A Piece of Ouray History

In 1881, the brothers purchased several lots at the southwestern corner of Third Street (Main Street/Highway 550), where they first built the Wright Brothers Building, a two-story brick structure that was considered “a wonder of the time.” A few years later, to the south of this earlier building, the Wright brothers began construction of the Wright Opera House because Ed Wright and his wife, Letitia, believed that the populace of Ouray needed to be provided with cultural opportunities to offset the influence of the dance halls, saloons, gambling dens, and houses of ill repute. They wanted to create a decent establishment that would feature cultural and educational programs of high quality for the entertainment and enlightenment of the young people and adults within the community.

Together with the Beaumont Hotel, Ouray County Court House, School House, and Miners Hospital (which now houses the Ouray County Museum), the Wright Opera House was one of the most imposing brick structures in Ouray during the late 1880s and early 1890s. This building “with its decorative iron front structural style and cast iron piers supporting the pressed metal front of the second floor was an addition the town could be proud of. Above the middle window of the second floor was a stained glass window and at the top and center of the building in pressed iron WRIGHTS HALL was clearly visible. A wrought-iron balcony extended in front of the three middle windows on the second floor,” all of which was manufactured by Mesker Brothers Iron Works of St. Louis, Missouri. It is one of about 19 structures on Ouray’s Main Street that are believed to be Mesker iron facades, which makes Ouray’s Main Street what is believed to be one of the largest concentration of Mesker fronts still extant in the United States. The hall was entered through a door level with a sidewalk on Third (Main) Street on the north end of the building and a stairway led up to the hall with the ticket office at the top.”