Opened in 1906 the Matthews Opera House was the setting for stage productions and
traveling shows through the 1930’s.
Built by local Wyoming rancher, Thomas Matthews at a cost of $50,000, the Opera
House opened on December 3, 1906 with a political farce-comedy called “The Lion
and the Mouse”. Throughout the next 10 years the popularity of the Opera House remained
unquestioned. Many traveling repertory companies paid repeated visits to the Matthews
during that time. However, as the decade drew to a close in 1919, competition from
“moving pictures” developed in Spearfish and fewer live performances were scheduled.
Renamed “The Princess Theater” in 1920, the Matthews was run primarily as a movie
house over the next 10 years with occasional live shows still playing on the stage.
However, the “golden age” at the Opera House came to a halt in 1930 when the owner
of the Princess Theater moved out and opened a new building down the street.
Over the next 25 years the Opera House was used for varied events from a practice
basketball court, to a shooting gallery and occasional dance hall. But the elegance
of the interior faded as the building fell into general disuse by the mid 1950’s.
Broken windows provided easy access to pigeons that roosted among the stage hangings.
An effort by local college students in 1956 and ‘57 was attempted to revive the
Opera House. The students brought a series of melodramas to the stage during the
two summers, but while community support was high, graduation of cast members and
financial concerns brought a quick end to the venture. Once more the Opera House
went dark and continued to deteriorate.
By 1966, the Opera House had been little used for nearly a decade, when another
band of intrepid students from Black Hills State College formed a theater company
for the summer months and began a small scale renovation of the interior. Known
as “Stagecoach Theater”, the student’s efforts were longer lasting than 10 years
earlier. What soon became a summer favorite, “The Phantom of the Matthews Opera
House”, written by Paul Higbee, opened in 1976. Summer audiences continued to grow
through the 80’s, but the conditions of the Opera House were anything but comfortable.
The building wasn’t air-conditioned and there was only one single public toilet.
By the mid 1980’s it was determined that serious restoration work would be needed
to preserve and protect the Opera House if it were to reach its centennial year.
The Spearfish Downtown Association took the first step and formed the non-profit
Matthews Opera House Society. The building was leased from current owner Mike Kelly
with a 99 year, rent free agreement that the restoration would proceed on a timely
basis. The first restoration phase was completed by 1989. Work continued into the
90’s and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2006, the official centennial
date of the opening of the Matthews Opera House.
Today, the Matthews Opera House is the centerpiece of the Spearfish Arts Center
and the home to an active community theater. It is once more an ongoing scene of
live theater, concerts and art events throughout the year.