THE OLDEST AMERICAN THEATERS AND OPERA HOUSES
Pre-Civil War 1800 - 1860*

Pre-Civil War Theaters	Location	Current Town Size	Year Built	Current Exterior	Current Interior	Comments
The Walnut Street Theater	Philadelphia, PA	4,500,000	1809	1828	1970	Interior Totally Ruined in 1970's
The Woodward Opera House	Mount Vernon, OH	18,000	1851	1851	1851/1883	America's Oldest Authentic 19th Century Theater
The Fulton Opera House **	Lancaster, PA	422,822	1852	1852	1873/1904	Exterior similar to 1852 building
Loring Hall	Hingham, MA	12,800	1852	1852	Modern	Movie theater interior
Institute Hall	Natchez, MS	19,460	1853	1853	1921	Unrestored 20th century interior
The Majestic Theater	Chillicothe, OH	21,923	1853	***	1920's	Electric Marque outside
Saco Town Hall	Saco, ME	15,151	1856	1856	1856	Rear stage area enlarged after a fire-1895
The Academy of Music **	Philadelphia, PA	4,500,000	1857	1857	1857	Large grand music hall
Thespian Hall	Boonville, MO	7,095	1857	1857	1901	In continuous operation
Thalian Hall	Wilmington, NC	55,530	1858	1858	1904/1909/ 1939/1973	Remodeled several times
Montgomery Theater	Montgomery, AL	209,085	1860-61	1860-61	Gone	Shell - But restorable
This Detailed Research was conducted and compiled by: Peter Dickson of Arlington, VA in 1996-2000 ©Copyright by Peter Dickson, 2000 All Rights Reserved