Westminster Opera House (Odd Fellows Hall)

An entertainer was found decapitated outside following a satirical show depicting Federal leaders.

Plans were drawn up for an opera house here, the site of a former tanning yard and shop, by the International Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) in 1850, and the new building was complete by 1854, when it was sold to the Odd Fellows for $375. It was very much a community building, both during the Civil War and for many years afterwards. It served as the headquarters for the 17-member, strongly anti-Southern provost guard, Lieutenant Bowman’s 150^th New York Infantry. It became the home of the Westminster Library in 1863, and frequently hosted “soirees” on behalf of the local dancing academy, despite the war raging in the background. Sometime during the Reconstruction period after the war, it reportedly held a satirical show portraying Lincoln, Grant, and other Federal leaders; it is said that the next morning an entertainer was found decapitated in the rear stables. An evening that received a much better reception was a speech given by Frederick Douglass in October 1870, who was highly praised by the local paper the next day.