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. and
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.National Register of Historic Places, Tecumseh Opera House, Tecumseh, Nebraska, National Register #J007-53
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
DatesDescriptionJan. 1881Home talent variety showNov. 1881Wallace Sisters in Minnie's Luck Church Choir Co. of Atchison, Kansas, in Capital Jake and Penelope
Georgia Minstrels Oct. 1882Whiteley's Co.'s The Hidden Hand with Nera Vernon and Dick Oglesby Home Dramatic Society's The Fallen Saved, home talent Nov. 1882Among the Breakers, home talent Dec. 1882Double Mammoth Uncle Tom's Cabin co.Oct. 1883Katie Putnam in Old curiosity ShopNov. 1883James 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. 1884Maude Atkinson troupeNov 1884Double Uncle Tom's Cabin Oct. 1885All Fool's Day Peck's Bad Boy Combination Nov. 1885A Widow Hunt, home talent by the Tecumseh Comedy Co. Oct. 1887McFadden Uncle Tom's Cabin Troupe Oct. 1888Noble Dramatic Co. with Uncle Dan'l Nov. 1888Gyp Junior, home talent operetta
A Cold Day, or the Lap-Landers
Pavanilli Troupe
Aiden Benedict in Monte CristoDec. 1888The Louie Lord Co.Oct. 1889Colored Warblers
Boston Ideal MinstrelsDec. 1889Blind Boone Concert Co.Nov. 1890Grand Comedy Co. Dec. 1890Nevada by home talent, music by Tecumseh Military BandOct. 1891Kemper Komedy Co. with The Black Flag
The Tennessee Scout by home talent Oct. 1892Little Tycoon Opera Co. of Pawnee City
Berger-Dainty Concert Co. Nov. 1892Edgewood Folks with Alba HerwoodOct. 1893John Dillon in A Model Husband Nov. 1893Child's Comedy Co. and Baby Brass Band Dec. 1893Lindsay Dramatic Co. with Ingoma and Miralda Oct. 1894Dewey Heywood Concert Co. A Cold Day and Chip O' the Old BlockNov. 1894Uncle Tom's Cabin Co.Oct. 1895A Turkish Bath Madam Fry Concert Co. Nov. 1895A.M. Palmer's New York Co. with Trilby Oct. 1896Juno Barrett Co. in Reddy, the Mail Girl Nov. 1896Bittner Theatre Co. with Friends, Josh Spruceby, and The Lightning Express Josh Dillon in Wanted the Earth Oct. 1897The 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. 1897Beach & Bowers' Minstrels F. E. Spooner's Dramatic Co. with The Flower Girl
The Nashville Students Oct. 1898The Merrie Bells Opera Co. with Olivette starring Ada Palmer Walker and Ed Seamans as Fra DiavolaNov. 1898The Shakers Medicine Show Uncle Hiram by the Tecumseh Dramatic Co. Oct. 1899A Turkish Bath Labadie's Co.'s Faust
Richards and Pringles famous Georgia Minstrels
Maloney's Wedding Oct. 1900Curts Dramatic Co. Schubert Symphony Club concert, including the Shubert Lady QuartetNov. 1900Fitz & Webster's My Daughter's Husband with Dan Sherman Hans HansenOct. 1901Golden Rule Company Nov. 1901In Old Kentucky by the Tecumseh Dramatic Club Hogan's Alley
Lillian Sterling's Burlesquers
Courtney Morgan in East Lynne Dec. 1901Lincoln J Carter's The Eleventh Hour with Carles Gardner Madam Elsie de Tourney in Mary, Queen of Scots and Romeo and Juliet Oct. 1902Holden Brothers' The Denver Express A Breezy Time Nov. 1902E. J. Carpenter's For Her Sake Tecumseh Choral Union concert
Brown's in Town
Guy Green's Indians Dec. 1902Down Mobile by Lincoln J. Carter Oct. 1903Fulton 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. 1903Dixon Stock Co. in Don Caesar de Barzan with Leland Webb A Thoroughbred Tramp Oct. 1904E. 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. 1904Kerhoff Stock Co. in A Southern Rose, Down on the Farm, Sappho, and A Family Affair. Was She to Blame? Oct. 1905Manning Glee Club of Boston E. J. Carpenter's A Little Outcast
Wood & Ward's The Two Married Tramps Nov. 1905A Royal Slave with Eunice Murdock Stetson's Uncle Tom's Cabin co. Oct. 1906Prof. O. B. Griffith of the Griffith Comedy Co. The Country Kids
Roland & Clifford's Over Niagara Falls Nov. 1906Walker Whiteside's We Are King with Lawrence Evart Oct. 1907Oakes & 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. 1907Old 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. 1907The Oriole Concert Co.Oct. 1908Sumner-Davis Concert Co. My Dixie Girl
