The Harrington Opera House and Bank Block building
housed one of the first banks in Harrington: the Bank of Harrington. The
building was designed by local construction firm J.R. Burrill and Company and run
by local pioneers John F. Green, Marion F. Adams and Albert G Mitchum. The
building opened in December of 1904 and housed a bank, a bowling alley, a
barber shop, cigar and confectionary shop, the Harrington Citizen newspaper, as well as an upstairs opera house.
It cost $25,000 to build the Romanesque brick building which used Harrington
made bricks to construct the exterior.
The first show to be produced in the upstairs
auditorium was “The Lady Minstrels” on December 16, 1904, and it drew the
largest crowd the Opera House would ever see. In the backstage dressing rooms,
there are names of past actors/ actresses signed on the walls. Such names include
the Jolly Entertainers, Miss Clara Gooley, the Odessa Dramatic Club and Harrington
High School. When the auditorium opened, it boasted 350 seats but shows
normally drew over 400 guests at one time. To this day, eight scenic canvases
still exist dating back to 1906 and were created by J.R. Quinn and the Spokane
Scenic Studios. On the back of the canvases, there are hand drawn portraits of
people, mainly faces of women, and one Native American chief.
The Bank of Harrington remained open until 1969 when
it was bought out by Old National Bank and moved a block away to 3rd
and Main. When the lobby was being renovated, the old teller’s counter was sold
to the Spokane Old Spaghetti Factory. The old bank lobby became the lobby for
the Opera House and the old barber shop now acts as the town’s historical
museum. The building was bought by the Harrington
Opera House Society when they were formed on January 11, 1992, for one
dollar. The sale was facilitated by local
retired college professor Douglass Rudkoff and other members helped to see the
deal through. The Harrington Opera House Society has been maintaining the
building ever since. When the building was bought, the South facing exterior
wall was sagging and needed to be repaired. The repairs are not very noticeable
but make the building more stable. A new
staircase was installed in 2008 in order to connect the main bank lobby and the
upstairs auditorium and stay up to fire code. The ceiling of the auditorium was
also replaced in 2010.
Over the years there
have been a wide variety of events held at the Harrington Opera House. The
infamous movie “Birth of a Nation” was shown in the Opera House in 1917 as well
as “The Gay Deceiver” in 1926. The off- Broadway production of “The Imprudent
Young Couple” written in 1895 made a stop in Harrington and it’s playbill is
hanging in the lobby to this day. The most common events that took place in the
auditorium were balls and dances. The last dance that was supposed to be held
at the Opera House was scheduled for February of 1942, a Valentine’s Day dance,
but it was canceled due to “the war and weather conditions.” After this, there
is no record of events taking place in the auditorium and the decorations from
that dance were not taken down until the buildings eventual sale in 1992.
Pictures:
 |
| North Side of the Bank Block building ca. 1920's. Photo Courtesy of the Harrington Historical Society. |
 |
| Article from the Spokane Daily Chronicle from August 8, 1970. |
 |
| Advertisement for Harrington Opera House's first show "Lady Mistrels". Photo Courtesy of the Harrington Opera House Society. |
 |
| One of the traveling shows that was preformed at the Harrington Opera House. Photo courtesy of the private collections of Laura Glasgow. |
 |
| A bank check from the Harrington State Bank. The checkbook still sits in the Harrington Opera House main lobby. Photo courtesy of the private collections of Laura Glasgow. |
 |
| The playbill for the "Birth of a Nation," one of the most controversial movies of its time. Photo courtesy of the private collection of Laura Glasgow. |
 |
| Modern day view of the upstairs auditorium of the Harrington Opera House. Photo courtesy of the private collection of Laura Glasgow. |
 |
| The playbill for the show "The Gay Deceiver" that came through Harrington. Photo courtesy of the private collection of Laura Glasgow. |
 |
| A hand-drawn protiat of a woman ca. 1909. Photo courtesy of the private collection of Larry Cebula. |
 |
| Inside the Harrington Opera House auditorium ca. 1950's-1960's. Photo courtesy of the Harrington Historical Society. |
 |
Bank Block Building on National Historic Register. Photo courtesy of the Harrington Opera House and Ed Haugan.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment