# Tecumseh Opera House

The Tecumseh Opera House, located at 123 S. Third in Tecumseh, Nebraska, is a historic building built in 1880. It is a two-part commercial block building, and has also been known as Seaver Bros. Opera House, as Smith Theatre, as Hahn Opera House, as Spicknall & Goodman Opera House, as Goodman & Canfield Opera House, and as Villars Hall, and it has been denoted NeHBS #J007-53 and OHBIN #ll-29-OI.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. It was deemed significant as a well-preserved example of an opera house building in Nebraska.

## The building

The Tecumseh Opera House is a brick structure measures 76 feet wide by 80 feet wide. The roof is pitched and tar-covered and has sustained significant water damage, but it was repaired. Access to the second-floor auditorium is only by way of a wide staircase, at the top the ticket counter that was there has been removed.
The auditorium of the Tecumseh Opera House stands 30 feet wide by 60 feet, 6 inches long. The theatre does not have a balcony. The original molded white tin ceiling is still there, however it and the surrounding walls have experienced rain damage. The proscenium arch spans 20 feet across and 11 feet high. The stage floor is 18 feet deep from the beginning of the arch at the front of the stage to the back wall. The stage has no apron and contains no trap doors.
The structural and historical integrity of the building has been preserved.

## Significance
### Performing arts

The Tecumseh Opera House brought a variety of entertainment to the people of Tecumseh and the surrounding areas. As a center for the performing arts, the Tecumseh Opera House, was home to productions such as musical concerts, touring stock companies, performers such as Maude Atkinson, Katie Putnam, and John Dillon, classics such as Monte Cristo, Uncle Tom's Cabin, and East Lynn, minstrel shows such as the Tecumseh Ticklers, grand and comic opera, dialect comedies, and home talent shows.

