Iowa Falls

The Metropolitan Opera House is an historic opera house in Iowa Falls, Iowa and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Commissioned... by Eugene S. Ellsworth, the house was designed and built in 1899. Three stories tall, the MOH was designed in the style of Italian Renaissance which was currently in vogue in late 19th-century America. The ground floor of the original theater once sat 441 people and the balcony seated another 390. The original stage of the house had a width of 66 feet and a depth of 30 feet with large wings extending to each side. Offices existed on the second and third floors at the front of the building. Much of the house's interior has been altered to accommodate the movie theatre that now operates there. However, a ballroom on the third floor is still largely intact. The Metropolitan Opera House opened with its first performance on December 27, 1899 with an audience numbering over 800 people, an occurrence which was later proclaimed in the local newspaper as the "biggest social event in the history of Iowa Falls.
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Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New France. After the Louisiana Purchase, settlers laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt. Iowa is often... known as the "Food Capital of the World". In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy transitioned to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, biotechnology, and green energy production. Iowa is the 26th most extensive and the 30th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Des Moines. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest states to live in. Iowa is bordered by the Mississippi River on the east; the Missouri River and the Big Sioux River on the west; the northern boundary is a line along 43 degrees, 30 minutes north latitude.
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