USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > History of Rochester and Monroe county, New York, from the earliest historic times to the beginning of 1907 > Part 23
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him are one in-peetor, Captain Hilhnan acting; six captains, Zimmerman, Ryan, Stein. Kluber- tanz, Russ and Sherman; six lieutenants, sixteen sergeants, one interpretor, four park officers and two hundred and four men, making a total of two hundred and thirty-nine. It would be inter-
esting to describe some of the changes that have been recently made in the system, tending to its- betterment, but this chaper is already too long, and it will suffice to say that the department will in every way compare favorably with that of other cities.
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CHAPTER XIII
POPULAR DIVERSIONS.
A Moral Community-The Drama Frowned Upon -Mild Forms of Amusement -- The First Circus -The First Theater-Chancellor Whittlesey's Prize Poem-Edmund Kean- Unbending Vir- tue-The Old Museum-The Wax Figures- Mrs. McClure-Dean's Theater-Julia Dean- The Theater Driven Out-It Comes Back in 1848-The Metropolitan-Twice Burned and Rebuilt-The Lyceum-Spectacles Given There -The Baker and the National-Corinthian Hall-Its Architecture-Noteworthy Events in Its Existence-The Atherium Lecture Courses Jenny Lind-The Power of Her Voice-Her Charity-Washington Hall-The Turf-Early Race Tracks-The Driving Park-World Rec- ords Made There-Goldsmith Mail, St. Julien and Maud S .- Base Ball-The Old Amateur Clubs Here.
Our early settlers were of a religious turn of mind, and unfortunately this led them into hahits of austerity which developed into an intolerance that was characteristic of the Puritan communi- ties in New England, whence most of the inuni- grants came. One thing they could not abide, and that was public enjoyment of any kind. All things must be done decently and in order and with a sol- emnity that precluded the possibility of any violent demonstrations of pleasure. When the settlement. became a village, in 1817, this sentiment was cry- stallized in some of the ordinances that were adopted by the board of trustees, who conceived themselves to he the guardians of public morality.
responsible not only for the outward good conduct of all the people but for their spiritual condition in this world and their destination in the next. Sabbatarian ordinances were, of course, to be ex- pected, and after the canal was opened no master of any bont could permit a single note, however soft or plaintive, to issue on Sunday, within the limits of the corporation, from any horn or bugle on his craft. As for traveling on that day, it was a scandal that was sorely trying, but the expedieney of legislation on the subject was considered ~o doubtful that the discipline was confined to public meetings and social ostracism. But, though they could do nothing to control the four-wheeled ve- hicle, there was another stage that they were de- termined not only to regulate but to suppress. Theatrical representations were absolutely forbid- ilen, with a fine for transgressing the or- dinance of twenty-five dollars for the prin- cipal or manager, five dollars for any actor on each performance, and five for the owner of the premises on each offense. Circuses also were stern- ly prohibited-twenty-five dollars being assessed against the proprietor, ten dollars against each rider-while shows of all other kinds, of a milder form of iniquity, could be displayed only after ob- taining a license.
This animosity toward all histrionie perform- ances was not confined to the religious element, at least to all outward appearance, for, being the dominant sentiment of the ruling class, it was re- flected in the press, which felt bound to cater to it. Thus the little directory of 1827 says: "The thea- ter is situated on Carroll street, a few rods north of Buffalo street. It is open but part of the sea-
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son, the company of performers not being perma- nently settled here and only exhibiting a few weeks at a time. Of the influence of theatrical exhibitions upon the habits and morals of a young community it does not become us to speak, but we are con- strained to say that the character of the per- formances at this theater has not generally been such as reflects credit upon the taste of our citi. zens." These unkind remarks immediately fol- low a description of a sulphur bathing establish- ment on Buffalo street, near Washington, the al- lurements of which are, with apparent approval. "a bar-room, a ladies' drawing room and bath rooms." That this attitude of implacable hostility was not unique is shown by the following extract from a daily paper of January 8th, in the follow- ing year: "It is really astonishing to think that the trustees of so respectable a village as Rochester should permit such a disorderly place as the then- ter. We express ourselves thus plainly from our knowledge that the respectable part of the com- munity has long since decidedly disapprobated the theater, and we do sincerely hope that our village trustees will, hereafter, when an application for li- cense is presented by any playing company, act more in accordance with the wishes of the sober, reflect- ing and moral part of our citizens." This constant storm of obloquy-while the press was terming with advertisements of lotteries that were reducing thousands to hopeless poverty, so that such notices would exclude from the mails at the present day any journal containing them-produced its natural effect, for Henry O'Reilly could say in a spirit of thankfulness in his "Sketches of Rochester " puh- lished in 1838, four years after the village had he- come a city: "Neither theater nor circus can now be found in Rochester. The buildings formerly erected for such purposes were years ago turned to other objects-the theater is converted into a liv- ery stable and the circus into a chandler's shop."
