Opposite the Old Campus, on Chapel Street, in New Haven, Connecticut: from when the glaciers melted, stewarded by the Quinnipiac people; in 1614, charted by a Dutch explorer; in 1638, colonized by Puritans; before, during, and after the American Revolution, home of the Founding Father, Roger Sherman, his wife Rebekah, their fifteen children, and the Sherman family store; in 1860, Gaius F. Warner's Italianate villa, by Henry Austin; in 1880, Carll's Opera House; in 1884, the Republican League; in 1887, the Hyperion; in 1903, the Union League Club, by Richard Williams; in 1926, the Roger Sherman Theater; beginning in 1977, a tradition of French fine dining, which continues today. While the Roger Sherman house is no longer standing, it holds up all right.
"New Haven was reached after the greatest handcar race on record. The big, brawny Irishmen worked the cranks like majors, and they got the $200 too. Miss Anderson said it was the most exciting ride she had ever experienced in all her travels around both hemispheres on all sorts of trains and vehicles."
"I had but to walk over to Carll’s Opera House, where in one season or another I might see the great contemporary actors: Booth and Barrett, Irving and Terry, Modjeska or Bernhardt, or Joe Jefferson (a favorite of the students). It may have been in New York that I first saw the elder Salvini in the role of Othello. Was it then or later that Gilbert and Sullivan’s operas came to town? I thank God that the visual age was in the far distance when novels and plays were to be washed out with pictures on a screen."
"While the National Carriage Builders' association were dining in Carll's opera house to-night, shortly after 11 o'clock, and one of the curtains in the parquette caught fire, creating a panic. Senator Platt was addressing the audience when the fire blazed up. Some cool-headed persons shouted, 'Sit down, there's no danger!' The band struck up 'Yankee Doodle' and the fire was soon extinguished. It was caused by a man striking a light for his cigar. There were about seven hundred persons in the theater at the time."
"Red Cloud, the Sioux chief, is in New-Haven, the guest of his friend, Prof. O. C. Marsh of Yale College. Their acquaintance began in 1874, when the Professor, with an exploring party, was searching near the Black Hills for fossil specimens. The Indians were hostile, believing the explorers were after gold, but the Professor succeeded not only in placating Red Cloud, their chief, but in making him his warm friend, and now obtains his presence here that he may show him the fossils he obtained."
"New Haven's old and esteemed citizen, Peter R. Carll, has returned from his stay in California to his Temple street residence and presents a picture of almost perfect robust health. In business there Mr. Carll displayed his characteristic pluck and energy, a commendable exhibition of which was presented to his fellow townspeople of New Haven when he planned and carried out the building of the Hyperion theater. He has bought the Sierra Madre Villa hotel, which is one of the most admirably located pieces of hotel property in all California and is situated in the midst of a semi-tropical paradise."
"G. B. Bunnell, who has been known as the successful manager of dime museums, has leased Carll's opera house at New Haven, and announces that he shall produce first class plays, opera, etc., and more than maintain its reputation. He wants it distinctly understood that the management has nothing whatever in connection with the museum... George B. Bunnell takes control of Carll's Opera House on May 1, and from that time it will be known as the Hyperion."
"[A] prominent trait of his character -- to give the people what they want and demand. Mr. Bunnell's long training with P. T. Barnum has schooled him thoroughly in the art of amusement catering... This is the ninth year of his theatrical management in New Haven, and the years have been successions of triumphs. Mr. Bunnell... is fully equipped to supply the people with the amusements they want, for [he] so thoroughly understand[s] the wants of the New Haven public. The time will come, added Mr. Bunnell, when the Hyperion will be denominated 'The theater of New England.'"
Roger Sherman house 