Chatham Garden Theatre

The story

A white canvas tent erected in public pleasure grounds in 1823 became the first serious rival to New York's prestigious Park Theatre. Hippolite Barrière pitched it in Chatham Gardens, charged 25¢ admission, and ran drama through the summer — perhaps the first summer theatre in the United States. The Park Theatre's manager reported the tent to authorities as a fire hazard, which says everything about how threatening it felt. The Chatham Garden Theatre eventually sank below even the Bowery Theatre in New York's theatrical hierarchy before becoming a church in 1832.