The "Recollections of the Fulton Opera House: Part I" Story

It was an ordinary day.  Visiting with Mary who is a volunteer historian for the Fulton Opera House in downtown Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  She is sharing photographs of the Fulton with me that are helping me understand the background and history of this remarkable and beautiful piece of real estate that stands in the first block of North Prince Street.  After our meeting I was able to photograph parts of the theatre that I will share with you that will hopefully illustrate this story as well as tomorrow's story.

This is a rendering made by Philadelphia
architect Samuel Sloan of the design
for the original Fulton Hall circa early 1850s.

The story of the Fulton began in the early 1850s when businessman Christopher Hager purchased, for $8,400, what had been the city jail where the last of the Conestoga Indians were massacred in 1763, and hired Samuel Sloan, well-known Philadelphia architect, to build the Fulton Hall.  The first performance took place on October 15, 1852 when Kindall and Dickinson's Ethiopian Minstrels took the stage.  The name of the Hall came from famed steamboat designer Robert Fulton who lived in Lancaster County and died in 1815.  

Sculptor Hugh Cannon produced this wooden
likeness of Robert Fulton for which the
Fulton Hall was named.

In 1854 a wooden statue of Fulton, crafted by Philadelphia sculptor Hugh Cannon, was placed in the alcove above the building's front doors.  Over  the years the elements and the local pigeon population forced the wooden sculpture inside the building and a fiberglass replacement was placed in the second-floor alcove in 1995 where the original had stood for over 140 years.  The exterior of the building, as it appears today, is very similar to the original design with the major changes being made to the interior of the building where the original hall boasted 1,500 seats on a flat wooden floor and parts of the hall were used for storing items such as tobacco, wool and even cow manure.  A shooting gallery could be found on the second floor of "Mr. Hager's City Hall," as the building was called.  

This is the first block of North Prince Street in downtown
Lancaster, PA.  The Fulton Hall is located on the left
with a horse drawn buggy in front of it. Photo was
probably from the mid-1850s.  Click on image to enlarge it.

Performers who made a curtain call at the Fulton Hall during the early years were: Ole Bull, a famous Norwegian violinist who appeared six days after the Ethiopian Minstrels; a nine-year-old vocalist, Adelina Patti, who became a world class opera singer; Horace Greeley; and Mark Twain who visited in 1872.  The Hall served at times as a municipal building, church, an armory during the Civil War and a make-shift military hospital after the Battle of Gettysburg.  The Republican Party had it's beginnings at the Fulton when it was started by Lancaster's own "Great Commoner", Thaddeus Stevens.  Many of the entertainers listed made their debut at the Fulton after Mr. Hager sold the Hall in 1856 to Blasius Yecker, a harness shop owner, and his partner Hillaire Zaepfel who owned a hotel.  The purchase price was $16,200, almost double what Mr. Hager paid for it just a few years earlier.  Early in their tenure as owners, they installed more seating and enlarged the stage.  

Plaque on the rear of the Fulton Opera House

In 1869 Mr. Yecker obtained full ownership and four years later made major renovations and renamed his building The Fulton Opera House.  Yecker hired theater architect Edwin Durang to transform the old and dismal Fulton Hall into a showplace of American Entertainment.  Mr. Durang was the great-great grandson of Lancaster born and America's first native born thespian.  On the rear wall of the current Fulton is a plaque in honor of actor John Durang.  

I'm not sure of the date of this photo, but
it is the earliest photo I could find that
featured the curved archway and curtain
and a painted mural on a screen at the rear
of the stage.

It was during Durang's renovation that he first added an arch over the stage, a balcony that could seat 625 and a third-floor loft known as "Peanut Heaven" where 500 more theatergoers munched on peanuts during the shows.  Access to this area was by way of an outside stairwell.  The stage curtain at this time featured a Swiss lake scene and lighting was supplied by gas chandeliers and statues on either side of the stage that held gaslights.  Opening night of Mr. Yecker's new theatre was October 2, 1873 with E.L. Davenport, a famous Shakespearean, presenting Othello.  Evening ticket sales were donated to the widows and orphans of the Civil War.  The rowdy patrons of the Futon Opera House became a target of Yecker over the years and he hired policemen to patrol the audience and eject troublemakers.  Late 19th century performers were Buffalo Bill Cody and Wild Bill Hickok.  Buffalo Bill left a few bullet holes in the stage's arch during his visits to the theatre as souvenirs.  Other performers of note were Junius Brutus Booth, Jr., father of John Wilkes Booth and John Phillip Sousa and his Band.  

Another photo of the Fulton Hall showing the brick
sidewalks and dirt streets.  It appears that a lager beer
saloon stands to the left of the Fulton and a music
and stationery store are to the right.

At the beginning of the 20th century Charles Yecker, son of Blasius and new manager of the Fulton Opera House, hired C. Emlen Urban, Lancaster's finest architect, to make more renovations.  The theatre walls were raised fourteen feet, an orchestra pit was added, box seating was installed and the gas lighting was changed to electricity.  The entertainers in the early part of the century included entertainers Ethel Barrymore, Maude Adams, Douglas Fairbanks and Sarah Bernhardt who was considered "one of the finest actresses the world has ever seen."  In 1917 Al Jolson made a visit to the Fulton and a year later the New York Symphony made an appearance.  Other stars included dancers, magicians, lecturers, a heavyweight boxing match featuring John L. Sullivan  and a variety of novelty acts.  One spectacle of note was a production of Ben-Hur in 1907 which featured a company of 300, tons of scenery, ten horses and a camel.  The play had the famous chariot race where two chariots pulled by four horses running full gallop charged straight at the audience.  It was accomplished by having the horses and chariots on massive treadmills in front of a moving panorama of stadium spectators run by electric motors.  Pretty dramatic and exciting!  

This photo of the building at 14 North Prince Street
bears the name of "Fulton Opera House' so it must
have been taken after 1869 when Mr. Yecker had full
ownership, made renovations and changed the name
from Fulton Hall to Fulton Opera House. I'm not sure
who all the men and one little boy(?) are that are gathered
in front of the Opera House for this photo.  They all seem
to have some sort of badge or ribbon on their jackets.

Over the years fewer traveling shows became available to the theatre and Charles Yecker began booking vaudeville and burlesque.  One burlesque show got him in trouble when in 1920, the Lancaster Law and Order Society arrested him for "exhibiting immoral shows."  Probably mild compared to today's standards.  The following year he sold the Fulton to businessmen Harry Butzer and John A. Guerrini who also made, what seemed to be mandatory for new owners, renovations.  In the early 1900s the film industry started giving live theatre some competition for the disposable money available families for entertainment.  Some the artists who performed at the Fulton Opera House who went on to gain fame on the silver screen carried names such as W.C. Fields, Spencer Tracey and Frederic March who led the list of personalities.  Eventually the Fulton, under new manager Ralph W. Coho, was converted into a full-time movie house.  This took place after a touring production of Blossom Time on March 5th and 6th of 1930.  Then the Great Depression and WWII caused the Fulton to deteriorate into a disreputable "art film" house.  Tomorrow's story will tell you how LDub began his career on the Fulton Opera House stage.  A story you certainly don't want to miss!  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. 

 PS - All images that are not my own photographs were "Used by permission from the Fulton Opera House Foundation."