By Jessica Gorman

For several decades, the concert hall at the Minden Female College, later the Minden Graded High School, was a center of social life in Minden. It hosted concerts, plays, meetings, vaudeville shows, conferences, graduations, and other events. It was often filled to or near capacity. By 1899, the building was deemed unsafe and extensive repairs were necessary to keep it in use. It wasn’t long before a case was made for an entertainment venue to accommodate the crowds.

In 1907, the case was made for the need for an opera house in Minden. It was at this time that the McIntyre block in downtown Minden was to be rebuilt. This block extends from East Union to the Bank of Webster building, currently occupied by Logan McConathy State Farm. In May, it was reported that pressure was being put on the Bank of Webster and Mr. Banks McIntyre, owners of the properties in that block, to construct their buildings to include an opera house in the upper portion of the building.

Of course, they had to consider the investment they were making to construct the buildings. The cost of building an auditorium was much higher than to simply build offices. Offices could more easily be rented out at a lower rate to multiple tenants than to rent the entire space to a single tenant. The thought was that if a commitment was made to rent the space for the operation of an opera house, then the investment to build it could be justified and Minden would have its opera house.

Graduation exercises of Minden High School underscored the need. The Minden Democrat described the crowd as “packed to suffocation” claiming at least one thousand in attendance. Many attendees were forced to stand outside. In the same issue, it was announced that plans had been drawn for the Bank of Webster and the McIntyre building. Those plans did not include an opera house. Despite the urging of local leaders, it was determined that the upper portion of the building would not be an appropriate width to adequately accommodate an auditorium. Nevertheless, the newspaper was sure that Minden would soon have an opera house stating that, while they would remain nameless, there were those with plans to build an opera house that would accommodate 800 people.

Several months went by with no new developments. In November, an article appears in The Minden Democrat expressing frustration with a lack of needed facilities within the city for it to continue to grow and prosper. In regards to the opera house, it states, “a lessor stands ready to sign a five year lease on an opera house yet we have none and no appropriate place to take care of even a fair sized lodge convention.” It seems that no one had been willing to put up the money to bring the project to fruition.

Soon thereafter, the first mentions of theatres in Minden begin to appear. Events and performances continued to be held at the concert hall until construction of the new high school building a few years later with many community events then being held in the new school auditorium.

(Jessica Gorman is Executive Director of the Dorcheat Historical Association Museum, Webster Parish Historian, and an avid genealogist.)