With the farm economy booming, the people of West Branch had never seen a year quite like 1895, nor a building project quite like Charles A. Macomber's Opera Block (building 4) on North Downey Street. Construction of the opulent two-story brick structure­still the largest commercial building in West Branch­occurred in the midst of what West Branch Times Editor W.W. Gruwell termed "an improvement rage" in a story that appeared in March of 1895. "The carpenter's racket is heard all over town," he wrote. "There are four or five new buildings now under construction."
By the time the first snows brought the construction season to a close, improvements estimated by Gruwell to have cost $50,100 had been made in and around downtown West Branch. "The cost of improvements in West Branch during the year ending Dec.31, 1895, is more than double that of any previous year in the history of this town," Gruwell wrote in January of 1896, presumably from the paper's new offices in the north end of the Opera Block's basement. The most ambitious of those 1895 building projects was the Opera Block, estimated to have cost Charles A. Macomber $9,000.

A Shortage of Brick
The building's construction was followed closely by the people of West Branch through Gruwell's weekly updates. Work on the foundation's front wall­which required "over 30 perch of stone"­began in April, thanks to warm weather. The job of laying the building's brick walls was interrupted in July due to a shortage of brick. Because of the surge in local construction activity, the brickworks at the J.E. Steer lumberyard south of Main Street and east of the railroad tracks couldn't keep up with demand. "As soon as another kiln is burned the brick will hardly get cold before they are placed in the walls by Bingham & Ward, who are doing the brick work as well as the stone foundation," The West Branch Times reported on July 18, 1895. By late August, the paper reported, Steer had "placed a large brick machine in his yard; it weighs 8,000 pounds and with two horses attached will turn out 15,000 bricks a day." Before the building season ended, the brickworks would produce nearly 400,000 bricks.
The first floor of the Opera Block was divided into three spacious commercial rooms. The top floor included a 500 seat opera house on the building's north end and a Masonic Lodge on the south end. The first tenant­Morris & Sons, Dealers in Hardware­began moving into the south room of the first floor in November of 1895. By mid-March of 1896, the north end of the first floor had been transformed into the "Model Clothing House." Neal Madson, who had been in the clothing business in West Branch for over 20 years, had relocated his east-side shop and had taken in his son as a business partner. The store offered Monarch Brand shirts outfitted with Arrow Brand cuffs and collars. It also carried a full line of suspenders, neckwear and gloves. Meanwhile, the middle room was being outfitted for Dean, Ball & Co., which The West Branch Times claimed would bring "the largest stock of groceries ever introduced in this city."
The Times also assured its readers that these three new stores didn't pose any threat to local businessmen. "The new stores going in the opera block are West Branch institutions, run by West Branch men, no branch concern or commission business in this," said an item that appeared in the paper's February 6, 1896, edition.

A Problematic Venture
Ever since the paper's January 24, 1895, announcement of plans for the Opera Block, there were mixed and sometimes strong feelings within the community about the advisability of having a performing arts theatre in town. "The opera house was just as problematic a venture to the old timers as dancing had been," Maud Stratton wrote in her 1948 history of West Branch. "So many heads were shaken when the one-night stands were opened." The first theatrical event in the controversial opera house was a performance on Christmas night, 1895, by the "Criterion Players." Within two months, West Branch Times Editor W.W. Gruwell felt compelled to defend the opera house against talk. that like whiskey and gambling, the performances staged there were helping to unravel the moral fiber of local youth. "Weston's Comedians closed their series of entertainments in the opera house at this place last week," Gruwell wrote in his paper's February 13, 1896, issue. "The plays have been of good character and the best of order was maintained throughout. Nothing was presented that could be classed unchaste or immodest, but on the contrary in each there was a moral lesson taught, and if the managers of the opera house can continue to furnish entertainment of this class West Branch need not fear the influence of this new institution."
Season tickets for opera house performances were sold to patrons. Those who bought them at Gill's Drug Store were promised one free show. The theatre was often booked for piano and vocal recitals and for fund-raisers featuring the West Branch Band. Local High School students often used the theatre's 20-by-40-foot stage for plays and musical reviews when the hall wasn't tied up by traveling drama troupes, which some residents felt were little more than roving bands of undesirables.
The Masonic Hall, which shared the upstairs of the Opera Block with the opera house, was dedicated on December 3, 1895, when members of Wapsinonoc Lodge No.381, A.F. and A.M. gathered with their spouses for a musical performance and a supper of sandwiches, fruit, cake, coffee and ice cream that was served after a tour of the facilities. Both the Masonic Hall and the opera house theatre were gutted years ago and remodeled into apartments. The three street-level storefronts have seen a variety of uses over the years. For some West Branch youth, the north room of the first floor, like the original opera house theatre, became a forbidden fruit. In October of 1912, after Charles Schroeder had relocated his gent's clothing store into the new Leech brothers' building (building 3) the north business room became The Pastime motion picture house. "The room is well equipped with opera chairs and other furniture, and an excellent machine in its fireproof booth, and other conveniences for the work," The West Branch Times reported on October 17, 1912. "The management has contracted for the best sixty-reel service for the winter, which doubtless will instruct and please our citizens."