[3] It has offered operatic and theatrical productions that drew prominent actors and performers in the late 19th-century, and in the early 20th-century it was a motion picture theater.

[2][6] Denver architect Robert S. Roeschlaub designed the Renaissance Revival stone and brick structure,[2] with a crescent-shaped balcony and arched windows.

[7] San Francisco artist John C. Massman painted a mural to the ceiling with a central medallion that features the sky, surrounded by a large geometrical patter, and trompe-l'œil architectural moldings.

It was a volunteer-driven effort led by Ida Kruse McFarlane, Edna Chappell and Anne Evans that resulted in an extensive restoration of the Opera House in 1932.

The Opera House was not turning a profit and it expanded its repertoire to include theater productions to increase its revenues.

They featured prominent 19th-century actors such as Joseph Jefferson, Edwin Booth, Madame Januschek and Fannie Barlow.

[12][13] It was a film location for the movie The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox starring Goldie Hawn and George Segal.