Milestones Icon: Dickens Opera House

In the late 1880s, if you wanted something done, you probably turned to William Henry Dickens.

Not because of his relationship to Charles Dickens (his adoptive mother married the English novelist’s grandson), but because the Longmont rancher and freighter was one of the wealthiest and most influential men in the area.

The Victorian building he constructed as a bank and opera house in 1881 still stands at the corner of Third Avenue and Main Street in Longmont. Approximately 150 “opera houses” were built in Colorado between 1860 and 1920. The Dickens is the fourth-oldest surviving opera house in the state.

It features an elaborate metal cornice and pointed-arch windows with stone sills and lintels. The upstairs opera hall is approximately 5,000 square feet, with 30-foot-high ceilings.

The building has survived two fires and several major renovations, serving as a turnstile for many businesses during the past 130 years.

The parcel that the building sits on was given to Dickens’ father by Ulysses S. Grant, according to the current operators of the Dickens Tavern and Opera House, Sean and Lynn Owens.

Dickens erected an impressive red brick building at the town’s premier intersection to contain his Farmers National Bank, with an opera hall above. The marble staircase and vault from the bank remain.

Dickens’ goal with the opera house was to bring society and culture to a growing community. He furnished it with lavish sets, and brought in theatrical acts, minstrel shows and traveling musicians.

The gracious upstairs space hosted college classes, as well as town meetings, national guard training, spelling bees, political rallies, firemen’s fundraising balls, even boxing and wrestling matches.

Local groups that met in the upstairs space included the ladies of the Longmont Christian Temperance Union and farmers from the local grange.

The building also housed the original Longmont college in 1885, while a permanent home for the school was being built.

The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. With its ornamental detailing, it remains one of the very few structures that could be classified as architecturally significant in the core business area of Longmont.

A final note on William Henry Dickens: At one point he owned eight farms in the vicinity of Longmont. He also served as president of the Longmont Farmer’s Mill and Elevator Co., vice president of the First National Bank, water commissioner and town marshal. He was murdered in 1915, according to the University of Colorado Digital Library.

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