CITY HALL / OPERA HOUSE
1 Common Street

The Old East Meeting House (left) was built in 1796. Until the early 1800s when Waterville was incorporated, meetings were held alternately on the east and west sides of the river. Originally the building stood facing The Common but was moved to face Front Street after the new City Hall was built in 1901. With a new City Hall, the old Meeting House served as the Waterville Armory until it was torn down in the early 1950s.

Added to the National Historic Register in 1976, this Colonial Revival style building was designed by George Adams. Construction began in 1896 but wasn't completed until 1902 due to a conflict with the architect and citizens who challenged the city's right to go into debt.

The Opera House, which is located in the City Hall Building, was used for productions, musicals, and plays, and always for inaugurations once Waterville became a City in 1888. Due to the general decline in interest in live theater during WW II, the Opera House was used as a movie theater for many years, but since 1960 has returned to its original mission of theatrical productions. People of note who have appeared on the stage include Marion Anderson in concert, Rudy Vallee, President Herbert Hoover, and Tom Mix the cowboy hero and his horse, Tony who had to be lifted outside the building to the second floor auditorium.