In the meantime, before this renovation had been effected, there was a very fair display of Thespian talent at different times, This was preceded, how- ever, by various things that might he considered as leading up to it. The very earliest affair that can be unearthed which may be considered as an amusement, and that only by some stretch of the imagination. was a concert on October 31st, 1820. that was "to be holden in the meeting-house of Sunday evening ; performance at 6: doors close at
1:30; admittance two shillings; a piano forte .s expected to accompany the musick ; performance to consist of anthems, solos, duets, etc." Stowell & Co. announced in January, 1821, that they had opened "an elegant museum at the Eagle tavern of Ens- worth & Son, consisting of thirty-four wax figures, two elegant organs, oue playing a variety of music accompanied by a drum and triangles ; the Temple of Industry, a grand mechanical panorama con- sisting of twenty-six moving figures, each working at their different occupations. N. B .- They have just added a representation of the duel between l'ominodores Barron and Decatur." Three years later a frame structure was erected on the east side of Exchange street, about on the spot where the county jail now stands. It carried out this program: "It will be opened with the play of the 'Miller's Frolick,' which will be followed by a grand entree of eight beautiful leopard horses. Master Burton's unrivaled horsemanship will con- clude by leaping over a surface of canvas nine feet wide and alight again upon the horse while at full speed. For the first time in this place Mr. Connor will go through his grand equilibriums on the slack wire. Dr. Lewis will conelude the even- ing's entertainment with a grand trampoline [whatever that may have been], throwing a won- derful flying somerset over seven real horses and conclude by going through a balloon on fire sixteen feet high !" There must have been a demand for more purely dramatic entertainment, as the Repub- lien of November 8th, 1895, contains the follow- ing: "Mr. Davis, late of the firm of Gilbert. Davis & Trowbridge, respectfully announces to the ladies and gentlemen of Rochester and vicinity that he has fitted up the circus as a theater and will open it this evening with an efficient company. He as- sures the public that uo exertion will be spared to render the performances in every way worthy of their patronage. During the season a number of the most admired melodramas will be brought for- ward." The play on that night was one spoken of as the opera of "The Mountaineers." after which several songs were given and the entertainment ter- minated with the farce of "The Weathercock." It seems a pity that this building, the first oue to be put up here strictly for purposes of amusement, should have failed so lamentably to fulfill its prom- ise that it would be "permanently occupied as a cirens." for the stage went the way of the arena
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WILLOW POND-EAST AVENUE.
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in less than six months, and Stowell's museum came to an end at about the same time.
