Thomas Maguire was an established theatre manager who made his name in San Francisco.
Known as the “Napoleon of Impresarios” Thomas Maguire was one of the best known and most influential theater entreprenuers on the west coast during the 1860s. Before moving to California in 1849, he had been a cab driver and saloonkeeper in New York. Although a “ruffian” according to various newspaper accounts, he nevertheless rose quickly in the business world, building many theaters in San Francisco, three of which were named after Jenny Lind although she never actually appeared in any of them, and establishing an Academy of Music in 1864. By the early 1860s, Maguire owned or controlled many of the most important theatres in California with the intent to create a circuit of western theatres to lure entertainers from the east. His success in California led him to expand his empire to cities springing up in Nevada.
After his disastrous financial investment in the stillborn and drunken unfulfilled tour of Edwin Forrest nearly bankrupted him, Tom sold off shares of many of his theatres, including Maguire’s in Virginia City – which became Piper’s, named after the next door saloon keeper who bought controlling shares.