Spang's Opera House

Spang’s Opera House began as a single story stone building constructed in 1840 by the Wise brothers as a blacksmith shop. It was purchased in 1873 by Peter Spang, who continued the business. In 1882, Spang added a second story in cream brick with an elaborate tin cornice, and opened an opera house in the second floor. The ground floor continued in commercial/industrial use.

By about 1910, Spang’s was the location of the first movies to be shown in town, but it suffered from the construction of both a larger and finer opera house as well as a dedicated movie theatre in downtown.

The odd location, about two blocks north of the edge of downtown, likely contributed to the decline. After it closed, occasional public events continued to be held in the theatre space, and high school basketball games took place there until 1939.

In an odd coincidence, by 1915 the ground floor was the home of the Woerpel brothers auto dealership, who moved downtown into a new building in 1920. That building later became the Dodge Theatre.

The last use seems to have been as a small engine repair business, and the building was sadly lost in 1997 to be replaced by a gas station. Much of this information was taken from an excellent history by the Wisconsin Historical Society. They give the address as 420 N. Iowa Street, but this cannot be correct, as the building was located on the southeast corner of Spring Street and N. Main Street. The intersection has been completely rebuilt, but the building would have been roughly where the rear entrance to the gas station lot is.

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