In 1826 two real theaters were established here, the first being on West Main street, on the site afterward occupied by the Exchange Hotel and now by the building of the Catholic Young Men's association. The Exchange street company, driv- en out of their birthplace, opened this new temple on March 28th with the spectacular piece of "The Forty Thieves," but two weeks later a higher flight was essaged and "Richard III." was put on, the first production, undoubtedly, of the Shakespearian drama in Rochester. But the legitimate was no more successful than the sensational, and after three months of performances the doors were closed. Undismayed by the risk run in having two theaters where one could hardly pay expenses, an- other play-house was opened on May 15th, in a wooden building erected for the purpose on the west side of State street, opposite Market. The prefatory notice ran thus: "Theater .- Opposite the Mansion House; the ladies and gentlemen of Rochester and vicinity are respectfully informed that the manager intends opening the new theater on Monday evening next, with new and splendid scenery, dresses and stage decorations. Scenery painted by Mr. Hardy, Previous to the play the 'prize address' will be spoken by Mr. Browner, after which will be performed Tobin's elegant comedy of "The Honeymoon.'" The prize poem alluded to, of which O'Reilly, in his "Sketches of Rochester," gives a few lines, though he was careful to avoid any allusion to the occasion that brought it forth. was by Frederick Whittlesey, afterward vice-chan- cellor of the state. The following extract will show the style of the piece:
"There glittering spires and Iceming streets confess That man, free man, hath quelled the wildernem; Before bin foresta fell, the desert smiled, And he hath seared this city of the wild. Nor these alope. the useful arts here Bourished, Those arts which Into fter energies bave nourished, And science, learning and the drama, too, Here and their volaries in a chosen few. As this fair dome, so quickly reared, can tell How many loved the drama, and how well. And how this ville approves in early youth The drama's morals and the drama's truth. Immortal Shakespeare! thou the drama's sise, Who wrote with pen of light and soul of fre. Smile on this effort to cutoud the stage, To eneud the manners and improve the age. To you who promptly lent your liberal and. With fervor let our thanks be next repaid; If we deserve your smiles, he liberal still. If not, your frowns can punish us at will; Should we prove worthy of the drama's cause We find our high reward in your applause."
This would seem to show that not all "disap- probated" the theater in that day, and an appeal
might also be taken from the harsh judgment of the press to the authority of the great Edmond Kean, who did not disdain to tread the boards of the little stage for one night, that of July 15th, in the character of Sir Edmund Mortimer in "The Iron Chest." One might suppose that that wout.l have placated the ruling opposition, but, on the contrary, when, a few days afterward, the company advertised that the avails for that evening would be given to the Female Charitable society, one of the daily papers kindly observed: "We are very apprehensive that the respectable ladies compos- ing this commendable association have more self- respect than knowingly to accept of money oh- tained through a channel which they are, by their efforts, endeavoring to persuade children to avoid as a noisome sink of immorality." It may have heen foreknowledge, but, whether those remarks were the cause or the effect, the society rigidly de- clined the proffered benefit, and the theater came to an end soon afterward.
For many years nothing under thut title way known here, but in the meantime an institution that had come into being some time before had a fairly flourishing existence. The Rochester Mu- seum started in 1825, under the management of J. R. Bishop, in an upper story on Exchange street, ou the site of the present Smith & Perkins building. In this, as the announcement stated, everything was done "to make the establishment permanent and a public ornament, offering the naturalist, the philosopher, the Christian and the youth of the city a place of study, serious con- templation and amusement." Conducive to this desirable end was a collection of Indian curiosities, minerals and alleged fossils, and, as these proved not sufficiently attractive, a number of life-size wax figures were added. These had a perennial charm; the names with which they were labeled might be altered occasionally-so that Sir Wil- liam Wallace would change to the duke of Wel- lington, and the manager always kept abreast of the times, so that after Jenny Lind appeared here the Queen of Scots became the great Swedish singer and Judas Iscariot was easily made to do duty as Dr. Parkman after the celebrated mur- der-but the images themselves remained, alluring as ever, till the museum closed in 1852. Once in a while, though not often, dramatic performances were given there, for that must have been the
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place (though it was not located in the advertise- have appeared, during the last half century, most ments) where Mrs. McClure first appeared, in 1837, as llelen McGregor, in "Rob Roy;" she was always the pride of Rochester, even after her light had paled before that of a brighter star, and her occasional reappearance long after she had relin- guished the stage and had settled down here, an elderly woman and the wife of W. G. Noah, was welcomed with manifestations of pleasure.
