Providence Players

Frontier Cache Valley wanted entertainment as badly as it wanted wheat, and Providence supplied it. The town's dramatic company performed in the rock meetinghouse here, which when finished around 1870 held what locals judged the finest stage, proscenium, painted scenery, and dance floor in the valley. The players were townspeople — Johnsons, Fifes, Harmons, names straight off Providence's settler rolls — and neighbors came from across early Cache Valley to watch them. Community theater barely covers it; on this frontier, the stage in the meetinghouse was the valley's culture, homemade.

What the plaque says

Pioneer dramatic players entertained early Cache Valley audiences in this rock building. When erected, 1868 - 70, the only assembly hall in Providence. It has the finest dance floor, stage, proscenium, paintings, curtain in the valley. Among the players were Chas. And Joan M Johnson, Harry Brown, Jessie Hammer, John Wilson, Alzina Hammond, Jas. Nye, Thos, Priday, Jos. A. Smith, Mary Naef, Lucinda Monroe, Wm. Reading, Jas. Fife, Ammon Harmon, Geo. And Mary Marler, Wm. W. Low, Henry Bullock, Lorin Bassett, and Rudolph Hugg. Elizabeth Mathews Camp Cache Co.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Logan — 2.1 mi
  A vibrant college town tucked into a stunning mountain valley
• Hyrum State Park — 5.4 mi
  A family-friendly reservoir at the mouth of Blacksmith Fork Canyon
• American West Heritage Center — 6.0 mi
  A living history farm spanning 160 acres of Cache Valley
• Wellsville Mountains — 8.6 mi
  The steepest mountains in North America for their height

More markers nearby

• Providence Pioneers — steps away
• Providence Church (Old Rock Church) — steps away
• River Heights — 1.1 mi
• Russell Maughan, First Flight — 1.8 mi