Before.....After

Built: 1860
Photo: c.1910

The structure was originally called Fisher’s Hall (built by Augustus A. Fisher)and was used for public meetings. The Opera House was purely a commercial proposition. John F. Nichols acquired the building in the late 1800s, and ran his entertainment complex until after the First World War. Singing minstrels, vaudeville actors and the community chorus graced the portable stage of the old Opera House, while in the downstairs tavern, Nichols pushed his old fashioned root beer. In its better days, it was known as a combination of opera house, roller skating rink and billiard hall.

After Nichols’ death in 1918, Daniel Brandon converted the downstairs into a brush factory, and showed silent movies on the second floor. In 1927, the Specification Brush All Company called the building home. During the 1930s and 1940s the building was known as Leeja Hall and was used for town meetings and as a gymnasium for the high school. By 1949, a dressmaker utilized the space, as did many other businesses in the years to follow.