Encyclopedia Dubuque
"Encyclopedia Dubuque is the online authority for all things Dubuque, written by the people who know the city best.”
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
GRAND OPERA HOUSE
GRAND OPERA HOUSE. The oldest surviving theater in the city of Dubuque. Built between 1889 and 1890 by the GRAND OPERA HOUSE, INC., at a cost estimated to be $65,000, the Grand Opera House had its opening night performance on August 14, 1890. Opening night had been planned for August 15 until it was discovered to be a holy day.
The largest theater ever built in the city, the Grand had 1,100 seats and a mammoth stage stretching forty-two feet from front to back. An eager crowd of eight hundred paid $5.00 each to see a performance of the opera "Carmen" by the Hess Opera Company. Actors made costume changes next door in an old house which was connected to the theater by a tunnel.
From its opening through 1930, over 2,600 different live theater shows were performed in the Grand with such well-known actors and actresses as Ethel Barrymore, George M. Cohan, and Lillian Russell. Perhaps the Grand's most elaborate production was "Ben Hur" complete with elephants, horses, and chariots-on stage. In its first twenty-eight years, the Grand ran in the red only six times and these were due to expensive improvements.
The greatest profits came from movies, first shown in the Grand in 1915. The first year's profits, $15,488, were nearly three times better than the best year using live actors. Legitimate theater profits sank to $4,500 by 1928 while the theater made $69,000 showing such films as The Private Life of Helen of Troy. Until recent years, the last live theatrical performance was a production of the "Merry Wives of Windsor" in 1928.
The Grand was closed in 1930 for three months of remodeling including the removal of the second balcony and the box seats. The orchestra pit was covered and the semi-circular stage front was straightened. With the addition of a big screen and a projector, the age of wide-screen motion pictures had arrived.
The Grand, Dubuque's only surviving downtown movie house, was sold in 1972 to Richard Davis of Des Moines who sold his interest to the Dubinsky Brothers in 1976. With the purchase of the Grand by the BARN COMMUNITY THEATER, live performances returned to the stage with the musical Tintypes on August I5, 1986.