09/25/2025
During this week in Duluth in 1883, Duluth’s Grand Opera House opened at 333 West Superior Street. Designed by George Wirth and financed by noted capitalists Roger Munger and Clinton Markell, the Grand Opera House stood four stories tall and was capped with a Mansard roof executed in several different shades of purple and crowned with iron cresting. Its exterior walls were light-colored brick with terra cotta and brownstone trim. The theater’s main auditorium could accommodate 1,000 patrons. Master stage carpenter G. H. Carter came from Chicago to oversee construction of the stage, an unusually large performance space for its day measuring 33 feet deep, 52 feet wide, and 35 feet high. The stage was outfitted with a “dozen sets and fifty or more wing pieces” and two drop curtains. One curtain showed a view of Venice, Italy, and the other was “of satin of old gold color, with heavy trimming at the bottom of crimson and gold” and described by newspapers as “the most costly in America.” The balcony contained six private boxes offering a total of thirty-two seats. The Duluth Weekly Tribune described their lavishness: “Over the upper box a very handsome ‘hood’ in ornamental and gilded iron work reaches to the ceiling. The boxes are enclosed by nickel-plated rails, and draped with maroon silk and blue Turkish satin curtains.” People traveled from St. Paul to attend the opening, enjoying the Emma Abbott Opera Company perform “Martha.” Duluthians relished their elegant show place—the Duluth Daily News referred to it as “Duluth’s pride and joy.” In addition to the auditorium, the Grand Opera House served Duluth in many other ways. It was home to the Chamber of Commerce, the Ladies Literary Society (which would evolve into the Duluth Public Library), a few sleeping rooms, Gasser’s Grocery, several offices (including those of the West Duluth Land Company and Munger and Markell’s Lake Superior Elevator Company), and the first home of the Kitchi Gammi Club, which occupied most of the top floor. Adapted from “Duluth’s Grand Old Architecture”: https://zenithcity.com/duluths-grand-old-architecture/
