Stuart's Opera House

For more than 50 years, the opera house sat empty with no performances or activity, yet with all its scenery and theatrical equipment preserved. Then in 1976, the Hocking Valley Museum of Theatrical History, Inc (HV-MOTH), a non-profit organization, formed to restore and sustain Stuart’s Opera House as a viable theatre and cultural arts center.In 1979, Stuart’s Opera House was entered on the National Register of Historic Buildings. On March 24, 1980, Stuart’s Opera House was the scene of a devastating fire that nearly destroyed the community’s hopes for its future. But after an extensive renovation and restoration project, including the complete reconstruction of the street level commercial space as well as the theatre, Stuart’s reopened its doors in 1997.