The historic Tootle Opera House in downtown St. Joseph where Buffalo Bill Cody once performed was destroyed by fire Monday after standing tall for more than 140 years.

The building located at 5th and Francis, was commonly known as the Pioneer Building.  Fire crews responded to the fire around 10:30 a.m. Chief Training Officer Mike Neylon with the St. Joseph Fire Department said around 60 firefighters were on scene with around 15 firetrucks.  The Savannah Fire Department and the Rosecrans Memorial Airport Fire Department assisted.

“It doesn’t impact how you put it out once it gets to the point that it was that it was obviously not going to be saved.  But initially yeah, you try to keep the historical aspect intact as much as possible.  That was a pretty special building,” Neylon said. “Another one lost.”

Sarah Elder, the Curator of Collection with Saint Joseph Museums said the Tootle Opera House was built in 1872.

“It was built by Milton Tootle Sr. and it was considered at that time to be the finest Opera House west of the Mississippi,” Elder said. “It started to have a little competition from motion pictures…I want to say as an Opera House it kind of ceased that existence in the 1920s and 1930s as motion pictures became more and more prevalent.”

Elder said Buffalo Bill Cody performed in the building twice.

“As he was getting started with his Wild West shows and he was touring the country he performed at the Tootle Opera House,” Elder said.

She said the cost to construct the building in 1872 was around $200,000.

“It had these beautiful staircases and decorative work on the inside,” Elder said. “It had a main floor and a balcony and a gallery and it could hold around 1500 people.”

She said the building was renovated and turned into office space in the 1940s.

“There are a few buildings that are older than that but not many,” Elder said. “It was a big part of St. Joseph’s golden age.”

Clint Thompson is the planning and community development director for the City of St. Joseph.  He said the building was sitting vacant and was owned by Jeff Smith with JES Development out of Columbia, Mo.

“The developer had proposed to do some low income housing units, and that goes back probably about 10 years ago,” Thompson said. “He was seeking tax credits but also support by the City of St. Joseph to endorse their application.  At the time the city denied supporting the application because the city had done a housing analysis in our downtown area and we were trying to work with private development to do market rate housing in and around downtown.  Since that application was denied the developer hasn’t done anything with the property.”

Elder said the building’s loss means a great part of St. Joseph’s history is no longer there.

Neylon said crews will likely be on scene until at least nightfall pouring water on the building; a second building located behind the Pioneer building also caught fire but was put out.  No victims have been found. The cause of the fire is currently undetermined.