In 1810 Edwin Dean, a Buffalo manager, opened a theater on Exchange street, at the foot of Spring. This may be considered the first real theater in Rochester, for the building, which still stands there, had been entirely remodeled for the pur- jose, with all the division usual in those days, a pit, a dress circle and boxes and a gallery, called the family circle. But it was maintained for only three years, the old spirit of intolerance continu- ing to be too powerful, so that Dean gave up the lease long before it would have expired. While it lasted, many celebrated actors, like the elder Booth, Forrest and Grattan Plunkett, played there. but its memory rests chiefly upon the fact that it was the scene of the first appearance of little Julia Dean, who long afterward became Mrs. Ar- thur Hayne and went back to the stage after the death of her husband. She was hardly twelve years (dd at the time of her debut here, but she made a pleasing impression in the minor part that she took in the "Last Days of Pompeii," and she continued to play in similar characters while her father held the place, after which she steadily rose in power and in reputation till she became one of the great- est of American actresses.
After an interval of half a decade the theater and the drama at last came to Rochester to stay. During the summer of 1848 the Enos Stone build- ing on South avenue, near East Main, was elabor- etely fitted up for dramatic productions, being leased by Carr & Warren of Buffalo and was opened in Christmas week of that year. From that time to this the place has been devoted to that object. For a few years the lessees had no regular company there, bringing their people down from the neighboring city for a few brief visits during each season, but from 1855 onward it had its own stock company there, sometimes playing by themselves without foreign aid and sometimes sup- perting a star performer, until that enstom was ubandoned in favor of the present method. Here
of the dramatic artists of Europe and America so that to give a list of them would be like giving the names of all the great interpreters of the mod- ern drama; the stars appeared, shone for a few nights, a week at most, and then went out; the only performance notable for its continuity was that of the "Black Crook," which ran for thirty- six nights in the carly part of 1867. The place was known at first simply as the St. Paul street theater, then as the Metropolitan, then the term opera house was absurdly added, which has elung to it ever since, it being called successively the Grand and Cook's. Twice has it been destroyed by fire, both times when it was unoccupied, first in the early morning of November 6th, 1869, when Edwin L. Davenport had played in the "Scalp Hunters" the night before, so that he lost his en- tire wardrobe and personal effects; the second time in February, 1891; after the first fire it was rebuilt by Judge Frick of Brooklyn, after the last by the late Frederick Cook.
By far the largest and finest play-house ever erected here is the Lyceum theater, on Sonth Clio- ton street, with a frontage of sixty-nine feet, a depth of one hundred and ninety-seven; the num- ber of diagram seats is eighteen hundred and fifty, so that it can easily hold, and often has held, over two thousand; the style of architecture is Moorish, which has an agreeable effect, whether from the ground floor, the balcony or the gallery; the stage itself is one of the most capacious in the state and may be extended at need, for a ball or some similar purpose, over the same level throughout the house; the only defeet in the andi- torium is that the acoustic properties are imper- feet, and though wires have been stretched high up across the stage the remedy is only partial. It was built at a cost of about $150,000, in 1888 and was opened, to a magnificent. audience, on the night of October 8th of that year, with the play of "The Wife." While intended for theatrical rep- resentations and specially adapted to that purpose, the Lyceum has from the beginning been so at- tractive as to be used very frequently for the pro- durtion of other kinds of entertainment, particu- larly those of a local character, where they were for the benefit of some popular institution and where the performers were all amateurs, or not even that, simply persons interested in the beneficiary,
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The first of these was the "Kirmess," given for a week in February, 1889, when the City hospita! profited to ille extent of nine thousand dollars; another, for the same object, was the "Spielkar- ten," or "living whist," in which the four players sat in different corners of the stage and the cards were represented by young men and women. In its purely spectacular quality the most charming entertainment was, perhaps, one for the benefit of the Mechanics Institute, during the week begin- ning January 25th, 1897; it was the Marie Antoi- nette fete, carrying with it a reproduction of the palace and gardens at Versailles, with a close re- production of the dress of that period ; each after- noon was given a representation of Browning's "Pied Piper of Hamelin." Throughout the first week in May, 1898, the Rochester Historical so- ciety set forth n pageant reproducing as far as possible the leading incidents in the life of the city. A notable event was the "Return of Ulysses," on the 26th of May, 1899, presented by students of the university; they had been drilled in then parts for a long time before by Miss Mabel Hay Barrows, who had made the dramatization from the "Odyssey" besides acting as stage manager, and who took the character of Penelope in the cast. The piece was rendered entirely in Greek, but that did not seem to detract in the slightest degree from the enjoyment of the audience that crowded the Lyceum ; that formed a fitting close to a brief but successful season of classical plays.
