McDonald Opera House
Prominent businessman Angus A. McDonald constructed this two-story masonry theater in 1891. A metal-covered stage loft rises above the roof as evidence of the structures historic function. Beneath the south end were dressing rooms for the traveling entertainers that played the generous stage. Elaborate backdrops were painted by Montana artist Edgar S. Paxson. The advent of moving pictures with sound brought some interior changes in the 1930s, but a magician’s trap door at center stage is still in place. Renamed the Granada Theatre in 1919, it is Montana’s oldest operating theater.
This property contributes to the Philipsburg Historic District • Listed in the Nation l Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior • In cooperation with the Montana Historical Society
Marker is at the intersection of South Sansome Street and West Stockton Street on South Sansome Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
