserved and used to benefit the town.”

Noble is a member of the town’s historic preservation commission. Her home is on the coveted National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Around 2000, Noble and other residents were aggressive in getting the same designation for State Center’s downtown and other properties – including a former gas station and oil distribution business now housing State Center’s police department.

“We held numerous public meetings to solicit comments about what to do and how we should do it,” she said of those efforts. “I wish the same had been done with the opera house.”

State Center is known as “Iowa’s Rose Capital” and its annual Rose Festival but is also renowned for its historic preservation efforts, vibrant downtown and housing efforts.

The town’s Main Street, the historic Watson’s Grocery Store and several private homes – including Mayor Craig Pfantz’s and its adjoining barn — are all on the National Register of Historic Places.