Lodi Opera House opened 100 years ago

In late January 1905, more than 650 people dressed in their finest walked on downtown Lodi’s dirt streets and filed into the new majestic pressed brick two-story building at the southeast corner of Pine and School streets.

It was the grand opening of the Lodi Opera House, and the eager audience sat in front of the stage in the impressive building and watched the curtain rise for the comic opera “King Dodo”, a production of San Francisco’s Tivoli Opera Company. It was the premier of a new cultural age in their pioneer town.

Today, 100 years later, the gray building that was the “crown jewel” of Lodi in the early 1900s is the home of Thornton House Furniture and still in the vibrant center of downtown.

The Lodi Opera House was the dream of respected businessman Charles Lever Van Buskirk, one of Lodi’s most progressive citizens who changed the face of downtown and paved the way for expansion of the business district.

The Wisconsin lumberman, born in 1845 in Nova Scotia, came to Lodi in 1893 and started lumbering operations in Calaveras and Amador counties. An astute businessman, Van Buskirk gradually sold his lumbering interests and invested in property.

Demonstrating keen business foresight, the 50-year-old Van Buskirk felt the real fortune lay along the dirt streets of the promising pioneer town of Lodi. In early March 1895, Van Buskirk bought five lots for $690 in the Burr’s Addition located northwest of downtown along Church Street. He built a two-story house for his wife, Angie, and their two sons, Charles Ray and Erle Lever, on the corner lot of Daisy and Church streets.

Over the next few years, Van Buskirk bought three more lots in the residential block. He sold most of his timberland interests and had ready cash to invest in more property. Van Buskirk focused on Lodi’s business district.

Between 1903 and 1909, Van Buskirk bought more than 40 lots in Lodi. Determining that Lodi was growing to the west, Van Buskirk bought nearly all of his land west of the railroad tracks and ignored lots along busy Sacramento Street where the main business district thrived.

Recognizing the potential development value of land on corner lots of street intersections, Van Buskirk astutely acquired 13 corner lots. Most importantly, Van Buskirk bought three corners of the Pine and School street intersection within four months from late 1903 to early 1904. In late 1909, Van Buskirk finally acquired the last corner lot and then owned the land on all four corners of Pine and School streets.

That dirt intersection was crucial to Van Buskirk who envisioned Lodi’s business district stretching west from Sacramento Street. Van Buskirk bought his first lot at this intersection on Oct. 21, 1903. He got the southwest corner (where the Hotel Lodi stands today) and the Pine Street lot adjoining on the west for $1,143 from Mrs. H. E. Foster. Less than one month later, Van Buskirk paid $1,800 to S. S. Gillespie for the northeast corner of Pine and School streets.

After securing the first two corner lots, Van Buskirk paid undertaker Frank Hale $2,000 for the southeast corner of Pine and School streets on March 1, 1904. Van Buskirk hired Lodi’s premier builders, Ed and Fred Cary, to build his dream, place where people could enjoy refined cultural and artistic entertainment without alcohol or tobacco.

Since settling in Lodi, Van Buskirk, a man with high moral beliefs and expectations, was appalled by the numerous saloons in town. He and his wife Angie, active members of the First Congregational Church, were steadfast believers in temperance and did what they could to fight against the sins of alcohol and tobacco. The Van Buskirks were committed to restricting saloons and promoting activities that enriched a moral lifestyle.

By autumn of 1904, Cary Brothers finished the two-story brick building that dwarfed the small Lodi Bakery building on its east side and the wood frame homes to the south. One account listed the brick building’s cost at approximately $10,400, and another account said the majestic structure cost $32,000. The building had a basement and a first floor designed for retail business space. The second floor was the location of the Lodi Opera House. The seating capacity was 900 seats, built on a slowly rising platform so those in back would not be so hindered by the ladies’ large hats, which blocked the view.

The Lodi Opera House was to be the venue for traveling theatrical companies performing plays and vaudeville acts and local entertainment from school and church groups. Van Buskirk, who also opened the Opera House for orations on temperance, would not allow alcohol to be served in his establishment.

On Oct. 10, 1904, E. Oppenheim began renting the basement and first floor of the building for his store. For the rest of the year, Van Buskirk and his Opera House manager, Fred H. Lee, presumably worked on preparing the second floor for its unveiling.

The eagerly awaited grand opening of the Lodi Opera House took place on Jan. 26, 1905. The highly acclaimed Tivoli Opera Company performed its first show outside of San Francisco before the near capacity crowd on that Thursday night.

“This company came highly recommended, and the unanimous verdict of the delighted audience was to the effect that it fulfilled all anticipations,” reported a Lodi Sentinel writer.

The writer, perhaps a bit worried about the pioneer town’s rough image, went on in his report to encourage respectful audience behavior.

“And now that Lodi has a new Opera House and will be visited by theatrical companies it will be well for the public to take a few matters into serious consideration. First, the plays must be patronized. Otherwise the town will gain the reputation of being a ‘frost’ and good companies will avoid it. Second, the audience should be liberal with its applause; not the stamping and whistling kind, but a generous hearty clapping of hands. Actors cannot be at their best unless they plainly see that the audience is appreciating and enjoying their efforts.

“Messrs. Van Buskirk and Lee are worthy of commendation for the good beginning they have made,” the Lodi Sentinel writer stated.

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