The Building and Site. The boxy, mixed-use building stood just north of the Market House, the surviving structure known today as Old City Hall. It was built at an unknown date by Oswego businessman and developer Sylvester Doolittle (1800–1881), who erected a number of commercial structures in the Lake Ontario port city. The building was a nondescript wharfside affair.
Tweddle Hall was the pre-eminent concert venue in Albany on the corner of State St. and North Pearl St. for decades (a Citizen’s Bank is there today). It was mostly destroyed by fire in 1883, and then re-built as the Tweddle Building several years later, housing office and stores. (By now there were other concert venues.) The Tweddle Building was demolished circa 1912 to accomodate the expansion of the Ten Eyck Hotel, which was demolished circa 1970 for the bank,
The Courthouse (1861). The first courthouse was built in 1765 by the colonial government in Centre Square (Third & Northhampton) and torn down in 1861. The present courthouse is several blocks north (SiC) from the town center atop one of Easton's many hills and the front faces Walnut Street. The oldest part is the center section with portico and tower, built in 1861 in the Classical Revival style.
The Centre Theater at 208 DeKalb St. Norristown, is occupying a structure steeped in Montgomery County history. The original building opened in 1851 as the Odd Fellows lodge hall and public auditorium. From 1851 to 1873, the Odd Fellows auditorium provided the primary site for entertaining people who traveled from many corners of the region. Vaudeville acts performed in the early days.
Lincoln Hall was located on the northeast corner of 9th and D Streets NW from 1867 to 1886, when it burned down in a spectacular fire. Many people thought it was hideous!
Not referred to as the Hagenbuch Opera House in Twain References.
Allentown, Pennsylvania’s first major theater opened in 1870 near the corner of 8th and Hamilton Streets. It was known by several names including the Academy of Music and Military Hall. However, most locals referred to it as the Hagenbuch Opera House in reference to the family who built it.
February 29 Thursday – The American Publishing Co. made official announcement for Roughing It, even though copies had been available and the first review had even appeared in the Utica New York Morning Herald and Gazette [MTL 5: 45n4].
The New York Weekly Reformer of Watertown, N.Y. ran a wildly ridiculous spoof account by Eli Perkins (pen name of Melville A. Landon) of Mark Twain’s life: “Interesting Biography of Mark Twain,” which began:
February 28 Wednesday – Mary Mason Fairbanks wrote long to Sam & Livy. In part:
My dear unreliable boy, but much more reliable daughter!
I hardly know where to take up the broken thread. I feel as if you had been to Europe.
Amherst (/ˈæmərst/ (
February 27 Tuesday – Sam lectured at College Hall, Amherst, Mass., his last lecture of the season – “Roughing It.” Afterward Sam attended an oyster dinner and told stories of his piloting days and of spirit mediums in New York. The reviews were poor, but the dinner was a great hit [MTL 5: 49n3].