The Calumet Theatre is a historic theatre located at 340 Sixth Street in the town of

Calumet, Michigan Calumet ( or ) is a village in Calumet Township, Houghton County, in the U.S. state of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, that was once at the center of the mining industry of the Upper Peninsula. Also known as Red Jacket, the village includes the C ...

. It is also known as the Calumet Opera House or the Calumet Civic Auditorium. It is integral to, but a separate unit of, the Calumet municipal building. The structure was designated a

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

State Historic Site in 1971 and 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 ...

in 1971. It is one of the 21

Heritage Sites A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage regist ...

which partners with the

Keweenaw National Historical Park Keweenaw National Historical Park is a unit of the U.S. National Park Service. Established in 1992, the park celebrates the life and history of the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of 2009, it is a p ...

. The theatre was the original home o
The Red Jacket Jamboree
an old-time radio variety show.

History

The village of Calumet was a prosperous community at the close of the nineteenth century, primarily due to the rich vein of

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...

mined by the

Calumet and Hecla Mining Company The Calumet and Hecla Mining Company was a major copper-mining company based within Michigan's Copper Country. In the 19th century, the company paid out more than $72 million in shareholder dividends, more than any other mining company in the Uni ...

, located just south and east of the village. In 1898, the community decided that 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 ...

was required to serve the people of Calumet.Theatre History
from the Calumet Theatre. Local architect Charles K. Shand was chosen to design the building, and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

interior designer William Eckert developed a crimson, gold, and ivory color scheme for the interior.Calumet Theatre
from the state of Michigan The theatre opened on March 20, 1900, with the

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

''The Highwayman'', by

Reginald De Koven Henry Louis Reginald De Koven (April 3, 1859January 16, 1920) was an American music critic and prolific composer, particularly of comic operas. Biography De Koven was born in Middletown, Connecticut, and moved to Europe in 1870, where he receive ...

and

Harry B. Smith Harry Bache Smith (December 28, 1860 – January 1, 1936) was a writer, lyricist and composer. The most prolific of all American stage writers, he is said to have written over 300 librettos and more than 6000 lyrics. Some of his best-known works ...

, on tour from

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

. The theatre was one of the first municipal theatres in the country. It soon attracted attention from America's finest actors, actresses, and other theatre greats, such as

Frank Morgan Francis Phillip Wuppermann (June 1, 1890 – September 18, 1949), known professionally as Frank Morgan, was an American character actor. He was best known for his appearances in films starting in the silent era in 1916, and then numerous soun ...

(later famous for his roles in ''The Wizard of Oz''),

Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckler film, swashbuckling roles in silent films in ...

Lon Chaney, Sr. Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

John Philip Sousa John Philip Sousa ( ; November 6, 1854 – March 6, 1932) was an American composer and conductor of the late Romantic era known primarily for American military marches. He is known as "The March King" or the "American March King", to dist ...

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 or 23 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including '' La Dame Aux Camel ...

, and Madame

Helena Modjeska Helena Modrzejewska (; born Jadwiga Benda; 12 October 1840 – 8 April 1909), known professionally as Helena Modjeska, was a Polish actress who specialized in Shakespearean and tragic roles. She was successful first on the Polish stage. After e ...

among others. As time wore on, the theatre began to lose popularity, due mostly to the decline of the local economy and the increasing popularity of movies. In the late 1920s, the theatre was converted to a motion-picture house, serving in this medium until the 1950s. Summer stock theatre was brought back to the Calumet Theater in 1958, and performed there every summer until 1968, and returned in 1972. In 1975, the auditorium was restored for the

centennial {{other uses, Centennial (disambiguation), Centenary (disambiguation) A centennial, or centenary in British English, is a 100th anniversary or otherwise relates to a century, a period of 100 years. Notable events Notable centennial events at a ...

of Calumet. In 1988-89, the exterior of the theatre was restored. In 1983, the Calumet Theatre Company was incorporated as a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

.About Us
from the Calumet Theatre In 2013, the theater began working on adding an elevator to improve accessibility for the second floor and balcony. The elevator was installed in 2018. Three staff members as well as volunteers help to operate the Theatre. Today, the Calumet Theatre is home to as many as 60 theatre-related events a year, with an estimated 18,000 people attending.

Description

The Calumet Theatre is a two-story

Renaissance revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

structure constructed from yellowish-brown brick. The building sits on a

Jacobsville sandstone Jacobsville Sandstone is a red sandstone formation, marked with light-colored streaks and spots, primarily found in northern Upper Michigan, portions of Ontario, and under much of Lake Superior. Desired for its durability and aesthetics, the sand ...

foundation, and has a copper roof with copper

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

s. A porte-cochere covers one entrance, and a clock tower originally rising to include a bell) stands nearby. An illuminated marquee is at the Sixth Street entrance. The theatre itself originally held 1200 seats. With the closure of the 2nd balcony, and addition of the movie projection booth on the 1st balcony, the Theatre now holds 700 seats and features 5 fantastic murals on the

proscenium A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...

arch.

Ghost stories

Some of the visitors to the Calumet Theatre hope to catch a glimpse of the reputed

ghost A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

of the theatre, Madame Helena Modjeska. The story of the ghost first emerged in 1958, when actress Adysse Lane claimed that the ghost of Madame Modjeska appeared to her during a performance when Lane had forgotten her lines. Since then, unexplainable happenings have occurred. Many people have heard music and felt cold air from nowhere. The Calumet Theatre was featured as a haunted location on the paranormal TV series ''

Most Terrifying Places Most or Möst or ''variation'', may refer to: Places * Most, Kardzhali Province, a village in Bulgaria * Most (city), a city in the Czech Republic ** Most District, a district surrounding the city ** Most Basin, a lowland named after the city ** ...

'' which aired on the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

in 2019. The segment showed how the town and the theater are connected to the Italian Hall massacre that killed 73 people on Christmas Eve at the nearby Italian Society Hall in 1913.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Calumet Theatre, The Theatres in Michigan Buildings and structures in Houghton County, Michigan Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Michigan Michigan State Historic Sites in Houghton County Tourist attractions in Houghton County, Michigan Theatres completed in 1900 Event venues established in 1900 Renaissance Revival architecture in Michigan National Register of Historic Places in Keweenaw National Historical Park National Register of Historic Places in Houghton County, Michigan Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Michigan