Bell Opera House, Benton Harbor: 1889-1945

Michigan had – and still has - a good number of opera houses, except you rarely hear that term anymore.

Many old opera houses have been turned into movie theaters, town halls, or some other type of business, like furniture stores.

This particular opera house was a grand one, but it does not exist anymore. It was the Bell Opera House, located at 19 6th Street in Benton Harbor, Berrien County.

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The Bell opened in 1889 and was a main source of entertainment for quite a number of years. Before the advent of motion pictures, the Bell hosted vocalist performances, bands, dances, vaudeville acts, and stage plays, eventually showing movies. Over the decades, the venue was neglected and began to deteriorate. It was demolished in 1945.

There is some confusion concerning its demise. Some think it burned down in the 1890s, but that was actually another Benton Harbor opera house, the Yore, that was destroyed by fire in 1896.

Although throughout the first half of the 1900s opera houses featured movies, the title “Opera House” was used, as it made the theaters sound classier than calling them a ‘movie house’.

Scroll below to see a look at the old Bell as well as how the site appears today.