The Vergennes Opera House is geared at serving the community as a facility for the performing and cultural arts. The Opera building was built in 1897 for the citizens of Vergennes, Vermont. The construction took a year to complete with an expenditure of around $12,000.

Since its opening, numerous important and famous characters of history that included Tiny Tim and President William Howard Taft had graced the beautiful main stage of the opera house. It had also witnessed political gatherings, school graduations, weddings, town meetings, as well as theatrical and musical extravaganzas. In 1901, three short films were showcased in the opera house along with the introduction of an amazing invention by the Edison Company, the Projecting Kinetoscope. It was the first time Addison County became a spectator of moving pictures.

In the early 1970s, the Vergennes Opera House forcibly ceased its operation citing irreparable damages. It stayed unutilized for twenty-four dark years until a non-profit organization named Friends of the Vergennes Opera House spearheaded a fundraising activity to restore it. The group, together with the aid of the community, raised more than $1.5 million and successfully revived the opera house.

In July of 1997, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra performed in celebration of the reopening of the opera house. Its restoration also marked the resurrection of the vibrancy of the structure?s versatile functions that ranges from community to cultural performances and from educational activities for children to important gatherings for the adults. Today, the Vergennes Opera House swings its doors open to the residents of Vergennes, as well as its neighboring localities.