As that made two theaters on the enst side of the river, and none that could strictly be called such on the west side, it was only proper that the inequality should be removed. On the site of an old livery stable on North Fitzhugh street, that was kept by Benjamin M. Baker more than half a century ago, there was erected in 1898 by his daughter, who owned the property, a fairly commo- dions place of resort which she appropriately naned after her father, the Baker theater. It has always held a high position among places of its class and has, almost from the outset, followed the very commendable practice of having a stock company of its own, playing, except in vacation time, popular pieces, sometimes the legitimate, at low prices of admission. It was leased for some years by the Schubert brothers, with their com- pany, and was afterward occupied by the Moore stock company, which has lately given place in an-
other. It was opened informally on the night of December 12th, Jsos, by a combination of local talent and in a more regular manner a week later with the opera of "The Highwayman." Some what in the same line with the Baker, though not having so often its own company, is the National theater, made over from the old Odd Fellows' Temple after the latter had been partially de- stroyed by fire, standing on West Main street between Fitzhugh and Plymouth avenue. It was opened on the evening of December 22d, 1902, with the performance of the Anglicised French farce entitled "The Chaperones," and during the fol. lowing summer it was used by the Brick church congregation for some months after their own place of worship had been burned. Its interior is wleasing in its appearance and escape on three sides is easy in case of fire or panie, a great advan- tage. Popular concerts are frequently given there, partienlarly on Sunday evening», and during the week it is given up to the melodrama.
In this following out the narrative of the play- houses, rather than of the plays, that have been here from first to last, we have not only ignored entirely the thousand and one other sources of relaxation that were open to our predecessors, as being too heterogeneous for classification and too numerons for individual mention, but have also confined our attention strictly to the buildings that were erected or occupied solely as theaters, One other structure there was that was more im- portant in its way than any of those previously mentioned, around which will always cling the fond memories of the generation now passing away. The short and narrow passageway in the rear of the Areade, that is now named Corinthian street, was first known as Bugle alley, the title being afterward altered to Exchange place. It was covered with a number of low shanties, which were torn down in 1849 and replaced by what was for those days an imposing structure, put there by a public-spirited citizen, William A. Reynolds, the architect and designer being Henry Searle. It was three stories high, the ground floor being given up to stores, the second used mainly by the library and reading-room of the old Athenaeum and the third being the auditorium. This was entirely devoid of decoration, except at the north end and was all the more pleasing by reason of it: severity, which perhaps accounted for the singular
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HISTORY OF ROCHESTER AND MONROE COUNTY.
scope of its acoustic qualities, it being known throughout the country as one of the very best halls for speaking or singing. The floor, instead of being inclined, was absolutely level, filled with movable settees, and extending around it were six rows of raised and cushioned sofas, each tier a lit- tle higher than the one in front of it. At the north end was, not the stage, for there was none, but the platform, a narrow one at that, curtained midway with red damask portieres suspended from a gilded cornice. In the rear of the platform were two finely modeled columns copied after thoz at the tomb of Lysierates, one of the most perfect examples of Grecian art, and it was from the order of architecture of those pillars that both the room and the building took the name of Corin- thian hall. The entrance to the auditorime was by incans of a single stairway from the street, then a long passage, then a flight of stairs on enef side, so that the visitor on entering faced the andience instead of the stage. The seating capac- ity of the hall was properly a little less than twelve hundred, but oftentimes all available space would be filled with stools to the very doors; if a panic from any cause had broken out at such # time the narrow stairways, the only means of exit. would have become choked at once and the loss of life would have been frightful, but the popu- larity of the place was such that the people, al- though they knew the danger, paid no regard to it
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