Old Opera House
204 N. George Street,
Charles Town,
WV
25414
204 N. George Street,
Charles Town,
WV
25414
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The New Opera House was opened on February 11, 1911. Designed by architect Thomas A. Mullett, son of Alfred B. Mullett, who had previously worked as supervising architect to the Treasury.
At some time it was renamed Packette Theatre, but by the 1930’s it was a movie theatre known as the Opera House. It closed as a cinema in the early-1950’s.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places, today it is known as the Old Opera House, and operates as a community theatre.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Alfred B. Mullett died in 1890. The 1911 Opera House was designed by his son, Thomas A. Mullett, though the firm was apparently still called A. B. Mullett & Company.
Here is a PDF of the NRHP nomination form for the Old Opera House. Among it’s interesting bits of information is the fact that an electric machine for popping corn and toasting peanuts was installed in the Opera House in 1916. This is the earliest instance I’ve yet come across of a theater having popcorn.
This webpage article, written for the theater’s centennial, has a picture of the Old Opera House when it was the New Opera House.
By 1937, the Opera House was being operated as a movie theater by Pitts' Theatres, who also operated Pitts' Jefferson Theatre in Charles Town, which they had opened in 1932. Both the Opera House and Pitts' Jefferson Theatre appeared on a list of twenty-five houses being operated by Pitts' Theatres in 1949.