Opera House

The Opera House began with the construction of the First National Bank sometime before 1885. This was a two story limestone building, shaped like an L, with the short part of the L being a transverse section at the rear, facing 7th Avenue. By 1890, another section had been added to the east, and the second floor now became an opera house. The space at the rear was still used for other purposes. The 1905 Cahn guide call this the Cawker City Opera House, and gives a capacity of 500.

Between 1905 and 1911, the opera house was expanded, and the retail space at the rear became a stage tower. Movies began to be shown somewhere in this time frame. Oddly, the ‘picture machine’ seems to have been located in the stage tower, facing the auditorium, known as ‘rear projection’.

This building likely continued to be used until it was demolished around 1929, to be replaced by the present city auditorium building, which is today city hall and the library.

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