King Opera House

Built in 1891 as a commercial block with a billiard parlour, saloon and newspaper office, this building became the King Opera House in 1901 under Col. Henry P. King, opening with a staging of Faust. Fire gutted it in 1914, and it spent decades as a cinema, including a spell in the Malco chain, before the City of Van Buren bought it in 1979 and restored it; it is a contributing building in the Van Buren Historic District and stages performances today. Staff and townspeople report full-bodied figures, voices, footsteps and doors closing on empty floors, with the area beneath the stage named most often. The presence is usually identified as Charles Tolson, an actor who brought his company here to perform and who died in Van Buren. Ghost Files, the YouTube series with Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej, investigated the theater in "The Dramatic Spirits Headlining the King Opera House" (2025).