Built in 1903, Nashville’s Bijou Theater quickly emerged as one of the South’s leading African American theaters. The theatre offered performances sponsored by its namesake Bijou Amusement Company. The theater originally operated under the direction of Milton Starr, a white man and president of the Theatre Owners Booking Association. The Theater Owner’s Booking Association covered most of the cities in the south, representing acts throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including Eddie Lemons' Dashing Dinah show, featuring performers Homer Hubbard, Rogers and Rogers, Leroy Phillips, Charles Barry, Isadore Price, Willie Taylor, Jack "Ginger" Wiggins, Christina Gray, and String Beans Price.

In 1918, African Americans celebrated the end of World War I at the Bijou Theater in Nashville. After hearing of the armistice, the Bijou Theater welcomed several choir and band performances, as well as a speech by Preston Taylor, previously a pastor of the Gay Street Colored Christian Church.

In 1957, the city of Nashville demolished the Bijou Theater to construct the Nashville Municipal Auditorium. The Nashville Municipal Auditorium opened in 1962 to fulfill the city’s growing need for a multipurpose facility to host diverse events. For over 50 years, the Nashville Municipal Auditorium has hosted concerts, circuses, sporting events, and auto shows. The Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley, Fleetwood Mac, Grateful Dead and Kiss have all played at the auditorium. The Nashville Municipal Auditorium still facilitates some of the larger entertainment events held in the city, opening its doors to visitors and locals alike.

Script written by Michelle Richoll.

Credits and Sources:

Battling Norfolk, “Letter: New Orleans, Louisiana to Ben Stein, Macon, Georgia, 1927 Oct. 5,” October 5, 1927, http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/douglass/dbr058.php.

Trials and Triumphs: Tennesseans’ Search for Citizenship, Community, and Opportunity, “Bijou Theater,” International Post Card Co., 1908, http://digital.mtsu.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15838coll7/id/124/rec/1.

Digital Library of Georgia, “Letter: Nashville, Tennessee to Ben Stein, Macon, Georgia, 1927 Sept. 10,” last modified 2008, http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/meta/html/dlg/dtrm/meta_dlg_dtrm_dbr057.html?Welcome.

Bobby L. Lovett, The African-American History of Nashville, TN: 1780–1930(United States of America: Bobby L. Lovett, 1999).