Germania Opera House (Germania Hall)

Germania Hall on 320 Chute Street was home to the Germania Benevolent Society in Menasha. The society had its beginnings on December 1, 1856 when nine men started the Concordia Society, with the purpose of helping the sick and burying the departed.  In 1862 a rival German organization was founded, the Menasha Turner Society.  In 1888 the two societies combined under the name of German Unterstuetzungs Verein. In 1927 the name was changed to the Germania Benevolent Society. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the facility had a life as an entertainment venue, calling itself an opera house for a time.  The clipping above is from the March 8, 1902 edition of the New York Dramatic Mirror, a show business style newspaper of the time.  This building on Chute Street was built in the 1860s and razed in 1963.