John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026

Lecture Tour of America 1882

Writing and Research on Oscar Wilde

Lawrence

Kansas


Liberty Hall

Friday, April 21, 1882


The Decorative Arts

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Verification

Newspaper report

The Daily Journal, (Lawrence, KS), April 22, 1882, 4


Newspaper advertisement

Lawrence Daily Journal, April 18, 1882, 1

Venue

Liberty Hall

Corner of 7th Street and Massachusetts Street, Lawrence, KS (now 644 Massachusetts Street)


Built: 1856

Opened: 1856

Dedicated: 1870 by Reverend Bently, a Baptist minister, who suggested the name because Abraham Lincoln had once called Lawrence the "cradle of liberty"

Remodeled: 1882 as Bowersock Opera House (J.D. Bowersock)

Destroyed (fire): February 18, 1911

Replaced: January 20, 1912 by a new Liberty Hall (extant)


Accommodation

Unverified information suggests Wilde's accommodation was the Eldridge House, which is likely given the low number and quality of hotels in Lawrence in 1882. The hotel is shown below with this caveat until primary source evidence is discovered.


Eldridge House

Built: 1865


John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026