When Horace Tabor, a rough and uncultured stonemason from Vermont, struck it rich in the silver mines of Colorado, he decided to build a magnificent opera house in Denver. The opening of the Tabor Grand in September 1881 changed the cultural landscape of the city and state. For the inaugural performance, Tabor invited the Emma Abbott Opera Company, and for the next nine years, the boards were trod by the greats of theater and music. Tabor's monument to himself, however, was superseded by a new theater in 1890. And by the end of the decade, having lost his fortune and his opera house, Tabor was dead. The verse which Tabor had chosen to adorn his opera house curtain was prophetic:

So fleet the works of men,
Back to earth again;
Ancient and holy things
Fade like a dream.

Location:	Main Library Green Room W444 [map]
Price:	free
Sponsor:	Administration
Contact:	Holly Flynn flynnhol@msu.edu 517-884-0901
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