Community comes together to restore original home of National Negro Opera Company

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - On Tuesday in Lincoln-Lemington, a groundbreaking took place at the National Opera Company House.

The city joined with the community to restore and preserve the original home of the National Negro Opera Company which became the first permanent Black opera company in the country when it was founded in 1941.

It was owned by William "Woogie" Harris, one of Pittsburgh's first Black millionaires, who bought it in 1930.

Soon, the building that was once home to artists, musicians, and students, as well as a hub for Pittsburgh's Black community, will once again serve as a gathering place.

"Preserving this tapestry of our shared culture, heritage, and pride, is an act of racial justice and should be viewed as a civil right," said Brent Leggs, the executive director of the African-American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. "Our society must revere African-American history as American history."

They're also hoping to add a museum to help share the site's vast history but during the renovations, they hope to keep many of the original elements of the house and landscape.