Springfield Then & Now: Black’s Opera House

Thanks to longtime merchant Andrew Black, Springfield “at last had a public hall worthy of Springfield.”

Black’s Opera House cost $100,000 to construct. The theater, which seated 1,500, was located on the second floor while Andrew Black had a dry goods store on the first.

The opera house opened on February 4, 1869, and the first play was “The Drummer Boy of Shilo.”

Today, the location is the site of Hull Plaza.