MacCauley & Patton's When We Were Friends Nov. 1908Wood & Ward's Two Merry Tramps and The Indiana Indians The Cow-Puncher by Hal Reid
Three Years in Arkansaw
Lucas Garrett Co. Oct. 1909Robert 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. 1909Jack Mahara's White Minstrels Burton Nixon's Lena Rivers
The Blockhead with W. B. Patton
Doc Allman's Old Dan Tucker Oct. 1910St. 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. 1910The 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. 1911Gaskill & MacVitty's The Rosary with Robert Harlan As Told in the Hills Nov. 1911The 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. 1912The Wolf Nov. 1912The City with Hugo B. Koch
The Girl and the Gawk
Tecumseh Ticklers, home talent minstrel showOct. 1913The 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 concertNov. 1913Tecumseh Ticklers, home talent minstrel show
The Spendthrift
Shepherd of the Hills
Lazy Bill with W. B. PattonDec. 1913Henri Bernstein's The Thief with Miss Janet Allyn Guy Caufman in A Fool and His Money Jan. 1914James & Crane, Inc., with The Virginian Feb. 1914Sarah Padden in Lavender and Old LaceAug. 1914The Commercial Traveler Sep. 1914The 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. 1914Hastings 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. 1914The 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. 1914Wolford Stock Co., In the Shadow of the Cross Oct. 1915The Prince of Tonight Nov. 1915Mutual Stock Co. Tecumseh Ticklers, home talent minstrels
Wood & Ward in Two Merry Tramps Sep 1916The Girl from the U.S.A.Oct. 1916The Other Man's Wife with Ann Hamilton Nov. 1916In Old Kentucky Tecumseh Ticklers, home talent minstrels Dec. 1916Little Peggy O'MooreOct. 1917Davenny Festival Quintet A Night in Honolulu with The Imperial Hawaiians
A Good For Nothing Husband Nov. 1917Hillman Ideal Stock Co. The Girl Without a Chance Dec. 1917The 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
DatesDescriptionOct. 1881Episcopal Society entertainment Mrs. Ingham's danceOct. 1882Lecture by Mrs. Elizabeth L. Saxon Tank Kee lectureNov. 1883Silver Cornet Band ball Grand masquerade ballDec. 1883Home talent instrumental and vocal music Temperance lecture by Mrs. FixenNovember 1885Eli Perkin, "The Champ Liar of the World" Annual masquerade ball
Lecture by Dr. Zielle and son, "Stage and Pulpit"Nov. 1887Annual masquerade ball Prof. Jundano, ventriloquist and legerdemainistDec. Lecture by Prof. Vaught on "Better Marriages" Benefit ball for Tecumseh BandNov. 1889Grand masquerade ball Lecture by Mary A. Livermore of Boston on "Women of the War"Oct. 1890Temperance lecture by Luther BensonNov. 1892Ball sponsored by Peerless Dancing Club, music by Professor Luft's OrchestraOct. 1893Lectures by Father Enright on "Temperance" and "The True Church"Nov. 1893Lucia B. Griffin, elocutionist and impersonator Ball sponsored by Tecumseh Dancing CLub
"Hard Times" BallNov. 1898Lectures by the Shaker Doctor on "Health" and "How to Live," then grand entertainment using Thomas Edison's KinetoscopeNov. 1899Kline's Lumiere Cinematograph moving pictures Prof. Harry Olsen's students' musical recitalOct. 1900Dance, music by three ItaliansOct. 1903Tecumseh Fire Dept. ball Lecture by Col. George W. Bain on "Among the Masses"Oct. 1904Lecture by Dr. M. Stewart on "Naples and Rome"Nov. 1904Lecture by Prof. Frank R. Robertson on "Russia-Japan: The Destiny of the Far East"Dec. 1904Elias Day, characteristOct. 1905Fire Dept. ball, music by Tecumseh OrchestraOct. 1906Fire Dept. ballNov. 1907Moving PicturesNov. 1911Fire Dept. ball Lecture by Col. P. E. Holp, "California"Feb. 1914Promenade concert and grand ball by Tecumseh Military Band Public dance by Tecumseh Military BandNov. 1914Lyman H. Howe's Travel Festival, moving pictures change of management: primary booking nowDec. 1915Lyman H. Howe's California Exposition, moving picturesNov. 1916Election night dance Lyman H Howe's Travel Festival, moving pictureNov. 1917Grand masque ball