Crisfield Opera House
401-403 W. Main Street,
Crisfield,
MD
21817
401-403 W. Main Street,
Crisfield,
MD
21817
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Built between 1891 and 1897, the Odd Fellows Hall was a large 4 story wooden building with metal cladding and a corner tower. An opera house was located on the second floor, likely from the very beginning, but certainly by 1904, when it is shown on the Sanborn map. Notably, the stage was at the front of the building. The 1905 Cahn guide calls it the Temple Opera House, and gives a capacity of 800.
Films were being shown as early as 1914-15, when the theater is listed in the AMPD as the Crisfield Opera House. The capacity may have been reduced during conversion to a theater, or later due to fire codes, but the 1927 Yearbook gives a capacity of 350.
The Opera House was destroyed in a catastrophic March 31, 1928 fire that also destroyed the Lyric Theatre at the other end of the block as well as 60-odd other businesses and some homes.
Some of the articles make reference to the fire starting in the projection booth of the Arcade Theatre, which seems to have been name of the operation in the Opera House at that point, although the 1927 Yearbook does not list an Arcade Theatre. In addition, the crowd in the theater at the time the blaze erupted is given as 700, at odds with the 350 capacity listed in the Yearbooks.
Contributed by
Seth Gaines
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
Here is a good article about the fire, full of interesting detail: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-times-crisfield-fire-of-1928-m/83007419/