Before there was a Thalia Mara Hall, Jackson had its own opera house on East Capitol Street. Built in 1901, the Century Theater seated over 1,400 people and hosted many luminaries over the years.
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| The Century Theater in 1901 |
Jacksononians looked forward to the 1901 opening with pride.
The theater opened in 1901 on East Capitol Street with much fanfare. The Clarion-Ledger reported on October 11, 1901:
The November 1901 story posted below gives an idea of what the theatre presented.
Famed bandleader John Philip Sousa appeared at the theatre in 1902.
Sadly, one finds little, if any mention of the plays presented at the Century Theater online today. How fleeting such is. The Clarion-Ledger even awarded a private box to a teacher for one performance.
The facility changed its name to the Royal Theater in 1928 as it converted to a movie house. It was later renamed as the Royal Music Hall in 1950 after the Royal family of Meridian took over the theater in 1950.
The curtain fell in 1959.
The auditorium was eventually demolished and replaced by......... a parking lot. Yup. If one goes to the east end of Capitol Street, he will see a parking lot between the Ashley Ogden/Don Evans building and The Faulkner where the Century Theater once proudly stood.
A tree was planted in its honor in 1976.
17 comments:
Nice post. Thank you.
The Meridian Grand Opera House was designated March 11, 1993 as the official State Grand Opera House of Mississippi.
http://museumofyesterday.org/saenger/theatres/meridian/grand/mgrand.htm
https://www.mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov/issue/grand-opera-house-of-mississippi
TMH without the mold.
Luminaries? Jackson had luminaries? Who knew?
This was one of the buildings of the past that we just don't see constructed any more. I couldn't help but notice that the interior was contracted out to a well-known firm in Chicago noted for its quality work. No doling out contracts to friends and cousins locally who wouldn't have a clue on how to do the work. How times change.
Really nice post. Thanks.
That parking lot was where WorldCom announced it was building a new corporate HQ right on Capitol St. It was even going to need a waiver from the Jackson City Council because of its proposed height (14 or 15 stories, I think). If you don't remember this announcement, it was made at a big news conference the morning of April 24, 1996. A few hours later, Kenneth Tornes walked into the Central Fire Station (after killing his wife that morning) and killed 4 members of the JFD Command staff.
Poor Chowke hadn't been born yet so he couldn't his "commission" after contract steering.
I see where the Krystal was on the corner.
So, Jackson had culture back then?
articles like this are priceless , thanks fish
98% of the current population has no concept or knowledge of local history. its great that you do such articles
The interior looks like the Grand Opera House (now, the Riley Center) in Meridian.
I agree. Thanks Kingfish.
Prior to The Century Theatre was The Robinson Opera House at 519 East Capital that opened in 1880. Was a three story building with a wrap around balcony that featured more vaudeville type shows with occasional rowdy crowds. It was reported to even have had an elephant on stage at one time. It was gutted by fire in 1900 and was then used by other businesses after that. Most folks may remember Neely Blueprint being the anchor there 50s thru mid 80s. Those buildings in the 500 block of Capital were then purchased by the city and torn down in anticipation of providing space for the incoming communication sectors that never actually moved downtown.
Sort-of, 8:08. The town was still dominated by the families of Carpetbaggers and Scalawags who arrived for "Reconstruction". The genuine old families had fled, to avoid being murdered by the Carpetbaggers (not everybody made it out, in time, either). But politicians who had business at the Capital, spent part of the year, in Jackson. And there were the Lumber Barons, who were busy leveling Mississippi's forests, and investing their fortunes building Downtown Jackson.
This was probably the decade when a Doctor Nelson was breathlessly heralded as the first actual, real aristocrat to RETURN TO Jackson, following Reconstruction. Considering the bizarre surnames ('Whiz', 'Velocipede' and 'Projectile' would have fit-right-in, among the last names of Jackson's High Society) ...names which predominated in Jackson's society rags, well into the 1990s, it may simply have been his Norman English surname which impressed the Carpetbaggers (by 1900, there were more Norman English Mississippians in Brazil, than remained in Mississippi). He built a home in Belhaven, somewhere, starting the stampede of society wannabes out that way. Anyway, this serves to illustrate exactly how raw and DESOLATE Jackson was, for something so minor to impress its "socialites" so much.
Kingfish's excellent archive section on 'The Gold Coast', offers another glimpse into early Twentieth Century Jackson. It's a must-read, for anyone wondering why the Jackson Metro is the way it is.
I'd love to read diary excerpts penned by wives of Legislaturemen, describing the crudeness of Turn-of-the-Century Jackson. Does anyone know if any have survived?
In the New York of that same era, social arbiters were writing etiquette books cautioning socialites not to walk around spitting, and not to blow their noses into their hands. I'd imagine that the Jackson of that time, was even worse. So, maybe "culture" consisted largely of getting gussied-up, and PAYING ADMISSION to a theatre whose painted backdrop depicted a grand entrance by some royals.
Thanks for sharing, KF.
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