1855-57
THESPIAN HALL
522 Main Street
Boonville, Missouri 65233
660/882-7458
Owned & Operated by
THE FRIENDS OF HISTORIC BOONVILLE
P.O. Box 1776
General Office - 614 East Morgan
Boonville, Missouri 65233
660/882-7977
Available for Rent
March 15 till November 15
Group Tours by Appointment
Box Office Open
June 1 through August 30
Tours available at that time daily
Annual Events
BIG MUDDY FOLK FESTIVAL
Weekend after Easter each year
MISSOURI RIVER FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
Third and Fourth Weekends of August
HISTORY
For more than 140 years Thespian Hall has captured the vision, the imagination and the essence of the community in which it was built. The roots of Thespian Hall go back to 1838, when sixty leading citizens founded an all-male dramatic group called "The Thespian Society." By 1855, the Thespians were ready to build a permanent structure as ".. a monument to the liberality and good taste f our citizens..." It took two years to complete. The Odd Fellows, Masons and City Hall occupied the second floor. The Thespians, incorporated as the Boonville Library, Reading Room and Thespian Society, used the first floor for their productions and the basement as a reading/library room. Thespian Hall opened July 3, 1857, with a grand ball, with dedication ceremonies held on July 4th.
Boonville's home for the arts began its long life as a catalyst for community involvement and civic pride.
During the Civil War, troops from both sides were quartered in the building. The first floor was also used as hospital space. The Thespian Society ceased to exist during this period and the Hall's ownership fell to one of its members, local banker, Joseph L. Stephens. Boonville began its reputation as "best little theater town in Missouri" along with being home to The Turn and Gesang Verein, (The Turners), one of the athletic and singing societies which flourished in the areas of heavy German settlement. By 1900, Lon Vest and W. Speed Stephens inherited the building and renovate the Hall. In 1901 it reopened as The Stephens Opera House with the addition of the stage house, an orchestra pit and curved balcony. In 1912 the nickelodeon arrived in the Hall and the transition to movie house began. In 1937 a serious threat to raze the theater was adverted by the formation of a local preservation group, one of the first of it's kind in the state.
In 1975, the Friends of Historic Boonville acquired the theater as a gift from the Kemper Foundations of Kansas City. With the help of the Foundations and local volunteers, Thespian Hall today is home for the arts because of the vision of past and present residents. Thespian Hall is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is the oldest theater building west of the Allegheny Mountains.
Updated 03/22/01