Top of the Rockies
Tabor Opera House, CO

The Tabor Opera House, known as the finest theater between St. Louis and San Francisco, was built in 1879 by Horace Austin Warner Tabor, one of Leadville's wealthy silver miners. The opera house was built in 100 days, stood three stories high, was constructed of stone, brick and iron, trimmed with Portland cement, and cost $40,000 to build. Tabor left his first wife, Augusta, to marry the beautiful Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt Doe, better known as "Baby Doe." During 1893 Tabor lost the opera house and much of his wealth as silver prices plummeted as a result of the Sherman Silver Act, which removed silver as the mineral backing currency in the US. Tabor died in 1899, a poor man.

The opera house changed hands several times until 1955, when it became the Tabor Opera House again. Many well known personalities have performed at the opera house, including: Houdini, John Philip Sousa, Oscar Wilde, and Anna Held. Today, the building is preserved as an opera house so visitors may enjoy it. Photographs, wooden floors, the stage, threadbare carpet, and empty seats are part of the experience visitors will have when visiting the Tabor Opera House.