15: Moulton Opera House

The Moulton Opera House stood at 566-574 Main Street, blocks away from the Colonial and Gardens Theaters and across town from the Lakeport Opera House.  Moulton Opera House, built by bank president, industrialist, and entrepreneur John C Moulton, and first opened on August 23, 1887, was located on the second and third floors of the brick building that also housed O'Shea's Department Store. In an era that pre-dated television and the widespread proliferation of automobiles, the city's residents relied upon the grand theaters for entertainment.

The opera house was equipped with a grand drape in full color, painted by an artist in South Carolina, depicting “Morning on the Nile,” from the engraving of the same name.  Moulton Opera House was, for many years, the site of high school graduations, musical programs, plays by both local and touring companies, political rallies and dances, among other offerings.

By 1909, the manager of the venue said that with changing tastes, he would no longer book traveling theater companies but rent the venue for movies and vaudeville, which he called "the cheaper shows." When the Colonial Theater, almost four times its size with 1,450 seats, opened in 1914, the fortunes of the opera house began to wane, and by the early 1930s it went dark, becoming a storeroom for the department store.

In 1970, the building was razed in the course of the urban renewal project.  Today it is the site of the parking lot behind Bootlegger’s, Rent-A-Center, and MC Cycle.