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.
9 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.
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