Howland Opera House is a long forgotten and historic opera house of Pontiac, Michigan dating back to the 19th century. This news article will explain the history of this historic movie theatre.
Howland Opera House aka Rialto Theatre operated as an opera house where the former Butterfield House was once located. Butterfield House preceded Howland Opera House. Howland Opera House cost $40,000 to build. The Howland Opera House was opened on March 25, 1905 with a seating capacity of 1,100 and was owned by the Kleist Family. Howland Opera House had 2 horseshoe shaped wrap-around balconies leaning over reputed state-of-the-art with "new type slanting floors” and had an 800-pound red asbestos curtain. Howland Opera House used many A. H. Andrews and Co. “opera chairs” for their audiences. (Ref: http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/movietheaters.aspx?id=1101&Type=10)
Will Rogers played there among other celebrities during the 1910s and 1920s. The Princess Players were frequenters of the theatre. Howland Opera House became the Rialto Movie Theatre in 1920 and had a seating capacity of 2,600. (Ref: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/5288)
Not many know this factual bit of information but Howland Opera House/Howland Theatre was used as a fur storage facility which was adjacent to Pontiac’s renowned Pike Street Restaurant for many years. 1952 was the year Howland Theatre was torn down and demolished to make way for a parking lot. Bricks from the Howland Theatre were re-claimed to built a house in Waterford, Michigan in 1953. (Ref: http://www.waterwinterwonderland.com/movietheaters.aspx?id=1101&Type=10)
There was one low building between the theater and the Hancock Iron Works building at 52 West Pike Street. This building connected to the theatre and Hancock Iron Works building. All the windows were closed up with cement blocks and painted white. A disco was operated here at one point in time. Both the low building and the theater were owned by Keyser & Coleman along with the Kleist Family. Keyser & Coleman were made owners of the low building at one point in time.
A set of four A. H. Andrews and Co. “opera chairs” was discovered during a building renovation of the low building in 2016. It is believed that these chairs may have been removed from the Howland Opera House, built in 1905, later renamed the Howland Theatre. (Ref: https://archive.org/details/HowlandTheatreProgramPontiacMichigan?view=theater)
The property site is currently a parking lot.
Howland Theatre was located at 22-24 West Pike Street, Pontiac, Michigan, US. (Ref: https://www.cinematour.com/theatres/us/MI/14.html)
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