### Performing Arts History

| Dates | Description |
| Jan. 1881 | Home talent variety show |
| Nov. 1881 | Wallace Sisters in Minnie's Luck Church Choir Co. of Atchison, Kansas, in Capital Jake and Penelope Georgia Minstrels |
| Oct. 1882 | Whiteley's Co.'s The Hidden Hand with Nera Vernon and Dick Oglesby Home Dramatic Society's The Fallen Saved, home talent |
| Nov. 1882 | Among the Breakers, home talent |
| Dec. 1882 | Double Mammoth Uncle Tom's Cabin co. |
| Oct. 1883 | Katie Putnam in Old curiosity Shop |
| Nov. 1883 | James Heywood's Mastodon Minstrels with Heywood's Mastodons, Mocking Bird Minstrels, and Uncle Tom's Cabin Union Square Co. with Uncle Reuben Lowder, French Spy, and Gertrude the Unknown John Dillon in The State's Attorney Smith's Uncle Tom Combination |
| Oct. 1884 | Maude Atkinson troupe |
| Nov 1884 | Double Uncle Tom's Cabin |
| Oct. 1885 | All Fool's Day Peck's Bad Boy Combination |
| Nov. 1885 | A Widow Hunt, home talent by the Tecumseh Comedy Co. |
| Oct. 1887 | McFadden Uncle Tom's Cabin Troupe |
| Oct. 1888 | Noble Dramatic Co. with Uncle Dan'l |
| Nov. 1888 | Gyp Junior, home talent operetta A Cold Day, or the Lap-Landers Pavanilli Troupe Aiden Benedict in Monte Cristo |
| Dec. 1888 | The Louie Lord Co. |
| Oct. 1889 | Colored Warblers Boston Ideal Minstrels |
| Dec. 1889 | Blind Boone Concert Co. |
| Nov. 1890 | Grand Comedy Co. |
| Dec. 1890 | Nevada by home talent, music by Tecumseh Military Band |
| Oct. 1891 | Kemper Komedy Co. with The Black Flag The Tennessee Scout by home talent |
| Oct. 1892 | Little Tycoon Opera Co. of Pawnee City Berger-Dainty Concert Co. |
| Nov. 1892 | Edgewood Folks with Alba Herwood |
| Oct. 1893 | John Dillon in A Model Husband |
| Nov. 1893 | Child's Comedy Co. and Baby Brass Band |
| Dec. 1893 | Lindsay Dramatic Co. with Ingoma and Miralda |
| Oct. 1894 | Dewey Heywood Concert Co. A Cold Day and Chip O' the Old Block |
| Nov. 1894 | Uncle Tom's Cabin Co. |
| Oct. 1895 | A Turkish Bath Madam Fry Concert Co. |
| Nov. 1895 | A.M. Palmer's New York Co. with Trilby |
| Oct. 1896 | Juno Barrett Co. in Reddy, the Mail Girl |
| Nov. 1896 | Bittner Theatre Co. with Friends, Josh Spruceby, and The Lightning Express Josh Dillon in Wanted the Earth |
| Oct. 1897 | The King of the Klondyke Senter-Payton Comedy co. Walter McDonald in Gilhooley's Reception The Missouri Girl Carlton & Lord Comedians in The American Princess with Jennie Calef |
| Nov. 1897 | Beach & Bowers' Minstrels F. E. Spooner's Dramatic Co. with The Flower Girl The Nashville Students |
| Oct. 1898 | The Merrie Bells Opera Co. with Olivette starring Ada Palmer Walker and Ed Seamans as Fra Diavola |
| Nov. 1898 | The Shakers Medicine Show Uncle Hiram by the Tecumseh Dramatic Co. |
| Oct. 1899 | A Turkish Bath Labadie's Co.'s Faust Richards and Pringles famous Georgia Minstrels Maloney's Wedding |
| Oct. 1900 | Curts Dramatic Co. Schubert Symphony Club concert, including the Shubert Lady Quartet |
| Nov. 1900 | Fitz & Webster's My Daughter's Husband with Dan Sherman Hans Hansen |
| Oct. 1901 | Golden Rule Company |
| Nov. 1901 | In Old Kentucky by the Tecumseh Dramatic Club Hogan's Alley Lillian Sterling's Burlesquers Courtney Morgan in East Lynne |
| Dec. 1901 | Lincoln J Carter's The Eleventh Hour with Carles Gardner Madam Elsie de Tourney in Mary, Queen of Scots and Romeo and Juliet |
| Oct. 1902 | Holden Brothers' The Denver Express A Breezy Time |
| Nov. 1902 | E. J. Carpenter's For Her Sake Tecumseh Choral Union concert Brown's in Town Guy Green's Indians |
| Dec. 1902 | Down Mobile by Lincoln J. Carter |
| Oct. 1903 | Fulton Bros. Stock Co. in A Married Bachelor and Under Two Flags Earle Doty & Co. in The Iron Mask Don Wescott Novelty Entertainment Co. Where is Cobb? Gilbert Faust's The Two Orphans |
| Nov. 1903 | Dixon Stock Co. in Don Caesar de Barzan with Leland Webb A Thoroughbred Tramp |
| Oct. 1904 | E. J. Carpenter's A Little Outcast Joseph DeGrasse & Co.'s Hamlet Byron Troubadours of Chicago King- Perkins co.'s Old Farmer Hopkins with Frank G. King and Chic Perkins The Girl From Kansas |
