The origins of hospitality on the present site of the Radisson Plaza Hotel date to August 1850 when construction of an imposing four-story brick structure began. Built by Frank Dennison and initially known simply as Dennison’s brick block, the new building occupied one hundred feet of frontage along Main Street, today’s Michigan Avenue. The Kalamazoo Gazette described the architecture and facilities in grand terms, noting a large archway which defined the main entrance. From this entry, a broad hall extended through the building creating space for two stores.

West side of Portage St. (2nd floor), south of E. Main St. (now E. Michigan Ave.).

Built as “Union Hall” and run as an opera house from 1866 to 1900. Renovated and renamed “Opera House” in 1881 in competition with the Academy of Music. Theater torn out and building converted to offices in 1900.

Kalamazoo Public Library

The four-story brick building fronts on Monroe at the SW corner of Justice, the portion of street visible at the left (now Ottawa Ave.) Signs on the front the the building advertise the various tenants such as "Foster Brothers, Great New York City Stores" and the "Commercial College." The street level shops display their wares on the sidewalk in front of the various businesses. Originally the fourth floor was used as an assembly hall. A horse and cart are on the far right and a gas street light is on the corner.

Erie beat a path to the shops and stores in West Park Place to buy clothes, groceries, hardware, imported foodstuffs, silverware, paintings, books, real estate, insurance; and to seek the services of lawyers (the 1879 City Directory listed 15 attorneys on North Park Row), doctors, engineers, and dentists. People went there to bank, to buy tickets on the Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad, and possibly to school at Erie Commercial College; but above all, they went to be entertained.

In 1871 the American Block was built, with its Union Hall at 9 East Main Street, billed as “the best public hall aside from the Opera House at Dunkirk.” It was a lavishly frescoed room with seating for 1,000, although the main entrance had to be altered in 1872 to eliminate drafts. The competition that Union Hall offered was too much, and at that point, the Concert Hall in the Center Block, in effect, went out of business and was sold to be remodeled as a Masonic lodge.

The Wieting Opera House was a performance hall in Syracuse, New York, that hosted operas, films, and other performances from 1852 to 1930. Initially built by John Wieting in 1852 as Wieting Hall, the building burnt down in 1856. He rebuilt it that year, and in 1870 renovated the hall into an opera house.

The Building and the Site. The Academy of Music could seat about 1400 persons on the second floor of the building it occupied; stores filled the ground floor. It stood on North Street just north of Genesee Street, abutting the Owasco River. That placed it about 200 feet north of the Orestes Brownson newspaper office location, today’s Phoenix Building.

In March 1855 a fire took out several buildings on the north side of Seneca Street, starting at the corner of Maiden Lane. John S. King proceeded to erect a block of buildings with a public hall on the second floor. Such halls were recognizable by the taller windows and can still be found in towns in this area. The village took advantage of the fire and new construction to widen Maiden Lane by fifteen feet to its current width. In honor of Jenny Lind, the street and new hall were both named Linden.

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Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) spoke before a “large assemblage at Barber Hall” in Homer on Saturday, 2 December. Clemens spent Sunday, 3 December, in Homer and then took the train to Geneva, New York, the following day. According to the Reverend James P. Foster, who attended the lecture, it was “unexceptionably delightful; the stories were told in a masterly manner, and were chaste and delightful; the envelope of pure humor often covering a touching moral”. Barber Hall, was built by Jedidiah Barber, the first permanent merchant to locate in the village of Homer.