Birdcage Theater
Abandoned Recreational in Snowflake, Arizona, United States
Jan 25 2022
| Recent status | Abandoned |
| Location # | 18298 |
Hazards of Birdcage Theater
Over the years that the building has stood unoccupied and unattended to have made it weak and potentially dangerous to human life. Lead paints used on the wood are toxic and can cause hallucination and longtime illnesses.
History of Birdcage Theater
In 1881, Lottie and Williams Hutchinson began the construction of birdcage theater after being inspired by what they saw while in San Francisco. The couple while in San Francisco liked how the fully packed San Francisco theaters operated and so they tried to bring the same back home in Tombstone. It consisted of a salon, a gambling room in the basement, and a brothel which was introduced later in the years. During its first years of operation, the theater started with ladies’ night which the town did not like that much and they later changed to simple acts and drama. Birdcage theater was the only serious and well-equipped entertainment in Tombstone and this made it many peoples’ favorites. Customers could drink, dance, and enjoy comedy from various local comedians and singers. Birdcage theater also offered wrestling competitions which the rough town loved.
Birdcage theater is an 1881 abandoned theater in Tombstone, Arizona. Aping San Francisco family shows, the owners Lottie and William Hutchinson built a multi-purpose theater in a small mining community of Tombstone. Years later, the once active theater was abandoned and is currently standing in despair.
Gambling at the theater
Birdcage Theater is recorded in history to have had the longest poker game. Gambling which was the major activity in the Birdcage theater opened 24 hours a day. Gambling became so common in Tombstone town that literally everybody knew how to gamble. This brought revenue to the theater at an imaginable length.
The death of Birdcage theater
Miners at one of the Grand Central mines in 1882 hit a water pipe causing flooding in the mines. William Hutchinson sold Birdcage theater to Hugh McCrum and John Stroufe. The new owners changed the acts and renamed the theater to Elite theater. Over the years, the Grand Central mine pumped water out of the mine. This was cut short when the pumping plant burned down flooding the whole mine. Soon after Grand Central mine laid-off workers who after losing employment left the town, the Birdcage theater had no choice but to close down in 1892 due to a lack of customers**.**
Is Birdcage theater open to the public?
Since its closure in 1892, the birdcage theater has never opened. It still stands in the middle of the town in despair. The owners currently offer tours all year round in the theater for historic landmark enthusiasts and anyone else who would like to know the history of the building.
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