Opera House Plans Maturing
Box Elder News, 12 March 1920, page 1
The board of directors of the Opera House which is made up of the four city ward bishops and the stake president with Bp. Brigham Wright as chairman of the board, is taking steps to have the material cleared off the old corner in order that the ground may be ready for whatever work shall be decided upon in the way of a new building. Bids and proposals are being considered for the removal of rock, brick and debris and it is the desire of the directors that the work be done as quickly as possible.
The proposition of repossessing, the property and erecting thereon a modern play house, meets with the enthusiastic approval of the Church Social Committee and the Church authorities. Elder Wm. A. Morton, representing the Social Committee, met with the board of directors one evening during the week, and got a report of what is proposed. He was enthusiastic in his commendation of the scheme and since that meeting, Colonel Willard Young, supervising architect for the church, has been conferred with and the plans outlined to him. He, likewise, expressed his approval and hearty sympathy with the movement and stated that he is unqualifiedly opposed to ward amusement halls as a unit, because of the impossibility for any ward to invest sufficient money in such an institution to provide the necessary conveniences and for the further reason that no one ward in the church has yet been organized that can make use of an amusement hall more than once or possibly twice each week. The plan of combining a number of wards together and each ward investing half as much, or less, money for the erection of a suitable amusement hall which arrangement also makes possible the constant use of the building, is the plan supported and recommended by the church architect. The situation in this community is ideal for the carrying into effect of this plan, it was stated, and Colonel Young advised the representative of the Board that he will come to Brigham City within the next week or ten days and go over the proposition with a view of determining just what kind of a building can be placed upon the ground representing the Opera House property, in order to make the most economical and profitable use of the same.
The proposition of repossessing, the property and erecting thereon a modern play house, meets with the enthusiastic approval of the Church Social Committee and the Church authorities. Elder Wm. A. Morton, representing the Social Committee, met with the board of directors one evening during the week, and got a report of what is proposed. He was enthusiastic in his commendation of the scheme and since that meeting, Colonel Willard Young, supervising architect for the church, has been conferred with and the plans outlined to him. He, likewise, expressed his approval and hearty sympathy with the movement and stated that he is unqualifiedly opposed to ward amusement halls as a unit, because of the impossibility for any ward to invest sufficient money in such an institution to provide the necessary conveniences and for the further reason that no one ward in the church has yet been organized that can make use of an amusement hall more than once or possibly twice each week. The plan of combining a number of wards together and each ward investing half as much, or less, money for the erection of a suitable amusement hall which arrangement also makes possible the constant use of the building, is the plan supported and recommended by the church architect. The situation in this community is ideal for the carrying into effect of this plan, it was stated, and Colonel Young advised the representative of the Board that he will come to Brigham City within the next week or ten days and go over the proposition with a view of determining just what kind of a building can be placed upon the ground representing the Opera House property, in order to make the most economical and profitable use of the same.