INTERIOR OF TABOR OPERA HOUSE, LEADVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT

The Tabor Opera House is an opera house in

Leadville, Colorado The City of Leadville is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat, the most populous community, and the only List of municipalities in Colorado, incorporated municipality in Lake County, Colorad ...

. Opened in 1879, The building has been designated a national treasure by the

National Trust for Historic Preservation The National Trust for Historic Preservation is a privately funded, nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that works in the field of historic preservation in the United States. The member-supported organization was founded in 1949 by ...

History

Built by Horace Tabor, who went on to become the town's first mayor, it was the most costly structure in Colorado at the time, with materials being brought by wagons from Denver. The massive three-story opera house, constructed of stone, brick, and iron, was called "Leadville's finest brick structure". A 1935 newspaper article stated its cost to be "something under $75,000". The Tabor Opera House opened on November 20, 1879, with its first production being a comedy called ''The Serious Family''. A March 1880 newspaper announcement advertised

Kate Claxton Kate Claxton (August 24, 1848 – May 5, 1924) was an American actress. Biography Kate Elizabeth Cone was born at Somerville, New Jersey to Spencer Wallace Cone and Josephine Martinez.James, Edward T.; James, Janet Wilson; Boyer, Paul S"Not ...

and her husband Chas A. Stevenson in a double-bill running six nights. In April 1880 the program included

Minnie Palmer Minnie Palmer (March 31, 1857 – May 21, 1936) was an American actress in dramatic and musical plays. Early years Born in Philadelphia, Palmer supplemented her convent education by studying languages, dancing, and singing abroad. Career ...

in ''Minnie Palmer's Boarding School''. Following the 1893 collapse in the price of silver, after the repeal of the

Sherman Silver Purchase Act The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was a United States federal law enacted on July 14, 1890.Charles Ramsdell Lingley, ''Since the Civil War'', first edition: New York, The Century Co., 1920, ix–635 p., . Re-issued: Plain Label Books, unknown date, ...

, Tabor was forced to sell the Leadville opera house for $32,000 USD. The new owner, Algernon Weston, owned the opera house until his death in 1897. In 1901 the building was sold to the local Elks society, who reopened it in 1902 as the ''Elks Opera House''. In 1936 a fire broke out in the building's bar, caused by a cigarette dropped into the upholstery by a patron. In 1955 the building was sold for $20,000 USD to Evelyn Furman, a resident of Leadville. Furman maintained the building, opening it occasionally for tours and performances, until her death in 2011. In 2016 the city of Leadville purchased the building for $600,000 USD. The renovation of the building is overseen by a private non-profit society, the Tabor Opera House Preservation Foundation. In 2020 Dr. Wendy Rae Waszut-Barrett of Historic Stage Services LLC, documented hundreds of stage settings delivered to at the Tabor Opera House in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many of the 19th century stage settings were even stored above the auditorium ceiling, lowered to the stage floor for assembly and cataloguing. There are currently fourteen theatre collections identified at the Tabor Opera House, scenery and stage machinery dating from 1879 to 1902. Dr. Waszut-Barrett published many of these onsite discoveries at www.drypigment.net.

References

External links

* {{coord, 39.24674, -106.29074, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-CO, display=title Opera houses in Colorado 1879 establishments in Colorado