Site of the Opera House

At the southeast corner of Hammond and Pike Streets was the Old Opera Building. The opera house was run by George Lea in the late 19th century. Lea, a Frenchborn Englishman was a successful Port Jervis businessman who ran a drugstore here. In 1856, Lea ran the first full page newspaper ad. The ad was run in the New York Herald for his show at the Chinese Assembly Room after the first night was a flop. He paid $212 and the show quickly made a profit after it ran. While in Port Jervis, Lea had a very successful $1 Port Jervis to New York City excursion on the railroad. In 1971, snow on the roof caused much of the opera house building to collapse, killing four people and causing injury to others. The remains of the building, then over a hundred years old, were soon removed. Today the modern building that replaces it is noticable with its murals of local scenes created by Moishe Moskvitchev. Just east of the Opera House on Pike Street was a theater. Its original structure was called the "new theater", not to be confused with the theater/opera house behind on Sussex Street. The later theater on Pike became known as the Strand and the State Theater. The theater was a popular institution in Port Jervis for decades and saw bands perform there in the 1980's, such as Anthrax and Metallica.