History
The
History of Johnson Hall
Johnson Hall was a prominent Kennebec Valley entertainment and social
center for almost one hundred years.
The
history of Johnson Hall dates to 1864, one year before Abraham Lincoln's
assassination. The Civil War had taken away 475 of Gardiner's young
men. Robert Hallowell Gardiner, the city's great benefactor and
developer, died on March 22 of that year. On March 3, Benjamin F
Johnson, proprietor of the Johnson House, a popular local hotel,
announced plans to build a facility for large gatherings.1
Benjamin F. Johnson was born in Gardiner in 1827. He had gone to
sea at 19, and had traveled to California in 1850 following the
"49'er's". By 1858 he had returned to Gardiner and had
bought the Cobbossee House, a popular centrally located hotel and
tavern which he renamed the Johnson House.2 He
operated a livery stable next door to the hotel.
In
order to provide a place to accommodate large gatherings for a great
variety of entertainment's, in 1864 Mr. Johnson had the livery stable
building removed and a four-story (the upper floor being two stories
in height) Italianate brick structure built in its place. The upper
part of the building was the "hall, balconies, stage, dressing
rooms, banquet room, ticket office and entrances from Water and
Mechanic Streets."3 The street floor was occupied
by a new stable and above that was the hay loft. Apparently, carriages
could drive through the front carriage doors and some patrons could
enter the theatre without having a walk outside.
Johnson Hall's dedication Grand Ball was held on Tuesday, December
6, 1864. The newspapers of the time noted that the turnout was somewhat
disappointing, apparently because it was a very dark and stormy
night. Nonetheless, an estimated five hundred people attended that
evening of musical entertainment, a dinner which was served at ten
o' clock, and a dance which followed.4 One later source5
stated that the Johnson Hall Grand Ball was known for years as Maine's
biggest public function. A variety of other events followed during
the next twenty years. The first advertisements after the Grand
Ball offered rental of the hall.
It
is the most commodious Hall on the Kennebec River, and for beauty,
comfort and convenience, it has no superior in the State and it
is perfectly lightly an ventilated. It will accommodate 1200 persons.
Parties wishing it for Dances or Entertainment's of any kind, will
please apply to: BENJAMIN JOHNSON, Proprietor, Gardiner, Maine
6 On October 3, 1888, The Gardiner Home Journal noted,
"Johnson Hall, since it has been refitted so nicely, is to
be known as Opera House." Performances in the 1880's included:
Minstrels of Lynn, Massachusetts; Methodist Society, Old Folks
Concert; The Ella Hill Big Burlesque Company; Monarchs of Ministrelry,
the Barlow Brothers; Irish Vocalist and Dancer Pat Rooney; Abbey's
Uncle Tom's Cabin Company, among many others. It should be noted
that burlesque performances were advertised as being suitable for
ladies.
At
the end of the century, the newspaper described Johnson Hall as
"one of the most popular in Maine."8 Musical
programs ranged from opera through minstrelsy, there were popular
trained animal acts, and dramatic productions included both comedies
and tragic plays. Judging from the great number of advertisements
for the Opera House in the newspapers of those days, it is clear
that the theatre ended the century in very good health. The
first floor of the building, after the 1884 conversion from stable
to store, housed a series of retail operations. These included some
very successful dry goods stores and a business which for several
years sold pianos, later branching into sewing machines as well.
After
Mr. Johnson's death on February 18,1902, management of Johnson Hall
passed on to his widow, Henrietta Loring Johnson. Mrs. Johnson was,
like her husband, a Gardiner native. On December 30,1904,
a fire swept through the first and second floors of the building.9
Damage was estimated at $35,000. All of the tenant's dry goods store
was destroyed, and extensive damage from smoke and water invaded
the lower support areas (offices, practice area, etc.) of the theatre.
Guest rooms on the side of the Johnson House which was next to Johnson
Hall suffered damage as well.
