Evening star., 1933-03-19

son. L0tta. Maggie Mitchell l1fs. james A. Oets1
and nany otller Names faniliae - the theaaes.
so~ a hsh . century and more ago
The Coumittee ON Histxie Sites did the best
It could to mark the site oi the old opeR
house for the inaugural Visitors, but only ~
ap1suEimate position could be pointed out, fsr
street, Louisiana avenue, and even the park
In front Of where the old theater stood are now
obliterated and lost beneath the Department
Of Justce Building which extends from Penn
syfyana avenue south to Constitution avenue
and from Ninth to Tenth streets.
The Old theAter here had . notable history.
It was originally built rs q carriage repository
BY Thomas Berry, known to most of the older
residents Of Washington as q builder and con-
tractor. - It's erection took place about tho
breaking out of the Civil War. During the
progress Of the war the upper floor was con-
verted into public hall in which variety shows
we're given, and In 1865 it was called the OK
ford Hall of Music, with Fox, CMran and
NoRriA proprietoxs.
Many years pgior to this Col. Peter Force.
at one time mayor of Washington, owned .
brick bnilding on the theater site valued at
$Soo. The lower part was then used g .
shoemaker shop, the upper portion being the
coach shop OF Mr.. Peck (perhaps no relation
Of the poet before mentioned).
Even before it was the oxford Hall of Audc
Il vas the coach factory Of Haslup & Weldon
and portion of the ground floor was used to
manufacture horseshoe naiis Later the upper
portion became q gymnasium and after PROF.
Sharretts Of New York had failed to make
this business pGy. Prof Jardine also Of New
York tried his hand with better results Again
the first floor changed proprietors and viii
liam Marshall opened his carriage repository
there
Apparently the old Ford's Opera House site
was first used for theatrical purposes in lisa
when it opened its doors under the name Of
Varieties Concert Saloon and during the fol
lowing year the same name was retained It
became the Oxford Hall Of Music in 1885, and
the next year George Lea was running the
place under the name of Canterbury Hall In
1867 it became Wallis Opera House, with Berry
and Wall listed proprietors, and they con-
tinued to run it until it destroyed by fire
early on the morning of December 6, 1871.
After the fire the owner Of the property
Thomas Berry-rebuilt the walls of the build
ing and the roof and floor, and then turned it
over to John T. Ford who leased the property
for 10 years Mr.. Ford finished the building as
q theater, and on February %, 1878 opened
it as Walls New Opera House, with Joseph
Jefferson In RIP Van Wrinkle" The adyer-
tisement for this initial performance, as printed
in The Star. contains the following announce
ment:
walls New Opera House
John T. Ford Proprietor and Manager.
On Saturday evening, February e. this
house Will be appropriately opened
for public amusement BY the
appearance of the American
comedian,
Mr. Joseph Jefferson.
In Dion Boucicault's version Of
washington Irving's Legendary
Romance,
Rip Van Wnkle.'"
The admission was st. and choice seats could
be had for $3.50, and The Star tells u two
says later that the performance was . success.