University of Wyoming
"©" 2006 University of Wyoming
Chauncey Root and his sister-in-law, Helen Elizabeth Haley Root, operated Root's Opera House from about 1894 to about 1929. The Opera House, as it was known, was the first established theatre in Laramie, Wyoming. It was located at 211 S. 3rd Street. Mrs. Root and her husband, William Root, operated a simple theater at that same location sometime during the 1880s. It was known as Blackburn Hall, and it may have served as a community hall. The Roots purchased the building from the Albany County School District in the late 1870s when the school district abandoned Laramie's first school building, which was constructed in 1872. The Roots were involved in several business ventures on this site (211, 213, and 215 S. 3rd Street) including a Studebaker farm implement sales shop, a wagon repair shop, and a wild game headquarters where game was collected and shipped to Europe. By the late 1890s, the Roots had fully converted the building as a theatre and began improving it. It had electricity, a large stage, fine dressing rooms, and plush seating for 650 people. It was considered to be among the finest theatres between Kansas City and San Francisco. The Roots were able to attract some of the most popular plays, finest actors and repertoire companies, musical comedies, and international singers of the time. In the 1920s, when motion picture shows became popular and stage-acting began to decline, a movie projector and picture screen were installed. By 1930 the theatre had closed, at which time Chauncey Root began operating a newsstand out of the theatre lobby. The building was razed in 1936.
Members of the Root family came to Laramie after the father, Aaron Root, arrived in the city as a construction worker with the Union Pacific Railroad about the time Laramie was established in 1868. Chauncey Root worked as a clerk at Edward Ivinson's bank until 1882 before he involved himself in the various family businesses. Chauncey Root died in Laramie on June 13, 1938. Helen Root died in Laramie on June 6, 1927, and William Root died in 1903.
The Root's Opera House Scrapbook contains programs for theatrical shows that were performed at Root's Opera House in Laramie, Wyoming, between 1906 and 1916. Within the scrapbook are also a few advertisements and tabloids promoting upcoming events.
There are no access restrictions on the materials for research purposes, and the collection is open to the public.
The researcher assumes full responsibility for observing all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.
There are no known other archival collections created by the Root Family at the date of processing.
The scrapbook was transferred to the American Heritage Center in 1995 from the University of Wyoming Libraries system, where it was a part of the Hebard Library.
The collection was processed by John Richard Waggener in July 2006.
Item Description, Box Number 1, Root's Opera House Scrapbook, Collection Number 10381, American Heritage Center, University of Wyoming.