In New Mexico's middle territorial period, a curious phenomenon appeared in the entertainment line. Businessmen began opening opera houses in large towns and small. As one newspaper put it, "They brought culture to us all."

In the simplest terms, opera is a drama set to music. What we think of as grand opera was a creation of the Baroque Age in Italy. The very first public opera house opened its doors in Venice in 1637.

I can find little evidence that much in the way of true opera was staged in the houses of New Mexico. Rather, performances by single wandering thespians and musicians, or by touring melodrama companies, were the usual fare.

As far as I can tell, no one has made an inventory of these opera houses. But several prominent ones come to mind.

Foremost in that category was Grant's Opera House in New Town Albuquerque. Angus A. Grant, a Canadian who came to New Mexico in 1880 to construct railroad bridges for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, soon turned his attention to putting up a performance theater.

It comprised two stories on a downtown city block. The lower story provided space for four stores, and the upper floor housed the opera facility, seating 1,000 patrons.

A grand opening in November 1883 featured the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore, with profits going to a local hospital and the Indian School. The spacious venue also hosted public meetings and political rallies.

Grants Opera House, the pride of Albuquerque, was lost in 1898 to a fire that defied heroic efforts of volunteers to save it.

East Las Vegas, like New Town Albuquerque, had its Ward and Tamme's Opera House, located at 320 Railroad Ave. Smaller than the Grant building, this theater nevertheless had two stories with mercantile stores below and the auditorium above.

Las Vegas historian Marcus Gottschalk reports that the owners George W. Ward and Charles Tamme were both German immigrants who joined to open the town's first saloon, Monarch Hall.

Next, in 1882, they built the opera house, only six doors from the saloon. It managed to pay its way, what with the store rent receipts. But in 1886, Tamme elected to erect a second and larger opera house that bankrupted him.

Harry Motley's Opera House on today's Galisteo Street in Santa Fe was another two-story structure with a rather lavish interior, as was the custom.

However, in Silver City, Morrill's Opera House outshone them all. An elegant facility, it was furnished with private boxes and an orchestra pit.

It has sometimes been claimed that when Billy the Kid was a schoolboy in Silver City, he liked to sing and dance and that he appeared at Morrill's in amateur theatricals.

That seems unlikely since the opera house was not built until 1886, five years after Billy's death. It is possible, though, that a smaller, simpler version of Morrill's may have existed earlier.

At the opposite end of the scale from the luxurious musical palaces was the Hurt Opera House (renamed the Clear Light Opera House in the 1960s) in the old mining town of Cerrillos. Built of limestone cut from a local quarry, its plan was of a plain rectangular box without architectural adornments.

According to local legend, the famed coloratura soprano Jenny Lind, known as the Swedish nightingale, once sang in Hurt's while on tour. That, like Billy dancing at Morrill's, has never been confirmed.

Hurt's is one of the few original opera houses surviving today. But another is the García Opera House at Socorro, restored in recent years.

Dating from 1887 and named for Juan N. García, it was constructed by his widow in his memory. A plain adobe building with a pitched roof, it lacks the busy ornamentation of the 19th-century Victorian opera houses.

The García Opera House, while designed as a theater with a stage, was used more as a community center, hosting activities ranging from dances to school commencement exercises. Now it is one of Socorro's most treasured landmarks.

New Mexico's opera houses must all have engaging histories. One wonders whether they will ever be searched out and told!

Historian Marc Simmons is author of numerous books on New Mexico and the Southwest. His column appears Saturdays.