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Lebanon’s Opera House
by Eric Tudor
Did you know Downtown Lebanon once had its own OPERA HOUSE?
It was located on the third floor of the iconic Sam Farrar Drug Store, which once stood proudly at the corner of Jefferson and Commercial. In the late 1970s, the third floor was removed due to loose brickwork that posed a safety hazard for cars and pedestrians below. Over the years, the building has undergone several remodels. It served as the home of Central Bank for many decades and is now home to First State Community Bank.
Let’s turn back the pages of time to 1869–1870, when Sam Farrar had the original brick structure built. A true entrepreneur and visionary, Mr. Farrar designed the building with purpose: the ground floor housed his drug store, the second floor was rented to doctors and lawyers, and the third floor—an open, expansive space—was created as a “Meeting Hall and Opera House.” It was built to entertain Frisco train tourists passing through Lebanon, much like the grand halls of New York, St. Louis, and Chicago.
For decades, the opera house welcomed traveling vaudeville acts, operas, and musicians, delighting both Lebanon citizens and visitors from the 1870s through the early 1900s. The space also served as a town hall, hosted large community events, and even provided a solemn setting for the funeral of Lebanon’s own Richard “Silver Dick” Parks Bland, a U.S. Representative from Missouri. His statue still stands today at the Laclede County Courthouse.
