Passaic Opera House
217 Washington Place,
Passaic,
NJ
07055
217 Washington Place,
Passaic,
NJ
07055
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Also known as the Passaic Theatre
Reopened as Passaic Family theatre on September 11th, 1905
The 1908-1909 Cahn guide lists the 950-seat Passaic Opera House, managed by W. Whitehead, so I’d guess it’s the same theater as Whitehead’s Opera House. CinemaTour lists the house at 217 Washington Place. A 1910 city directory gives that address as the location of the Opera House Hotel, so the theater might have been entered through the hotel lobby. William Whitehead owned the hotel, and earlier had operated a theater called the Lyceum.
Whitehead’s Opera House was dedicated on February 1, 1892, according the Theatrical Chronology in the 1893 edition of The New York Clipper Annual. The Passaic Opera House was destroyed by a fire on January 19, 1916, along with several other buildings, an event widely reported in newspapers a the time and noted in the January 26 issue of The Insurance Press.
In the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide there is a “Whitehead’s Opera House” listed for Passaic. Unfortunately, there are no street addresses in this Guide, so I don’t know if it’s this theater or not. It was run by W. Whitehead, had 900 seats and was on the first floor.