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Famed of Nation TrodfStages of Wieting-iWhere today the modern architecture of the Lincoln garage laces on Clinton sq. along Water st, the major entertainment hall o! Syracuse stood for years and years.This was the Wieting block, built on the ruins of a fire, nnd three times destroyed by flames itself.on thet!v In 1*49, the brick block comer of Water and Satina sts.. occupied by the hardware firm of [Charles A. and Horace Wheaton, burned to the ground. With it went h wooden building that housed Horace Bronson’s shoe store, and the building to fhc west In Water *t, Granite half.Even before the lo*» of the latter.Syracuse had had a shortage of public halls and amusement centers. Dr. John M. Wieting. whose lectures had been heard in many cities about the country, perceived the opportunity to fill a lack and built the first Wieting hallOf ample capacity furnished with elegance, and fitted tv Ith private business offices upstairs, the Wietmg block seemed destined for a notable future, when It opened jn 1S50. But six years later, as the mereury stood below zero on the night of Jan. 5, fire again ra2cd the site Firemen were helpless as water froze in thefr ho«cs.Within a vear. a new Wictmg block had b**en erected. Here, forn-CtotnjcJFlt;PI«dft;diloCharles Dlckcns and Horace Greeley to name a few amongst a host,; *wacd multitudes. On its concert’ stage Adelina Patti, Christine N'Jlb, son and Pa rep* Rota tans, the for-*lt; mer under sponsorship of news-ifi papcrmen of the Pre«s Club. faThe stage of tha Wietliuc also saw • such dramatic stars as Joseph Jefferson, who played his Immortal Rip \an Winkle4* in 1SS3? the tragic Edwin Booth. Edwin Forrest Joseph K. Emmett, Charlotte Cushman, the comic Harngan add Hart; Mod* Jtska, the Immortal Ellen Terry, Lillian HusseR and Sarah Bern-hardt-In 1S70 the Wi'tin* was enlarged rebuilt, redecorated? ornate 10 *hite and gold, gorgeous beneath a cryittt chandelier, boasting a seating capacity or i,oi7 -'that could b? increased to 2.000 by the use of stools”: it wa* rcchristcned the Wictfng Opera. HouseThe Divine” Bernhardt appeared In Camille” in March, issl. Fourmonths later, oa July 19. It burned to the ground. The undtscouraged Dr. WEetmsr rebuilt, keeping themany years, conventions in Svra- theater separate now from his bu*i-vii-t.at-priblock.But fierv destruction came again In 1S5S A year later, on Sept. IS, Lillian Russfll appeared In **Ths Wedding Da” to open the new. larger Wjcting Opera House. For it a 20-foot slice was bought from the old Townsend block to the west, still standing {Since 1$42) on the corner ot Water and Clinton ats.rcsa\\o.orthclinIti
Newspaper Details
Syracuse Journal
Syracuse, New York, US
Mon, Mar 20, 1939
Page 95
Full Page
Clipped by
Edward E.
NA, 19 Jan 2022
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