MILLERSBURG OPERA HOUSE

September 22, 2008

The Millersburg Opera House was a city building, a combination of city hall and Opera House. It was a large, elegant two-story structure with arched windows and an impressive, ornate tower. The building was built in 1890 and was constructed of brick and sandstone. It was located in downtown Millersburg on the corner of Jackson and Monroe Streets. The structure housed several village offices and the Millersburg Fire Department in addition to the Opera House. In early years the building was also used as a voting precinct during election years. The fire station part of the building was located on the east end of the structure. It had sandstone pillars, wooden floors, and two large wooden doors at the front of the building that provided fire engines with easy access to Jackson Street. The Opera House portion of the building was entered from Jackson Street through a very large arched vestibule entry and front door . Upon entering, there was a lobby and a ticket booth before progressing to the main theatre. Upstairs was the balcony. The Opera House could seat 250 to 300 people in its main seating section plus the balcony area!

Millersburg Opera House and City Hall ca. 1910 Click here to see full-size photos

In the early years the Opera House was used as a public entertainment center. It housed various performances, pageants, stage plays, etc., and local residents often took part in these presentations. After moving pictures became widely available, first-run movies were shown in the Opera House. It was the only movie theater in town and films ran seven days a week. Admission tickets were only six cents for a long time but eventually increased to a dime. On Wednesdays various merchants would sponsor movies at the Opera House and patrons could attend free of charge. Over the years the Opera House was used by many people and organizations: the Boy Scouts, a rifle range, and some can even remember playing basketball on the Opera House stage. Indeed, for years the Opera House provided the community with much good entertainment as well as a meeting place for various groups.

As time passed, however, a new movie theater was built on Clay Street, and the Opera House lost much of its business to this newer movie theater. Gradually the Opera House seemed to lose much of its usefulness, and the interior of the building fell into shambles over the years. Ultimately the fire department and village offices relocated to more modern accommodations, and finally the old Opera House was demolished in 1954 to make way for a parking lot.