Smyrna Opera House

Mission:

The Smyrna Opera House was originally built in 1870 and was recently restored as a community cultural arts center promoting access to the arts in central Delaware. Operated by the non-profit Smyrna-Clayton Heritage Association, the Smyrna Opera House is dedicated to showcasing and developing local creative, visual and performing artists while also offering affordable access to the arts and varied cultural and artistic experiences to people of all ages and backgrounds.

America in 1869 was a different place than it is now. The nation had just survived the most divisive war in its history. Men walking the streets of towns like Smyrna had fathers and grandfathers who had fought in the American Revolution to guarantee freedom from tyranny, and they and their sons had just returned from the battles of Bull Run, Vicksburg, and Gettysburg that resolved the question of how far that freedom extended.