The
Park Theatre opened in 1883 (also known as the
New Park Theatre) on the partly demolished site of the Great New York Aquarium (1876–1881), which is unrelated to the later
New York Aquarium. Actor Charles E. Evans, retiring from the stage with cash in hand from the long-running success of
A Parlor Match, refurbished the prior
Harrigan's Park Theatre as the Herald Square Theatre in 1894. It stood at 1331 Broadway, designed by architects Rose & Stone, with about 1150 seats and with its interior furnished by the interior of the nearby
Booth's Theatre, which was being demolished.
Lee Shubert took over the lease of the theatre in 1900, making it the first Broadway theatre owned by
The Shubert Organization. Partially destroyed by fire and rebuilt, in 1911 it became "the first New York theatre to be converted into a
silent movie house", but it was demolished only three years later, as the
Garment District expanded, and the Broadway theater district migrated north of 40th Street. The theatre offered a variety of entertainment, from plays, like
Shaw's
Arms and the Man (1894), to
Edwardian musical comedies, like ''
The Girl from Kay's (1903–1904) and The Girl Behind the Counter'' (1907–1908), to operetta, like
Reginald De Koven and
Harry B. Smith's
Rob Roy. It saw the first performance of the
George M. Cohan song "
You're a Grand Old Flag" in 1906, and it was also where
William Randolph Hearst first saw and met his wife
Millicent Willson during her appearance as a "bicycle girl" in 1897. ==Selected performances==