This Week in Odessa History

Early in the last century, Odessa had an opera house, and live opera occasionally played there.

There are no known photographs of the interior of the opera house, and little is recorded about its decor, acoustics, stage and other amenities of the building. It was a frame structure which - like so many other buildings in downtown Odessa early in the century - was destroyed by fire in 1917.

The opera house stood on the south side of the middle of the block on First Avenue between Division and Alder streets, about where the Odessa Trading Company’s office today is located.

The Odessa Record repor...