Piper's Opera House

Address 12 North B Street, Virginia City, NV 89440
Website https://pipersoperahouse.com

Piper's Opera House, built in 1878 and rebuilt in 1885, is one of the most significant surviving theatres of the American West. John Piper, a German immigrant who owned much of Virginia City's entertainment infrastructure during the silver boom, built the opera house to attract performers from San Francisco and the East Coast. The venue hosted everyone from Shakespearean actors to vaudeville troupes to presidential visitors.

The building is beautifully preserved, with original wood-sprung floors and a raked stage. Today it operates as a working museum and performing arts venue — tours of the interior are available, and live performances still take place on its stage. For the history of entertainment in the frontier West, there is no better surviving example.

things to do sight
A story
The original Piper's Opera House burned down twice before the current building was constructed in 1885. Among the performers who appeared on its stage: Edwin Booth (brother of Lincoln's assassin), Buffalo Bill Cody, Al Jolson, and Mark Twain — who used the hall to give what many consider his first major public lecture, before his career as a writer made the performances unnecessary.