Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts

The Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts, sometimes referred to as the Baltimore Museum Theatre or simply the Baltimore Museum, was a theatre and dime museum in Baltimore, Maryland located at the corners of Baltimore and Calvert streets. It was originally the second location of Rubens Peale's Baltimore Museum which occupied the second floor of the building beginning in January 1830. In 1834 it was renamed the Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts after the enterprise was taken over by Edmund Peale, the nephew of Rubens. Edmund operated the business until it was purchased by P. T. Barnum in 1845. In 1847 the building underwent a major reconstruction to turn it into a proper theatre venue. After this it was often referred to as the Baltimore Museum Theatre. In 1861 the theatre came under the management of George Kunkel who re-named the venue Kunkel's Ethiopian Opera House. After Kunkel left in 1864, the venue was used more as a bar and place for public dances rather than a theatre. It was destroyed by fire on December 12, 1873.