Pratt's Theatre

50sSNIPES on May 19, 2024 at 3:06 pm

The idea of Pratt’s Opera House came exactly almost four months after the original Fulton Opera House was destroyed by a fire.

In late-April 1903, a deal was both closed and accepted to build a 900-seat opera house in Fulton as it was decided when the Ways and Means committee appointed by the citizens' meeting consummated the final arrangements with John Pratt for the construction of his playhouse to cost not less than $12,000. According to a previous meeting, the committee asked for an extension of time in order to perfect its subscription list and get the same in more secure shape by ten days. After carefully canvassing the situation, the committee discovered that $100 was still lacking to make up the necessary $3,000 bonus but notwithstanding the resolution being unanimously adopted that authorize Pratt to proceed with the erection of the playhouse. They later launched a public enterprise that has not only labored diligently and untiringly for the successful outcome of the project.

Construction started several months later from both his theater and the neighboring Arlington Hotel that was both led by Contractor Braun. During the final touches, Claude Wilkerson became the manager of the theater. At the same time, Wilker booked the Quincy Adams Sawyer Company for a production that will give in Fulton that finished a two-week engagement in the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, exactly three weeks before the catastrophic 1903 Iroquois Theatre Fire. Due to multiple delays throughout the first quarter of 1904, its formal opening was rescheduled from late December 1903 to March 1904.

After all the delays, the Pratt’s Opera House opened its doors on March 14, 1904 with a live presentation of Walker Whiteside in “We Are King”. Throughout its history, it had a couple of renames. It was once renamed Pratt’s Theatre and finally known as simply Pratt Theatre.

The Pratt Theatre continued operating as both a special events and vaudeville house until closing in 1937.