Three views of The Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia:

19th C American Theatres

    Uncle Tom's Cabin remained in print throughout the 19th century, but for millions of Americans between 1853 and the early 20th century "Uncle Tom's Cabin" meant going to a theater, not a library or a bookstore. In an era before electronic forms of home entertainment like radio, TV and "home theaters," theatres, opera houses, museums, and music halls and academies were familiar landmarks in every American city or large town. Throughout this archive these theaters' names survive on playbills, and in ads, reviews and notices, but in non-virtual reality the buildings themselves are almost all gone.

    The New York Clipper, a weekly paper for people in show business, put an engraved illustration on the first page of every issue. Often these were images of famous actors and actresses, or scenes from new plays, but also regularly featured were drawings of the "Theatres and Halls of America." Listed below, in the order in which they were published in the Clipper between 1870 and 1876, are a few of the theaters in which we know Uncle Tom's Cabin was enacted. Each link will bring up an engraving of a place where America went in the evening or (when there was a matinee) the afternoon to see Stowe's story in its various dramatic versions.
OLD CHESTNUT STREET THEATRE, PHILADELPHIA
OLD WALNUT STREET THEATRE, PHILADELPHIA
BOOTH'S THEATRE, NEW YORK
OLD ARCH STREET THEATRE, PHILADELPHIA
THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF MUSIC
THE DETROIT OPERA-HOUSE
WALNUT STREET THEATRE, PHILADELPHIA
NEW HALLIDAY STREET THEATRE, BALTIMORE
INTERIOR OF CHESNUT STREET THEATRE, PHILADELPHIA
THE DETROIT THEATRE
THE FIFTH-AVENUE THEATRE, NEW YORK
THE THEATRE COMIQUE, DETROIT
McVICKER'S THEATRE, CHICAGO
GRAND OPERA-HOUSE, READING, PENNSYLVANIA
NEW ADELPHI THEATRE, CHICAGO
SARGENT'S ATHENAEUM, COLUMBUS
WHITNEY'S GRAND OPERA-HOUSE, DETROIT
NEW EAGLE VARIETY THEATRE, NEW YORK
GULICK'S GRAND CENTRAL VARIETY THEATRE, CINCINNATI
NEW NATIONAL THEATRE, PHILADELPHIA
NEW ACADEMY OF MUSIC, NEWARK
THE OLD CITY MUSEUM, PHILADELPHIA

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