Swanky opera house razzle-dazzled-up this mining island

Van Anda’s opera house, which acted as a community hall at the turn of the century. (Photo courtesy of the qathet Historical Museum & Archives)

BLAST FROM THE PAST

Joëlle Sévigny

In 1898, Texada Island was booming. Mining operations had been underway since the 1880s and as a result, had attracted many settlers. Van Anda, split into two back then with what was known as Texada City, was particularly thriving, with three hotels and saloons, a business district, and a twice weekly sailing by Union Steamships. It had a weekly newspaper called the Coast Miner, one of the first papers on the coast north of Vancouver. The town also boasted an opera house, which is rumored to be the first opera house built north of San Francisco.

In the late 19th century, most towns in BC constructed an “opera house”, and although they were often called opera houses, they had little to do with opera. These establishments provided the community with a space for gatherings and for various performances. The opera house in Van Anda was built in the dense woods on what is now the site of the current school. Constructed by volunteers in the 1890s, residents contributed what they could to erect the building. It was built with verandahs on each side, a big stage, a kitchen, and a large dance floor.

Now the Texada Island Museum, the Marble Bay Hotel is pictured here in the 1910s in what was then Texada City.

Photo courtesy of the qathet Historical Museum & Archives

In the January 15th, 1900 issue of The Coast Miner, “The Bachelors’ Dance” is advertised as being an important social event to be attend by all at the Marble Bay Opera House, with “its splendid floor in its best shape.” The opera house hosted a variety of dances, social gatherings, concerts and theatre productions. Orchestras and bands from Vancouver would also have braved the all-day journey, traveling up the Strait, to perform in the mining town of Van Anda.

The community had never obtained a deed to the property and the land as well as the building, was lawfully owned by the Marble Bay Company. When the Marble Bay Mine was sold to Tacoma Steel in 1902, the opera house went with it. In 1907, the Tacoma Steel Company donated the building to the

Columbia Coast Mission who converted it into a hospital, which ran until 1920, called The Columbia Hospital. The dance floor became two public hospital wards with ten beds each, a private ward, and an operating room. At that time, there were no facilities in Powell River yet. The hospital was much needed for the miners, loggers, and settlers located not only on Texada, but in the inlets and islands to the North.

Without the opera house, dances on Texada continued in the hotels, and were often organized spontaneously. They were so popular that residents from Stillwater and Myrtle Point came over to the island just to attend!

Blast from the Past is written monthly by qathet Museum and Archives Programs & Education Manager Joëlle Sévigny.

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