| Nov. 1904 | Kerhoff Stock Co. in A Southern Rose, Down on the Farm, Sappho, and A Family Affair. Was She to Blame? |
| Oct. 1905 | Manning Glee Club of Boston E. J. Carpenter's A Little Outcast Wood & Ward's The Two Married Tramps |
| Nov. 1905 | A Royal Slave with Eunice Murdock Stetson's Uncle Tom's Cabin co. |
| Oct. 1906 | Prof. O. B. Griffith of the Griffith Comedy Co. The Country Kids Roland & Clifford's Over Niagara Falls |
| Nov. 1906 | Walker Whiteside's We Are King with Lawrence Evart |
| Oct. 1907 | Oakes & Wilson's A Bachelor's Honeymoon with Herbert DeGuerre and Grace Johnson When We Were Friends J. C. Lewis in The New Si Plunkard |
| Nov. 1907 | Old Times entertainment by home talent The Slow Poke with W.B. Patton Chimes of Norway by the Beggar Prince Comic Opera Co. Wood & Ward's Two Merry Tramps |
| Dec. 1907 | The Oriole Concert Co. |
| Oct. 1908 | Sumner-Davis Concert Co. My Dixie Girl MacCauley & Patton's When We Were Friends |
| Nov. 1908 | Wood & Ward's Two Merry Tramps and The Indiana Indians The Cow-Puncher by Hal Reid Three Years in Arkansaw Lucas Garrett Co. |
| Oct. 1909 | Robert Sherman's My Friend from Arkansaw The Man On the Box The Belle of Japan Alterbery & Guys' The Missouri Outlaw Strollers Male Quartet & Concert Co. |
| Nov. 1909 | Jack Mahara's White Minstrels Burton Nixon's Lena Rivers The Blockhead with W. B. Patton Doc Allman's Old Dan Tucker |
| Oct. 1910 | St. Elmo Chicago Boys' Choir with Sarah Wathena Brown, Harpist The Prize Winners with the Lyman Twins and Patti Rosa Just a Woman's Way |
| Nov. 1910 | The House of A Thousand Candles, original New York company The Girl from U.S.A. Edward P Reno, magician Violet Griffith Stock Co. in The Cowboy and the Lieutenant Henry Eames, pianist Brown's Tennessee Minstrels |
| Oct. 1911 | Gaskill & MacVitty's The Rosary with Robert Harlan As Told in the Hills |
| Nov. 1911 | The Wizard of Wizeland The Pumpkin Husker James T. McApin's Hans Hanson The Tecumseh Ticklers by home talent Election Night Concert by M. Beyrl Buckley, Miss Minnie Koester, and the Tecumseh Military Band |
| Oct. 1912 | The Wolf |
| Nov. 1912 | The City with Hugo B. Koch The Girl and the Gawk Tecumseh Ticklers, home talent minstrel show |
| Oct. 1913 | The Confession Hillman's Ideal Stock Co. with Ida Root-Gordon and Harry Sohns in The Thoroughbred, The Telephone Girl, and The Defaulter The Girls of Eagle Ranch Old Theobaldi violin concert |
| Nov. 1913 | Tecumseh Ticklers, home talent minstrel show The Spendthrift Shepherd of the Hills Lazy Bill with W. B. Patton |
| Dec. 1913 | Henri Bernstein's The Thief with Miss Janet Allyn Guy Caufman in A Fool and His Money |
| Jan. 1914 | James & Crane, Inc., with The Virginian |
| Feb. 1914 | Sarah Padden in Lavender and Old Lace |
| Aug. 1914 | The Commercial Traveler |
| Sep. 1914 | The Last Settlement with Hal Worth Moore- Eddings Stock Co. with Her Legal Prisoner, The Two Sisters, The Whirlpool, Why Lindy Ran Away, St. Elmo, and Married Life. |
| Oct. 1914 | Hastings Stock Co. with Rosalind at Redgate, The Divorce Question, and The Final Settlement Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, home talent The Stranger The Girl and The Tramp |
| Nov. 1914 | The Time, The Place, and The Girl The Call of the Cumberlands with Hugh B. Koch The Under Dog Terry's Uncle Tom's Cabin Tempest and Sunshine Tecumseh Ticklers, home talent minstrels. |
| Dec. 1914 | Wolford Stock Co., In the Shadow of the Cross |
| Oct. 1915 | The Prince of Tonight |
| Nov. 1915 | Mutual Stock Co. Tecumseh Ticklers, home talent minstrels Wood & Ward in Two Merry Tramps |
| Sep 1916 | The Girl from the U.S.A. |
| Oct. 1916 | The Other Man's Wife with Ann Hamilton |
| Nov. 1916 | In Old Kentucky Tecumseh Ticklers, home talent minstrels |
| Dec. 1916 | Little Peggy O'Moore |
| Oct. 1917 | Davenny Festival Quintet A Night in Honolulu with The Imperial Hawaiians A Good For Nothing Husband |
| Nov. 1917 | Hillman Ideal Stock Co. The Girl Without a Chance |
| Dec. 1917 | The End of a Perfect Day with Miss Rose Dean |

