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Built on the fleeting heels of Dawson City's reputation as "The Paris of the North," the Palace Grand Theatre opened in gala style in July 1899. Unfortunately, only a few years later 8,000 people left town as the gold stampede moved north to Alaska and revenue rolled out of town.

The theatre was built in 1898 by showman Arizona Charlie Meadows to provide entertainment, from Wild West shows to opera, to his fellow gold-seekers. Arizona was known to take the stage and perform shooting tricks when the show got slow. The structure of the Palace Grand was a cross between the luxury of a European opera house and a boomtown dance hall.

Arizona Charlie Meadows sold the theatre in 1901, after the boom left town as quickly as it had come. The theatre changed many hands over the years and was saved from being destroyed in 1959 when the Klondike Visitor's Association bought it and donated it to the National Historic Branch of the federal government. The theatre was rebuilt to replicate its' previous décor.

The Palace Grand Theatre is now home to Gaslight Follies, who provides entertainment reminiscent to what would have been seen there in its glory days.

See a panoramic video of The Palace Grand Theatre and its street (the second building shown)