Utica Opera House
274 Lafayette Street, Utica, New York | Unmarked Location
The Utica Opera House, at Lafayette and Washington Streets in downtown Utica, was the site of five lectures by famed agnostic orator Robert Green Ingersoll and a lecture on woman suffrage by Susan B. Anthony.
Ingersoll Lectures. On Wednesday, November 14, 1877, Ingersoll delivered "The Liberty of Man, Woman, and Child," one of his most popular patriotic lectures, at the Utica Opera House
On February 20, 1878, he presented "Ghosts," one of his most popular and controversial lectures critical of Christianity. Local news accounts reported that 1,000 persons attended, equivalent to the structure's seating capacity.
Ingersoll lectured on three later occasions at this facility: on October 30, 1878, when he delivered his literary lecture on Robert Burns; on January 19, 1885, performing "Orthodoxy," a controversial lecture on religion; and on May 2, 1894, when he presented an oration in tribute to Abraham Lincoln.
Lecture by Susan B. Anthony. On Thursday, April 19, 1894, suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony lectured at the Opera House. She thundered, “Women of Oneida County, you are paid less then men doing the same job as you because you do not have the ballot. You are denied the right to a voice in government because you do not have the ballot. What you have is a whole white male aristocracy.”
The Building and Site. The date of the building's demolition is unknown. The site now serves as the parking area for the Hotel Utica (erected 1912), now a DoubleTree Hotel.
Utica Opera House
An 1885 view of the Utica Opera House. It was opened by the city's Mechanics Association in 1871. It seated 1,000 but was indifferently successful; historic accounts suggest the facility's design was a bit behind the times when it was built.
Former Utica Opera House
The Shubert theater empire purchased the building in 1900, converting the Opera House into the more modern Majestic and, in 1901, converting another assembly space into the Orpheum. This image dates to between 1901 and March 1905, when fire damaged the structure. The Majestic, at least, reopened and was still operating as late as 1914.
Majestic Theatre (far left)
This 1914 photograph of the Hotel Utica (foreground) shows the Majestic Theater to its left. The hotel was built in 1912; the film playing at the Majestic, The Fortune Hunter, was released in 1914. The former Utica Opera House was demolished on an unknown date after this photograph was taken.
Newspaper lecture ad
Period newspaper advertisement promoting Ingersoll's lecture "Ghosts" at the Utica Opera House. Recovered from microform by Doug Schiffer.
Opera House Site Today
The site of the Utica Opera House now contains the former Hotel Utica (erected 1912; now a DoubleTree hotel) and its private parking lot, in foreground.
Associated Historical Events
Robert Green Ingersoll Gives "Ghosts" Lecture in Utica
February 20, 1878
Robert Green Ingersoll Gives "Robert Burns" Lecture in Utica
October 30, 1878
Robert Green Ingersoll Gives "Orthodoxy" Lecture in Utica
January 19, 1885