Online Histories of Snohomish County

The Marysville Opera House
1225 Third Street
Marysville, WA

The Marysville Opera House is a three story poured concrete structure, located near the 1225 Third Street in Marysville. Erected in 1911, the building was located at what was at the time the heart of town near the Ebey Slough, part of the Snohomish River delta.
 

The Marysville Opera House was erected in 1911 by the Ebey Lodge #104 of the International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) to provide a meeting place for the Lodge and a cultural center for the town of Marysville after an earlier hall was burned.

Chartered on August 20th, 1891, the lodge had no permanent meeting place until about 1898 when it erected a frame building to serve as both an opera house and a home for the I.O.O.F. The frame building served the community until about 1910 when it was destroyed by fire. Erected by local contractor A.E. Heider, the new opera house cost $20,000 and was described as being "designed to be fully up to the needs of Marysville for many years". 

The building served as a focus for Marysville social events, housing not only the Odd Fellows but also similar social organizations such as the Rebeccas and the Neighbors of Wood Craft. Too, it provided the means and the opportunity for the citizens of Marysville, a relatively remote town for many years, to enjoy the performing arts as presented by traveling troups, as well as affording a forum for presentations by local talent. 
 
 

Architecturally, the opera house represents an unusual variation from the masonry and wood frame construction techniques which were regionally common at the time of its erection. No other contemporaneous buildings employing this technology have been identified in the local area. Within the entire county only one earlier poured concrete building has been discovered, an industrial boiler house dating from 1906.

Against the background severe economic and social dislocation accompanying the Great Depression, these lodge functions assumed even greater significance. The relief efforts which the lodge undertook not only were of immediate benefit to recipients but, as with similar projects in other communities, were important in re-establishing local faith in the community ability to deal with the Depression's effects. The organization was also important for its social influence in the community. 
Though the lodge dispanded in 1966 after 75 years of service to the community of Marysville the substantial concrete opera house which it left behind is an imposing and important architectural cornerstone for the community of Marysville. Also, it memorializes that spirit which motivates individuals in a community to band together and strive harmoniously to the general benefit of the community at large. 

Information taken from the application to the National Register of Historic Places 
Photographs Courtesy of the Marysville Historical Society, Marysville, WA