Virtual Tour The oldest continuously operating theatre in New York State is Poughkeepsie's Bardavon Opera House. For its first fifty years the theatre was called the Collingwood Opera House. It's owner was James Collingwood, a coal and lumber merchant. Born in England, Collingwood had become one of Poughkeepsie's wealthiest men by the time he built the theatre. Construction of the new music hall began in June, 1868 and was completed in eight months. The site was behind an office building Collingwood had built five years earlier. It had been the uptown branch of his coal and lumber yard. NEXT   top of page