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Niblo's Garden was a theater onBroadway and Crosby Street, nearPrince Street, inSoHo,Manhattan,New York City.^[1]

It was established in 1823 asColumbia Garden^[2] which in 1828 gained the name of theSans Souci and was later the property of the coffeehouse proprietor and catererWilliam Niblo. The large theater that evolved in several stages, occupying more and more of the pleasure ground, was twice burned and rebuilt. On September 12, 1866, Niblo's saw the premiere ofThe Black Crook, considered to be the first piece of musical theater that conforms to the modern notion of a "book musical".

William Niblo built Niblo's Theater in 1834^[3] after having opened a "resort" which at first only served coffee, ice cream, lemonade and other refreshments. At the time, New York was undergoing a construction boom that was extending clusters of buildings much past the locale of City Hall. The garden, surrounded by a plain board fence, covered the block bounded by Prince,Houston,Broadway and Crosby Streets; in the center was the open-air saloon, used also for musical entertainments. In the evenings, Niblo's Garden was illuminated with hundreds of colored-glass lanterns. A separate garden entrance was on Broadway. The refreshment hall was in a pair of rowhouses near the southeast corner of the gardens.^[4]

The site was once a part of theBayard farm. It was sold in lots and purchased byJeremiah Van Rensselaer. Prior to Niblo's acquisition of the land, a circus called the Stadium occupied the ground. There was a high fence around it. New Yorkers considered it a beautiful drive up to Niblo's through neighboring suburban market gardens.

Niblo decided to supplement the refreshments with more extensive entertainment. He erected the Grand Saloon, a small theater or concert hall. The program consisted solely of musical selections untilvaudeville was introduced some time later. The admission to the garden in August 1829 was fifty cents, sufficient to keep out the riff-raff. During the afternoon and evening, stagecoaches ran there from the City Hotel, later the location of the Boreel Building at 115Broadway.

In 1835, Niblo's Garden hostedP. T. Barnum's first-ever exhibition, marking his entry into show business.^[5] In 1845, theHutchinson Family Singers included in their sold-out performance here their abolitionist song "Get Off the Track".^[6]

During the summer of 1837, a vaudeville company was formed at Niblo's by Joseph Judson and Joseph Sefton. Farces likePromotion of the General's Hat andMeg Young Wife and Old Umbrella, played there. By the mid-19th century, the theatre was considered New York's most fashionable theatre.^[7]

The first theater at Niblo's Garden was destroyed by a fire on September 18, 1846. It was not reopened until the summer of 1849. The theatre seated approximately 3,200 people and had the best-equipped stage in the city. Italian opera began to be produced there around 1850. Seats were sold at $2 each. Niblo's began to draw the most popular actors and plays. Some of the many players who performed there wereE. L. Davenport,William Wheatley, Bennett Barrow, andMaggie Mitchell. In 1855, Niblo convinced the tightrope walkerCharles Blondin to come to America and appear at the Garden.

In the late 1860s, as post-Civil War business boomed, there was a sharp increase in the number of working- and middle-class people in New York, and these more affluent people sought entertainment. Theaters became more popular, and Niblo's began to offer light comedy. It mountedThe Black Crook (1866), considered by many scholars to be the firstmusical comedy. This was followed byThe White Fawn (1868),Le Barbe Blue (1868) andEvangeline (1874).^[8] In April 1850, the theatre presented the U.S. premiere ofGiuseppe Verdi's operaMacbeth withAngiolina Bosio as Lady Macbeth.^{[citation needed]}

The theater was again destroyed by fire in 1872. It was rebuilt by the department-store magnateA. T. Stewart.

The final performance at Niblo's Garden was given on March 23, 1895. A few weeks later, the building was demolished to make way for a large office structure erected by sugar-refining titanHenry O. Havemeyer. Only a bit earlier he had purchased theMetropolitan Hotel and the theater.

Niblo's location later became occupied by early-20th century commercial buildings that span the block between Broadway and Crosby Street; one is the former site of theMuseum of Comic and Cartoon Art.

^[9]

Notes

Bibliography

• Goodman, Matthew (2008).The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoakers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-bats in Nineteenth-Century New York. New York:Basic Books.ISBN 978-0-465-00257-3.
• "Last of Niblo's Garden".The New York Times. March 24, 1895. p. 12.
• Matheson, Katy (1991).Niblo's Garden and its "concert-saloon", 1828-1846: the evolution of a performance space (M.A.). New York:New York University.OCLC 892491853.; published as:
• Matheson, Katy (1998). Vallillo, Stephen M.; Chach, Maryann (eds.). "Niblo's Garden and its "concert-saloon", 1828–1846".Performing Arts Resources. 21, Pleasure Gardens. Theatre Library Association.ISBN 9780932610188.
• "Niblo's Garden".Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion. Vol. 2, no. 10. March 6, 1852. p. 145.
• "Niblo's".Gleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion. Vol. 4, no. 20. May 14, 1853. pp. 308–9.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Niblo's Garden".New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.

• Media related toNiblo's Garden, New York City at Wikimedia Commons

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