Warren Opera House Block and Hetherington Block
156 Public Sq., Greenfield, IAThe Warren Opera House and Hetherington Blocks, which together form a discrete unit on the east side of Greenfield's courthouse square, stand as well-preserved examples of Iowa's small-town opera house and commercial architecture from the late 19th century. The interior arrangement of the opera house block, and commercial space, was a characteristic typical of the state's small-town opera houses, and a prudent one, since the population of the community would not be sufficient to adequately support a theater alone. The opera house is prominently sited, and the turret is a typical feature of corner-lot commercial architecture influenced by the late 19th-century revival of Romanesque forms. The Hetherington block is an appropriate companion piece, repeating the basic architectural elements of the opera house, but varying sufficiently in treatment of detail to be noticeable as a separate structure.
The contract was let for both buildings in May 1896, to B.F. Garmer of Greenfield, who worked from plans by C.E. Bell and F. Kent of Council Bluffs. Warren's dry goods store opened at its new location on December 1 of that year. The Chase-Lister theatrical company's "Caprice" opened the opera house, to poor reviews, on December 14.
E.E. Warren was born in New London, Henry County, Iowa, in 1862. He came to Greenfield in 1879, after several years clerking in local general stores in New London. For 25 years Warren was employed at Greenfield's A.P. Stephens and Co., and then for two more years at Stephens' branch in Creston. In 1883, Warren went into partnership with Stephens, and the firm's name was changed to Fuller, Warren and Co. In 1886, Warren bought out his partners, brought his brother F.C. into the firm, and renamed it yet again "Warren Bros.". Warren took sole ownership in 1889, and operated the business until 1910. That year, he went west, apparently to oversee his agricultural holdings in the Dakotas. He returned to Greenfield and reopened his dry goods store, which he operated until his death.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.