Woodman’s Hall, (also known as Woodman Hall) owned by L.T. Woodman, was identified as the first place of amusement in Minneapolis in an article about the history of local theaters (Minneapolis Tribune, January 1, 1892).  It hosted the “old Salty St. Claire troup,” according to the article.

It was established in 1857 and was located on Hellen Street, now Second Avenue South between Washington Ave.  and Second Street.  The building had been a Sunday School, and by 1881 was the St. James Hotel.  (Minneapolis Tribune, January 11, 1881).

Woodman Hall, 1860 – courtesy Minnesota Historical Society

A description from 1888 describes Woodman Hall as a place where “the itinerant showman closed his clinging fingers on the hard-earned ‘two-bit’ pieces of the small boy and gallant swain, and where public meetings were usually  held.  This building was later moved to Fourth Street and Sixth Ave. South and is now the Tremont House.”  (Minneapolis Tribune, October 20, 1888)

The 2018 Minneapolis Music Survey has this to say about Woodman Hall:

Considered one of the first music halls, it opened above a drug store on Washington and Second Avenues South.  The theatre had no balcony no gallery and no elevated seats.  There was no stage entrance so performers passed through the auditorium to  reach the stage.  B.E. Messer opened music classes here in 1857 and various bands played here.  It became the home of the masonic hall by 1958 and a second Woodman’s Hall was constructed diagonal across  the street, also on the third floor of a stone building.  In 1908 it was considered an “ante-bellum meeting place along with Fletcher’s Hall, Woodman’s Hall No. 2, and Harrison’s Hall.

Messer was a singer and violinist who had come to Minneapolis in 1852 and was elected Hennepin County’s second Sheriff in 1854.  While he was in Minneapolis he established the City’s first singing school, and was also engaged as a carpenter.  In 1855 he went to Hutchinson to help establish that town, and in 1861 he took a job in Washington, DC, where he died in 1895.