| Year(s) |
History |
| 1802 |
Site of first bank in Chillicothe. In 1809, a building was erected
on this site for the use of the Bank of Chillicothe and the alley
that borders on the east became known as "Bank Alley." The bank
remained here until they built a new building on West Second Street
in 1826, now the home of the Elks Lodge. |
| 1804 |
The bank's lobby area was used for plays, setting the stage for
a future theatre. |
| 1830's |
When the bank re-located, the Masonic lodge then took over the
old bank building as their meeting hall. In the 1830's the Bank
Alley Thespian Society was formed and they put on plays in Masonic
Hall. Sometimes their cast-included actors who came here on canal
boats form Albany and New York City. |
| 1852 |
April Fool's Day a livery stable caught on fire and burned down
2 blocks of buildings. The Masons bought the property. The rebuilding
of the large hall marked the beginning of better entertainment in
the city and stock companies often came here of their own solution.
Sometimes patrons of the art put up purses to secure outstanding
attractions. |
| 1853 |
On June 3rd the cornerstone was laid. The Masonic Opera House
was opened on October 7th. Dramas, comedies, farces, minstrel shows,
operas. Edwin Forrest, the leading tragedian of the day, came here
for a guarantee of $200. Among the other great artists brought here
by drama- appreciative citizens was "Ole Bull", the renowned violinist.
In addition, in 1855, a panorama, or series of paintings of the
overland route to California, was exhibited at Masonic Hall.
The seats, which were on platforms, could be pushed back and the
floors leveled with wooden panels to allow for dancing and roller
skating. |
| 1876 |
The members of the Masonic Lodge contracted with Mr. John F. Cook,
the local architect, to design a new opera house in their hall.
A decorator from New York was hired at a fee of $1,000 to "handsomely
frescoed" the ceiling in their new opera house. This expense left
them strapped and having no money for new opera seats they had to
use the wooden ones from the old hall.
The frescos on the walls represent the four seasons. There was a
higher ceiling above the one you are able to see now, it had scenes
of the four seasons painted on it; however, the ceiling was lowered
to add support beam for the floor of the ballroom. The white panels
around the balcony ceiling contained paintings, which were considered
vulgar by the women of the time and were painted over. The theatre
was also enlarged: 2 more floors were added, the ballroom and the
"knights" room.
The floors in the theatre could be leveled with wooden panels and
the seats, which were on platforms, could be pushed back for dancing
and roller-skating. As for the dressing rooms. The stars on the
doors were once bronze but were stolen and replaced with wooden
ones.
The "M " on the curtain represents the Masons. |
| 1885 |
Minnie Maddern and Richard Mansfield appeared here in "In Spite
of It All". Admissions prices were 25, 35, and 50 cents at the matinee
and 25, 35, 50 and 75 cents for the evening performance. |
| 1895 |
On the 29th of July, the Masonic Opera House was lighted
up for the first time with new electric light. Red, green, blue
and white globes were installed to produce different effect. It
was one of the first buildings in Chillicothe to have electricity
- the Opera House had its own generator and even sold electricity
to the city |
| 1896 |
One of the featured attractions at the Masonic was the Edison
Vita scope showing life-size moving pictures. This was the first
showing of motion pictures in Chillicothe. |
| 1904 |
A.R. Wolf bought the theatre from the Masonic Association for
$8,500. He enlarged the stage, 535 permanent seats were built in, plus
he added the stained glass windows in the front. Fire escapes were
also put up. These renovations made it possible to bring the best
attractions to the city. Among the many top stars brought here by
Mr. Wolfe were: DeWolf Hopper, Eddie Foy, Eleanor Robson, Elsie
Janis, George Arliss, Sophia Tucker and George M. Cohan. In 1907
he bought and installed the arch, which spans Second Street. (It
is the last surviving arch of 22, which stood across High Street
in Columbus). |
| 1915 |
Three Myer's brothers, Edmund, Clarence, and Robert, bought the
theatre and changed the name to the Majestic Theatre. Mr. LeConey
Greenbaum joined the Myers as a partner.
They had live productions but eventually went to motion pictures
only. |
| 1918 |
The words Vaudeville and Majestic were added to the arch in neon
lights (Vaudeville was removed when the theatre began showing films).
During the vaudeville era, many famous performers appeared at the
Majestic, Milton Berle, Laurel & Hardy, George Arliss, Eddie
Foy, Sophie Tucker, and the George M. Cohan family among them of
the top 100 performers in America, the majestic had at least 88
of them here. We have also had buffalo bills wild west show minstrel
shows, dramas, comedies, and every other type of entertainment,
including burlesque.
The Spanish influenza struck the country hard. Out at Camp Sherman
(North of Chillicothe where the prisons are now) hundreds and hundreds
of soldiers died due to the flu. The local mortuaries could not
hold all of the bodies. Lowery mortuary across the street where
the beauty shop is now used the theatre for a morgue. The bodies
were stacked like cord wood I the dressing rooms until they could
be taken to the stage for embalming (sometimes one of the bodies
would be found to be alive and would be taken to the hospital).
The blood and other body fluids were thrown out in the alley; therefore
to this day the alley is called "blood alley". |
| 1971 |
The majestic acquired new owners, Harley and Evelyn Bennett. A
lot of renovations were made including the original wall paintings,
new seating, new front doors, restrooms and the lobby. The brick
wall on the alley side was sandblasted and the plastic squares out
front were removed and brick facing installed. Additionally the
building received a new coat of paint, reparations made to the marquee,
a new roof, and spouting. |
| 1990 |
The Majestic was purchased by Robert Althoff, Robert Evans, and
David Uhrig as a non-profit organization. The majestic received
all new wiring, fire safety, and security systems. A heating and
cooling system was installed. This system utilizes the 52-degree
water from the Teay's Aquifer, which is circulated through coils
with air blown over them. |
| 1997 |
The seats were removed two rows at a time and taken to the veterans
hospital where they were cleaned and reupholstered including new
foam pads. At the same time, all of the old balcony seats in the
center were removed and the floor was completely rebuilt.
New seats, which were exact reproductions of the original
seats, were purchased and installed (we lost 3 seat spaces leaving
us with 532 seats). The seats on the wings of the balcony were cleaned
and reupholstered. We have 11 love seats (some chaperone seats).
We may be the only theatre with such seats |
| 2003 |
The Majestic is honored with a federal grant that preserves historic
sites that links a community to its past, the Saving America's Treasures
grant. |
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