Fulton Opera House

The Lawther’s Opera House opened as early as February 1884 and was renamed Fulton Opera House by 1886 following its takeover by John Pratt.

The Fulton Opera House closed following destruction from a morning fire on January 4, 1903. At approximately 6:30 AM that morning, Price Vincent and Henry Jones (both negro men) detected smoke in the neighborhood of Richmond & Rogers Grocery Store and gave an alarm. As the fire department responded, many arrivals say that the fire was either in the basement, first, second, or collar floors as they guessed.

The Opera House was completely destroyed with an estimate $12,000 of damage and was insured for $8,000. The iron front and some of the masonry though are still in fair shape but the rest of the building is almost completely destroyed. This forced a cancellation of the live performance of “Kings & Queens” due to the theater’s destruction and clothing in ruins. Their loss is complete and no insurance was issued. The dresses were very expensive and the loss to them is personal. The company which owned only a small part of the wardrobes, and managed to travel in a private car. The managers have about decided to go to St. Louis and remain there until they can reorganize.

The Richmond & Rogers store placed a value of $9,000 on their stock which was insured for $7,000. The groceries and silverware in show cases and shelving are completely ruined. However, the firm’s reserve stock was stored in the cellar and it may be that some of the canned goods and rockery ware were not ruined at all, as about two feet of water in the cellar prevents an examination gives any estimate of the salvage.

J.J. Neukomm’s clothing store and the Morton, Christian, and Dunavant clothing store had some damage from the smoke and a little water.

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