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New Jersey
Shinn's Hall
Monday, May 8, 1882
The Decorative Arts
Newspaper report
Monmouth Democrat, (Weekly), May 11, 1882
Newspaper Advertisement
Monmouth Democrat, (Weekly), May 4, 1882
Shinn's Hall
107 Bennett Av., Freehold, NJ (now the midpoint of Lafayette Street at Court House Square)
Opened: before 1876 (George W. Shinn)
Seating capacity: 1000
Aka: Shinn's Hall - Opera House and Skating Rink, c. 1885
Renamed: Freehold Opera House, c. 1892
Converted: for the National Guard of the State of New Jersey, c. 1911
No contemporary image is known to exist of the location as Shinn's Hall. This is a detail from a c. 1911 photograph of the building after its conversion to an armory for the NGSNJ.
Subsequently demolished.
Sanborn Map Company, Freehold (Sheet 1), N.J. (1885)
Princeton University Library
It can be inferred from a contemporary newspaper article that Wilde stayed overnight in Freehold, as might be expected in what was then the remote town of Freehold.
Quite a crowd gathered at Matawan Station last Monday evening, and again on Tuesday morning, to see the "too utterly-utter" Oscar Wilde...
Matawan Journal, May 13, 1882, 2
However, no record has been found to verify at which hotel he stayed, although his choice was limited, probably to the American Hotel or the Washington.
Oscar Wilde In America | © John Cooper, 2024
