Opera Block
a.k.a. Cardinal Grocery
Main St., Westville, OKThe Opera Block is significant for its associations with Westville's period as Adair county seat and for its part as entertainment center during the era of traveling Vaudeville and Chautanquas made possible by the railroads.
Westville, now a town of 1,000, officially was established in 1895 as a trading center. Settlers had been in the area since the 1820s and trade centers had been established in Arkansas border towns. The military road from Fayetteville, Arkansas, to Ft. Gibson, Oklahoma, ran north of Westville and the stage route (east and west) ran just south of Westville. This gave Westville a strategic position for growth. Real growth came, however, when the Frisco Railroad and the Kansas City Southern Railroad came through Westville (ca 1902) making it a crossroads for rail traffic. Added prestige came when at statehood in 1907 Westville was designated county seat of Adair county.
The Opera Block was built in 1911-1912 in response to the need for commercial facilities, a county building and an entertainment hall. The north portion served as the county courthouse, the south portions as businesses and the second floor was the Opera House.
However, Westville's eminence was short lived. Stillwell protested Westville's designation as county seat. An election was held, Stillwell won by 13 votes and the county seat was changed. Live shows were held in the Opera House into the 1920s when their popularity dwindled both locally and nationally. The State highway from Siloam Springs, Arkansas, to Stillwell and Sallisaw, Oklahoma, bypassed Westville by one mile. When the railroads ceased to be a primary mode of passenger travel Westville's growth stopped. The Opera Block, along with the Buffington Hotel, remained as sole reminders of fast growth and equally fast decline.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
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.