Type: Exhibition case

Name: Old Masonic Opera House

Detail: By the mid-1870s, New Brunswick boasted popular concerts by local artists―both professional and amateur―as well as the best shows on the road, all thanks to its new luxurious opera house. First known as Masonic Hall, and later as Allen’s Theatre, the Opera House was originally built by the Masonic lodges of the city. The “most imposing building” in the downtown, the Opera House was centrally located in such a way that it “gave the City the appearance of being a much larger place than it really was” at the time. A four-story building with offices and businesses housed on the ground floor, the Opera House had two entrances to its theater, one in the center of the building facing George Street, and one on the midway side of the building on Albany Street. Its auditorium was lit by a prismatic chandelier of 134 gas jets; its orchestra, balcony, gallery, and four boxes seated around 1,200 spectators. Until the day the Opera House burned down on the night of December 21, 1896, New Brunswick claimed the honor of having the best theater in the state.

Type: Exhibition caption

Detail: Local performers also graced the Opera House stage. The Daily Times regularly reported on audiences’ “genuine glow of satisfaction” in hearing the city’s Choral Society rehearse for its season subscribers. Established in April 1870 under the leadership of William C. Sampson, Garret Conover, and J. R. Palmer, the society held regular weekly meetings at the Masonic Hall. Special events like an amateur performance of the burlesque opera Il Madagascaraine by some of the local youth packed residents like sardines into the Opera House’s lower hall and dress circle. The performance was “so far above our anticipations [and] so praiseworthy,” that, for once, the Daily Times reviewer could not offer a single world of criticism. In July 1877, Frederick Schneeweiss’ all-male German Volks Concert Association and Orchestra performed a series of popular concerts for the benefit of the male ushers, or as the Daily Times wryly remarked, those who gratuitously put up with the “faithful unpleasant annoyances” of those who frequented the Opera House.