The Beardstown Grand Opera House is an

opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...

on South State Street in Beardstown,

Cass County, Illinois Cass County is a county located in the U.S. state of Illinois. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 13,642. Its county seat is Virginia. It is the home of the Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area. History Cass ...

. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 11, 2000, and is in the process of restoration.

History

The Beardstown Opera House was originally built in 1872. Nearing completion the opera house was almost completely destroyed by a tornado. After the Opera House was rebuilt by the owners and volunteer townsfolk, the first troupe to play the theater was

General Tom Thumb Charles Sherwood Stratton (January 4, 1838 – July 15, 1883), better known by his stage name "General Tom Thumb", was an American dwarf who achieved great fame as a performer under circus pioneer P. T. Barnum. Childhood and early life Bo ...

P.T. Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He was ...

fame. Through the years there have been many owners of this historic building. From 1872 to 1893 a partnership between Henry Krohe and Georgee Schneider controlled the building; facts about Krohe are known, but Schneider is lost to history. A team of five owners took over the opera house for the years 1893 to 1899: they were T.K. Condit, J.P. Harris, Merton Harris, William Deppe and August Deppe. For the five-year period from 1899 to 1904 a set of three owners, three of the previous owners dropped out and a replacement owner came in, controlled the Grand Opera House, Condit, Harris and J.F. Duvall. In 1904 the Deppe family took over control for the next 50 years until, in 1954, the Huss family took over until 1968.Beardstown Grand Opera House
, Heritage Preservation Foundation. In more recent history it was owned by the Irene Schroll family. In March 2004, the opera house was purchased by the Heritage Preservation Foundation, a non-profit organization created for the purpose of owning the Opera House. Four years before, it had been added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

; it is one of two such locations in Cass County.

References

External links

Opera house website
{{Registered Historic Places Music venues completed in 1872 National Register of Historic Places in Cass County, Illinois Buildings and structures in Cass County, Illinois Opera houses in Illinois Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Theatres completed in 1872 Opera houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois 1872 establishments in Illinois