Hazel Green Opera House - Hazel Green, WI
N 42° 32.001 W 090° 26.104
15T E 710644 N 4712184
The Hazel Green Opera House was built in 1891. Today it serves as the home for The Fever River Puppeteers. It is located at 2130 N. Main St. in Hazel Green.
Waymark Code: WM5KGN
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 01/18/2009
Views: 4
From the Wisconsin Historical Society web site (
visit link) :
"The Opera House as a building type owes its creation to the burgeoning middle class in the post civil war period. The percentage of the population defined as middle class doubled from 33% in 1870 to 66% in 1910. This new leisure class had disposable income and a desire to foster an image of cultural sophistication. Arrival of the railroads also spurred the construction of opera houses and halls; as travel became easier and more economical, it allowed for the creation of traveling performance troupes.
Most of the buildings constructed for legitimate theater after 1870 were called "opera houses" or "opera halls" rather than theaters. Even simple buildings like the Hazel Green Town Hall and Opera House tried to distinguish themselves by name. Before the civil war, theater audiences were primarily male and the atmosphere was rowdy. In an age that defined labor as virtuous, actors were seen as "drunks" or "vagabonds," who did not want to make a moral living. Consequently the word "theater had a negative association.
To keep a cultured image, the term "Opera House" was used. Opera house managers under scored their image by utilizing the "off" for lecture series, religious revivals, school graduations and other "wholesome" events."