The Hayesville Opera House
is an historic theater built in 1886 by the Village of Hayesville, Ohio.
The theater occupies the second floor with retail space and the Mayors
office on the first floor. 
Today the theater remains in original condition with four dressing rooms,
raked (sloped) stage, 6 hand painted sceneries (dating from 1886) and 270
wooden theater seats. One of the unique aspects to this theater is the
numerous signatures of performers found written on the stage walls. In
1976 the opera house building was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places, this was the first building in Ashland County to receive this honor.
In addition, this is the only opera house located on the Lincoln Highway,
a national highway which went from the east to the west coast during the
1900's.
The theater was used from 1886 to 1930 as the main cultural focus for the Village of Hayesville. Also held here were the graduation ceremonies for the local schools. After 1930 the theater fell into disuse and was left that way until about 1970. In that year a group of concerned citizens came together to begin the task of cleaning and updating the theater with new electrical wiring, wall paper and paint. This task was undertaken in preparation of the national bicentennial celebration in 1976. In about 1980 the opera house stage again went silent as interest in the original committee began to wane.
