Originally designed as a nine hundred-seat concert hall with a farmers' market on the first floor, the Mauch Chunk Opera House was one of the earliest Vaudeville theaters in America, and was managed earlier on by W. D. White, who was succeeded in 1886 by Moses H. Burgunder (1852-1900), a native of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania who achieved fame for his management of entertainment venues across northeastern Pennsylvania, including the Wilkes-Barre Music Hall.
[9][10] On May 26, 1894, the Beethoven Maennerchor of Bethlehem performed in an evening concert at the opera house,[11] which also served as a venue for political rallies during this era.
[12] Celebrities appearing there included Mae West, Al Jolson, John Philip Sousa, and Eddie Foy Sr.[13] The last film to ever be shown at the opera house under its original name was Tell It to the Marines, on July 5, 1927.
[14] That month, Mauch Chunk resident Howard DeHart achieved the distinction of being the person to buy the first and last tickets of the house, which had been purchased earlier that year by the Comerford Amusement chain.
[15][16][17] Used as a movie house during the early silent screen era, it gradually declined in popularity, and was sold in 1962 to a local purse factory, which used it as a warehouse[13] Abandoned in the mid-1970s, it was purchased from Yannis Simonides and Billy Padgett of Brooklyn, New York for $5,300 on November 30, 1977 by members of the recently formed Mauch Chunk Historical Society and other local citizens of Jim Thorpe (the new name chosen for their town after it had been reincorporated).