COURTESY PHOTO Belvidere Republican
The ruins of the Derthick Opera House.

Before every home had a television and every pocket had a cell phone, performance entertainment was something that had to be experienced in person. The Derthick Opera House was once the premiere place for such entertainment.

Originally, the location, which was just north of the bridge on the west side of State Street, was known as Union Hall. It was essentially a tiny mall. Many people held stock in the hall and a variety of businesses operated within it. William Derthick had earned quite a living constructing houses in early Belvidere, and he managed to purchase a major portion of Union Hall. He turned that portion into the Derthick Opera House.

Actual operas weren’t the theater’s only performances or even their most popular acts. Some of their most common showings were “moving pictures” and Vaudeville shows. Vaudeville refers to an assortment of short, unrelated acts. This could include skits, clowns, acrobats, musicians, burlesque, comedians, etc. This kind of entertainment could be crude and offensive, causing many community members to turn their noses.

While no foul play was ever confirmed, it was suspicious to many that the Derthick Opera House burnt completely to the ground in 1897, just a few hours after a Vaudeville show had finished. A company from Chicago put on a night show, and there were no problems during the act.

At 4 a.m. the next morning though, fire was discovered and the entire hall was destroyed before the end of the day. Thanks to his expertise in construction, Derthick was able to build a bigger and better theater on top of the ruins of Union Hall, despite having no fire insurance at all.

William Derthick and his successors, Joe W Fox and Dudley Derthick, did not let paranoia take over their business model. They continued to run Vaudeville shows and began to push the button even further. The Opera House began to show silent films and Vaudeville shows on Sundays as well. Local churches took such offense to this that they petitioned the city to invoke an existing ordinance fining businesses for “disturbing the peace and good order of the city…on Sunday.”

The city was not swift to act as, however offensive these shows could be, the performances were confined to an indoor location and were not scheduled during standard church service times. There was also nothing inherently offensive about Vaudeville shows. Many were perfectly clean.

Whatever paranoia had been abandoned after the 1897 fire returned with a vengeance on October 1, 1917, after the entire Opera House block burnt down again the morning after a Sunday Vaudeville show. About a week before the fire, vandals had broken into the theater to slash a drum and attempt to tip over a film projector, which only increased suspicion.

During Deputy State Fire Marshall McMurtrie’s investigation of the incident, he received an anonymous letter suggesting that arsonists were responsible. Despite all the rumors though, the Marshall was unable to confirm the fire was intentional.

The newer Opera House also was not insured. This time, the owners could not find the means to rebuild, and the remnants of the theater sat unused for multiple years. At one point, the city had to remove portions of the building’s exterior to prevent them from falling onto the sidewalk. In 1920, the space was purchased by a party from Chicago. However, the public was concerned over the types of shows the new theater would promote.

After extended negotiation with the Chicago buyers, the Rhinehart family agreed to purchase the lot if the people of Belvidere would contribute stock toward creating The Belvidere Amusement Company.

Eighty people invested in the company, and Katherine Rhinehart paid the lion’s share for the new Apollo Theater. Before her marriage, she was Katherine Fuller, and she was heir to the fortune of General Allen Fuller. His memorial donation started Ida Public Library after his daughter’s (Ida Fuller) young passing.

The Belvidere Amusement Company elected Katherine’s son, Frank Rhinehart, as president of the company, and he appointed Elmer Barker as The Apollo’s stage manager. After nearly five years without a theater in Belvidere, the Apollo had its first show on Jan 13 1922.

The Apollo Theater ran a campaign of “clean acts only”. At first, this appeased the old Derthick opponents, but when they continued to host Sunday shows, local church boards were quick to complain. This time, the issue escalated to a city referendum posing the question: “Shall theatricals and other exhibitions, shows, and amusements, be allowed in the city of Belvidere on the first day of the week commonly called Sunday?”

This led to a heated battle as each side made their case. The Belvidere Amusement Company had three main points. One, park baseball took place nearly every Sunday without any complaints. Two, their shows were clean and at least as inoffensive as park baseball. Three, citizens had spent the last five years simply going to Rockford for a Sunday show if they wanted to, and the moral fabric of society had not yet collapsed.

Church leaders instead latched onto the language of the referendum itself to strengthen their position. They took issue with its open-endedness. If the referendum were transcribed directly as an ordinance, the city would be stating it has no power to prevent any form of entertainment at all. It should be noted however, that a referendum is not itself a law. It simply gives the city the authority to draft an ordinance relevant to a question.

The people of Belvidere trusted the process and overwhelmingly voted “yes” on the referendum, and despite scathing remarks about how they doomed Belvidere to be overrun with cockfights and “bawdy shows,” the actual ordinance retained the city’s power to deny an entertainment license.

Some might cry conspiracy at the fact that theater fires suddenly stopped after the public turned against church policy, but it is just as likely that there was never any arson at all. In fact, a small fire, known to have been caused by a cigarette, actually occurred at the Derthick Opera House between the two major fires. Take into account that the Apollo was a modernized, 20th century theater and it makes sense that it wouldn’t burn as easily.

The lack of a fire after the church leaders’ defeat could even be taken as evidence that they never started any fires to begin with. Area churches may have overstepped the bounds of their influence, to the extent that the majority Christian population of Belvidere openly voted against them, but that is not proof of arson. It is as likely, if not more likely that these fires really were the result of a few negligent smoke breaks. The coincidence however, is certainly bizarre.

 
 
 
Buy Viagra Overnight Delivery USA.