Henrietta Johnson leased the Opera House to the Boston-based Dreamland
Theatre Company at the beginning of 1909, with the intention that
it would become one of a circuit of moving picture and vaudeville
houses.10 In the early twentieth century, "Moving
Pictures" became standard fare at the theatre. For many years
Mrs. Johnson had chosen to keep the hall just as her husband had
built it. But "Talkies" came to Gardiner on December 16th,
1929, and it was then that she accepted her manager's advice to
have the walls padded, and a rubber screen and the latest type of
projection machine installed. Other changes were even more significant.11
Everywhere above the lower story of Johnson Hall block will be strange
to future patrons of the Johnson Opera House, except the street
doors, and the first run of stairs; and having climbed these stairs
just the same as ever, and turning to the left as usual, one finds
to the right front a pretty little ticket office, and half way flight
of stairs right across the front the former Ladie's Room, and they
swing again to the right and you land on the Opera House floor.
The balconies are gone. Nearly all of the depth of the stage is
gone as well, and the arch is much higher and wider, and hung fully
and handsomely with dark green velour and to this will be attached
the picture screen.
Heavier, wider, separate arm chairs of walnut and leather cushions
are set sufficiently circular that all may see the stage. The main
floor pitches down toward the stage. The rear hall chairs are higher
than those in the main floor, and stepped up as one goes on back
each row. There is a center and a side aisles for the main floor,
entered left and right from the head of the entrance stairs.
The
absence of the balconies gives one a feeling of freedom, and a much
higher auditorium, and despite absence leaves by the new arrangement
as many seats as before. Each corner of the theatre front
has a comfortable exit upon Mechanic Street, enabling an audience
to leave the Opera House in less time, and much more conveniently
if they live up by the "Common" and beyond.
At
the same time of the 1930 changes, seating of the theatre was approximately
600 seats. Capacity with the balconies had been 580. The stage was
moved back toward Mechanic Street by 13 feet, accounting for much
of the space for the additional seats. In addition to removing the
balconies because they were judged to have become unsafe, the renovators
added a safety exit to the left of the stage. New floor carpets
and draperies were also part of renovations. During this period
there were daily movie matinees, as well as regular weekend movies.
The Russell Amusement Company took over operation of the theatre,
adding it to a large chain of play house. Thus ended a sixty year
period of control of the theatre by Benjamin and Henrietta Johnson.
Henrietta Loring Johnson died in Gardiner just three years later.
Johnson Hall Opera House continued as a movie theatre until the
late 1950's. After the theatre was closed, the area was used as
a storage room for the variety store which occupied the downstairs
retail space. In the early part of the 1980's the theatre was rented
by a local group for theatrical productions and the showing of movies,
but the group was unable to continue that operation.
More
recently, Johnson Hall was purchased by a private group of investors
who had hoped to reopen the theatre as a center for the performing
arts. They were unable to obtain the financing necessary for a proper
restoration. It became apparent that only a non-profit organization
would be able to salvage the old Opera House, since that type of
body would be able to apply for foundation grants and to have a
public fundraising campaign. In late 1987 a group of interested
community members formed Johnson Hall, Inc., a non-profit organization
with the purpose of acquiring, restoring, and operating Johnson
Hall. The building was purchased in a debt-free transaction on July
15, 1988, and the group is now going to forward with plans to restore
it and operate it as a center for live entertainment and performing
arts education. One hundred years after its rebirth as the Opera
House, Johnson Hall appears to be once again on the threshold of
becoming a vital part of the community.
Mary
Ann Offer September 6, 1988
1.
The Gardiner Home Journal, March 3, 1864.2. Kennebec Journal, Augusta,
Maine; October 17, 1983.
3.
Russell Amusement Company Advertisement, Gardiner Journal, Gardiner
, Maine: March 6, 1903.
4.
The Gardiner Home Journal, Gardiner, Maine; December 8, 1864.
5.
Russell Amusement Company Advertisement.
6.
The Gardiner Home Journal, Gardiner, Maine; January 1865.
7.
The Gardiner Home Journal, Wednesday, April 9, 1884
8.
The Gardiner Home Journal, August 21, 1897.
9.
Weekly Reporter Journal, December 30, 1904.
10.
Weekly Reporter Journal, January 1, 1909.
11.
Russell Amusement Company advertisement.
