{"nrhp_refnum":"00000471","name":"Beardstown Grand Opera House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"121 State St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Beardstown","county":"Cass County","state":"IL","lat":40.017516974000046,"lon":-90.43430949899994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-05-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Italianate commercial and theater building with a basement at 121 State Street in Beardstown, Cass County, Illinois, built in 1873 and remodeled in 1893. It has three ground-floor storefronts and an opera house on the second floor.","why_significant":"The building is argued to be locally significant under Criterion A for its association with the late 19th and early 20th century demand by small and rural communities for cultural entertainment in a specialized theatrical facility. It operated as an opera house from 1873 until about 1915 and hosted a long run of touring companies, concerts and lectures. Its 1893 remodeling added a raked floor, electric lighting, and a stenciled dome ceiling.","narrative":"Built in 1873 at the corner of State and Second streets in Beardstown, this two-story brick building combined three ground-floor storefronts with an opera house upstairs. It replaced an earlier hotel, and its owners, George Schneider and Henry Krohe, rebuilt it after a tornado wrecked it just before completion. A major remodeling in 1893 changed the entrance to a stone arch, added electric lights, extended the building by forty feet, enlarged the stage, and installed a raked floor and a stenciled dome ceiling. A painted drop curtain showing Venice still survives. For roughly two decades the hall hosted touring theater troupes, minstrel shows, concerts and lectures. After it closed as an opera house around 1915, the upper floor served as a dance studio, then as storage. Its significance rests on its role in the small-town opera house movement. Today the city holds a long-term lease on the upper floor, and fundraising for restoration as a community center is under way.","period_of_significance":"1873 - ca. 1915","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The first-floor storefronts are in use by an antique shop, a chamber of commerce and river museum, and a tumbling studio. The second-floor opera house is vacant and undergoing preservation and restoration for use as a community center.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.511972-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/80/8917/28891780/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/00000471.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000471/e3e583f232-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00000471/e3e583f232-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beardstown_Grand_Opera_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beardstown_Grand_Opera_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891780","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beardstown_Grand_Opera_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4876694"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cass-county/beardstown-grand-opera-house-00000471/"}