Gebhart’s Opera House was a grand building at Fifth and Main streets that entertained people in Dayton first with live shows and then as a transformed movie theater from the 1870s to the 1960s.
William F. Gebhart was a businessman who established himself as a “practical tin and slate roof” construction contractor and a dealer in tinware.
» PHOTOS: Looking back at Gebhart’s Opera House, later known as Mayfair Theatre
» Dayton’s Goddess of Liberty, once a downtown relic, stood over Fifth and Main for 90 years
In the mid-1850s, galvanized sheet metal was introduced to the construction world, and Gebhart was quick to realize its potential. The new business brought him great prosperity.
On top of his career, Gebhart desired to create something monumental. It would be a structure that, by its very nature, would automatically attract the public to East Fifth Street and popularize that area of downtown Dayton.
On Sept. 19, 1876, Gebhart announced his plans to build an opera house and construction began.
Just a few months later, 350 people died in a New York theater fire on Dec. 8, 1876. Gebhart, horrified by the news, ordered a halt to construction while fire safety measures were evaluated. The resulting installation of sprinklers was the first of its kind for any public hall in Dayton.
An open house was held March 10, 1877, for the public to view the new building. The response was overwhelming, with no fewer than 1,000 people making their way through every half-hour during the course of the day and evening.
On March 12, 1877, Gebhart’s Opera House officially opened.
It was the second building in Dayton to include “opera house” in its name. The first was the Turner Opera House at the corner of First and Main streets. It was eventually known as the Victoria.
The decorative facade featured an elaborate dome and iron front crafted out of sheet metal, which was “painted a soft cream color and then rough sanded to give it the appearance of sandstone,” according to Dayton historian Curt Dalton.
The auditorium was on the second floor and was reached by the center entrance staircase. Special attention had been given to the acoustics which proved to be exceptional.
Opening night featured the acclaimed Miss Emma Abbott and Company, who appeared in a grand concert. The program was heralded as the finest to appear in Dayton up to that time.
A statue representing the Goddess of Liberty was placed atop Gebhart’s Opera House on July 3, 1879, as part of the city’s Fourth of July celebrations. Made of malleable zinc, it was 11 feet high and weighed 500 pounds. The goddess stood with her right hand resting on the sword of justice, and her left extended with the laurel wreath of victory.
In 1883, Dayton’s Sacred Heart church was formed by the Right Rev. William H. Elder, archbishop of Cincinnati. The congregation, led by the Rev. Father Hugh McDevitt, worshipped in the opera house for more than five years.
The opera house, which had seating for 1,200, changed names over the course of history.
In 1889, the building was renamed Park Theatre. The first motion pictures shown in Dayton were screened there.
The Park name lasted until 1906, and then the building became the Lyric. It remained a motion picture house for a while, but then the novelty of movies started to fade and vaudeville and burlesque took their place.
The Gebhart estate sold the building in 1944 following 68 years of ownership.
Attorney Phillip Bradford purchased the building at that time and renamed it the Mayfair. The Mayfair usually had four shows a day, two in the afternoon and two at night, and a midnight show on Saturdays.
There was a band in the pit with a piano player and a few musicians. The show usually opened with a comic or two performing skits. After the first comic, a dancer would come out. On rare occasions, police would raid the theater, claiming it was getting too risque.
The theater closed its doors in 1968 while under the name Mayfair. The following year the structure was destroyed in a fire.
The statue stayed atop the opera house for more than 90 years before being moved. Also known as the Mayfair Lady, it was acquired by then-Dayton Mayor Dave Hall, who donated it to the Dayton Art Institute. In 2011, it was moved to Carillon Historical Park where it still resides.
Today, the Dayton Convention Center sits at the site.
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