### Entertainment/recreation

The Tecumseh Opera House served as a place where the whole community of Tecumseh and the surrounding areas would be able to gather to attend dances, lectures, temperance meetings, and silent movies.

#### Entertainment/recreation history

| Dates | Description |
| Oct. 1881 | Episcopal Society entertainment Mrs. Ingham's dance |
| Oct. 1882 | Lecture by Mrs. Elizabeth L. Saxon Tank Kee lecture |
| Nov. 1883 | Silver Cornet Band ball Grand masquerade ball |
| Dec. 1883 | Home talent instrumental and vocal music Temperance lecture by Mrs. Fixen |
| November 1885 | Eli Perkin, "The Champ Liar of the World" Annual masquerade ball Lecture by Dr. Zielle and son, "Stage and Pulpit" |
| Nov. 1887 | Annual masquerade ball Prof. Jundano, ventriloquist and legerdemainist |
| Dec. Lecture by Prof. Vaught on "Better Marriages" Benefit ball for Tecumseh Band |
| Nov. 1889 | Grand masquerade ball Lecture by Mary A. Livermore of Boston on "Women of the War" |
| Oct. 1890 | Temperance lecture by Luther Benson |
| Nov. 1892 | Ball sponsored by Peerless Dancing Club, music by Professor Luft's Orchestra |
| Oct. 1893 | Lectures by Father Enright on "Temperance" and "The True Church" |
| Nov. 1893 | Lucia B. Griffin, elocutionist and impersonator Ball sponsored by Tecumseh Dancing CLub "Hard Times" Ball |
| Nov. 1898 | Lectures by the Shaker Doctor on "Health" and "How to Live," then grand entertainment using Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope |
| Nov. 1899 | Kline's Lumiere Cinematograph moving pictures Prof. Harry Olsen's students' musical recital |
| Oct. 1900 | Dance, music by three Italians |
| Oct. 1903 | Tecumseh Fire Dept. ball Lecture by Col. George W. Bain on "Among the Masses" |
| Oct. 1904 | Lecture by Dr. M. Stewart on "Naples and Rome" |
| Nov. 1904 | Lecture by Prof. Frank R. Robertson on "Russia-Japan: The Destiny of the Far East" |
| Dec. 1904 | Elias Day, characterist |
| Oct. 1905 | Fire Dept. ball, music by Tecumseh Orchestra |
| Oct. 1906 | Fire Dept. ball |
| Nov. 1907 | Moving Pictures |
| Nov. 1911 | Fire Dept. ball Lecture by Col. P. E. Holp, "California" |
| Feb. 1914 | Promenade concert and grand ball by Tecumseh Military Band Public dance by Tecumseh Military Band |
| Nov. 1914 | Lyman H. Howe's Travel Festival, moving pictures change of management: primary booking now |
| Dec. 1915 | Lyman H. Howe's California Exposition, moving pictures |
| Nov. 1916 | Election night dance Lyman H Howe's Travel Festival, moving picture |
| Nov. 1917 | Grand masque ball Sarah Mildred Willmer, reader |

##### Social

The Tecumseh Opera House was a nonaffiliated place where people could have political meetings, church socials, basketball, and school entertainment. Before radio and television were invented to tell people about events, they were often scheduled and anticipated months in advance.

###### Social history

| Dates | Description |
| Oct. 1882 | Political Speech by J. Sterling Morton |
| Nov. 1883 | Chicken Pie festival by ladies of the Universalist Church |
| Nov. 1885 | Pound Party to benefit the Home of the Friendless in Lincoln |
| Oct. 1888 | Political speech by Sen. Charles F. Manderson |
| Nov. 1900 | Chrysanthemum show and supper |
| Nov. 1903 | Bazaar, supper, and entertainment by ladies of St. Andrew's Church |
| Nov. 1903 | Girls' basketball, town team vs. last year's high school team |
| Nov. 1904 | Basketball, Tecumseh vs. State Normal |
| Oct. 1905 | Girls' and boys' basketball, Tecumseh vs. Table Rock |
| Nov. 1908 | Art exhibit and entertainment by high school pupils Basketball, Tecumseh vs. Wilber |
| Dec. 1908 | "County Fair" bazaar by M. E. Church |
| Oct. 1917 | "County Fair" pumpkin show by Tecumseh Bandage Circle |