The original location of the Columbus Opera House, which was three stories high, was built in 1897. It featured plays, operas, vaudeville shows, minstrels, movies and talkies. The newspaper, Columbus Commercial, as well as other businesses had offices there. In the 1920’s, the building was converted to a “Moving Picture Theater” which remained in operation until it was destroyed by a fire in the 1970’s. In 1821, the site was the location of a two-story frame building housing Doctors Barry and Hand on the first floor and the Masonic Lodge on the second. In 1821, the doctors made national news when they successfully operated on a Chickasaw Indian Chief for kidney or gall stones.
