Fargo Opera House Programs

Collection

Identifier: Mss 62

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Fargo Opera House programs, entitled The Theatre, were produced from the opening in 1894 till it was destroyed by fire in 1912. The Institute holdings contain the years 1899-1911. The seasons of 18991900, 1903-1904, 1904-1905, 1905-1906, 1906-1907, 1907-1908, 1908-1909, 1909-1910 and 1910-1911 are complete and in leather bound books likely produced by Walker Brothers printing firm. The remaining years are loose leaf and very incomplete. The Mary Darrow Weible Collection (Mss 620) contains an incomplete set of programs from 1894-1908.

The Theatre publication contains a program for each performance, announcements for upcoming performances, news items dealing with the opera house, and advertisements for local businesses. They contain art work for each performance, including portraits of the performers, some of them being: Lillian Russell, Nance O’Neil, Donald Meek, Walter E. Perkins, James O’Neill, Octavie Barbe, Eddy Foy, Mabel Hite, Eugenie Blair, Walker Whiteside, Otis Skinner, Harry Corson Clarke, Madame Helena Modjeska, Melbourne McDowell, Blanch Walsh, Belle Archer, Adelaide Thurston , Jessie Mae Hall, Rose Coghlan, Harry Beresford, Elsa Ryan, David Brattstrom, Caroline Lum, Paul T. Nicholson, Jr., Lottie Williams Salter, Willie Collier, Lucy Daly, Estella Dale, Edith Kingsley Pauline Hall, Bobby Barry, Louis James, Kate Claxton, Lulu Glaser, Richard Mansfield, Mary Elizabeth Forbes, Charles B. Hanford, William Owen, Charles Brandt, Madelyn Marshall, Bernice Howard, Edward J. Farrell, Isabelle D’Armond, Eleanor Robson, Roselle Knott, Madge Carr Cook, Maddie De Long, Daniel Sully, Florence Roberts, Albert Arveschoug, Anna Wynne, Margaret Vokes, Oscar L. Figman, Blanch Walsh, Elsie Frazee, Louis James, Maude Fealy, Digby Bell, John Griffith, Robert Lett, Henrietta Crosman, John l. Kearney, William Faversham, Ezra Kendall, Leslie Carter, Viola Allen, Lawrence Evart, Cheridah Simpson, Florence Gale, Percy Helton, Stephanie Longfellow, George S. Trimble, Sarah Truax, Marie Cahill, Max Figman, Louis James, Allen Doone, David B. Gally, Lionel Adams, the Pollard Lilliputian Opera Company, Opera singer Madam Sofia Scalchi, Magicians the Great and Only Kellar , and Madam Adelaide Herrmann. Ruggero Leoncavallo of Italy conducting the LaScala Orchestra, John Philip Sousa and his band, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, St. Olof College Band, the University of Minnesota Glee Club, Theodore Thomas Orchestra. Minstrel shows, with blackface performer George Pimrose and the Pimorse Minstrels, Richards & Pringle’s Famous Georgia Minstrels, West’s Minstrels, Barlow Minstrels, Haverly’s Minstrels, and the Black Patti Trubadours, and many more. Some of the performances include: Ben Hur, The Three Musketeers, On the Suwanee River, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Yon Yonson, Babes in Toyland, Buster Brown, Merry Wives of Windsor, In Old Kentucky, Sign of the Cross, Faust, Monte Cristo, King Richard the Third, Ole Olson with singer Ben Hendricks, Hamlet, Twelfth Night, Bruster’s Millions, The Made and the Mummy, Checkers, Parsifal, The World, The Lion and the Mouse, A Homespun Heart, La Tosca, and Madam Butterfly, featuring the Savage Grand Opera Co., with Eliza Szamosy in the roll of Madam Butterfly, and many more.

Dates

1899-1911

Creator

Fargo Opera House. (Organization)

Access

The collection is open under the rules and regulations of the Institute.

Copyrights

The collection is in the public domain.

History

The Fargo Opera House was born out of the ruins of the Fargo fire of 1893, when most of downtown Fargo, N.D. including most of its previous entertainment facilities were destroyed. First serious talk of a new opera house started at a meeting of the Fargo Board of Trade on September 15, 1893. A proposal was brought forward by Newton Stanford to build an opera house on the ruins of the Keeney block. Monetary pledges of support were made by several prominent citizens, the first being Alex Stern. By October 1893 the site of the new opera house had been changed to property owned by Mr. Hagaman, a Chicago businessman, on the southeast corner of 2nd Avenue N. and Roberts Street. The Hancock Brothers were hired to design the building. On October 6, 1893 clearing of the fire ruins on the site started and construction quickly commenced. The interior of the opera house featured an expansive dome, an immense chandelier, frescoed walls, eight private boxes, a balcony, and seating for 988 people. The theater’s full capacity of 1200 could be met with additional chairs. It was lit by both gas and electric lighting. The drop curtain was painted by scenic artist, P. Clausen, and featured a view of Lake Como in Switzerland. The total cost of the opera house was $28,000, not counting the cost of the land. Opening night was February 14, 1894; the first play was Frohman’s Gloriana. Management of the Fargo Opera House was placed in the hands of Walker Brothers who owned a printing firm in Fargo. Active management of the opera house was place into the hands of C.P. (Corliss Powers) Walker, under whom the theater flourished. In August of 1897, C.P. Walker started the Red River Valley Circuit, which included opera houses in Fargo, Grand Forks, and Winnipeg (later Crookston and Brainerd, Minn. were added). Mr. Walker moved the headquarters of the circuit to Winnipeg, where he conducted his business. Other staff at the Fargo Opera House included: N.S. Matson, superintendent; Harry Hance, stage manager; A.O. Rupert, orchestra leader; and Alson Brubaker, treasurer. The Fargo Opera House attracted some of the great performers of the 1890s and 1900s including Eddie Foy, Anna Held, Lillian Russell, Nance O’Neil, and Donald Meek. The acts ranged from comedy acts, magicians, musical reviews, minstrel shows, plays and operas. Musicians, John Philip Sousa and his band, and Italian conductor Ruggero Leoncavallo and his LaScala Orchestra performed there. In July 1902, Walker Brothers purchased the opera house from the Hagaman estate, and immediately made an addition onto the building’s west side. This addition included a cigar store, café and more storage for scenery. The second floor of the addition contained apartments. The interior was remodeled and redecorated several times by Walker Brothers, and improvements made to ventilation and lighting. On December 22, 1912 a fire of undetermined origin destroyed the Fargo Opera House. The Walker Brother’s plan to rebuild a new fireproof theater never materialized, and stage performances moved to other theaters in town. The ruins for the Fargo Opera House remained until 1916, when the property was sold to the North Dakota Realty Company. The new building on site, called the Equity Building (later the Graver Hotel), utilized the east and south walls of the old Fargo Opera House.