Backstage graffiti dates to the early days of the theater.

For the next five decades, it was the site of plays, concerts, operas, recitals, fiddlers' contests and madrigals, as well as conferences, weddings, temperance meetings, rosemaling workshops, fashion shows, auctions, political rallies, conferences and high school graduations. The theater's opening performance was 'The Doctor's Warm Reception,' penned by playwright Ullie Akerstrom. Upstairs, however, people were treated to a charming, Victorian theater with nearly 500 seats, several large chandeliers, four boxes for special seating and an ornately decorated ceiling. Even the small burg of Stoughton - which had only 3,431 residents in 1900 - got into the swing of things, opening a lovely, three-story opera house in 1901 that included a soaring clock tower.īut folks in Stoughton were a practical sort (the community was settled mainly by Norwegian immigrants, after all), so the first floor and basement of the Richardsonian Romanesque structure were designed to house city offices, as well as the police department, library, fire department and jail.

In the late 1800s, cities and towns around Wisconsin vied with one another by putting up impressive public buildings.

Stoughton opera house county