McDonald Opera House

Prominent businessman Angus A. McDonald constructed this two-story masonry theater in 1891. A metal-covered stage loft rises above the roof as evidence of the structure's historic function. Beneath the south end were dressing rooms for the traveling entertainers that played the generous stage. Elaborate backdrops were painted by Montana artist Edgar S. Paxson. The advent of moving pictures with sound brought some interior changes in the 1930s, but a magician’s trap door at center stage is still in place. Renamed the Granada Theatre in 1919, it is Montana’s oldest operating theater.

Philipsburg, Montana · United States