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Show THE HISTORY BLAZER ArEIZrS OF UTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Grande Salt Lake City. LTT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3500 FAX ( 801) 533- 3503 Beaver Opera House Promoters Thought Big HAVINTGA MED THE WILDERNESS and established permanent homes, Utahns around the turn of the century turned to pioneering the world of culture. At least thirty communities all across the state built opera houses in a burst of civic pride. A hundred years later most of them no longer exist or have deteriorated beyond repair while- the Beaver Opera House stands nearly intact. In 1862 Brigham Young chided Beaver ( then only seven years old) for its lack of improvements. Perhaps the communal subconscious retained memory of this, for over the next decades Beaver went through periodic retrenchments with residents determining to make their community the envy of surrounding towns. It was in 1908, one of these periods, that a group of leading citizens banded together to raise an opera house. Said the board of directors: uNo money or labor will be spared in making this the finest playhouse south of Salt Lake.. . . D A list of the opera house supporters reads like a roster of town's dignitaries: R. R. Tanner, G. N. Greenwood, D. I. Frazer, J. P. Barton, J. R. Murdock, A. J. Hardy, and W. J. Robinson. Of course, a gentleman's name cited in connection with cultural activism usually meant a Mrs. was behind the Mister. The architectural design for the center, done by Liljenberg and Maeser ( the Maesers were another prominent local family), called for a $ 20,000, three- story building with dance pavilion on the first floor, auditorium and stage on the second, and third- floor balcony. The hall as constructed was slightly more modest, with the second- story auditorium serving as dance floor, gymnasium, and theater. But the completed building was something to be proud of. It was of pink " tuff," a locally quarried stone used in many Beaver homes and businesses of the 1880s and 90s. A Classical Revival influence can be seen in its solid- block appmnce, huge Roman archways, and massive round columns and rectangular piers flanking the broad entry steps. Atop the columns is an equally monumental entablature, an architectural term for three horizontal layers of stonework ( architrave, decorative fiieze, and omate cornice) that support the roof but also seem to cap and tamp the building. For twenty years the Beaver Opera House served as a center for the community. During vaudeville days entertainers like Ralph Cloniger , Luke Cosgrave, Shelby Roach, and Walter Christensen delighted rural audiences. When motion pictures supplanted live entertainment, the hall was renovated into a movie theater. But by 1929 it had succumbed to competitors and was turned over to the Utah National Guard, which used it until 1955. ( more) Perhaps fmarity bred contempt for the lovely old hall, for somewhere along the way its interior was gutted. But Beaver's present generation recognizes how well- designed and constructed it was with its pleasing proportions and unweathered stones. It has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places, and there are plans to turn it into a senior citizens' center- actions that may ensure its prese~ ation. Sources: Beaver Opera House Nomination Form, National Register of Historic Places, Preservation Office, Utah Division of State History; Aird G. Merkley, ed., Monume~ sof Courage: A History of Beaver Coumy ( Beaver, Utah 1948). THE HISTORY BLAZER is produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centamid Commission. For more information about the Historid Society telephone 533- 3500. |
