Temple Theatre

The Masonic symbol on the facade was still clearly visible when I saw the theater again in 2003. Apparently the upper floor was used as a Freemasons' Temple, thus explaining the name of the theater. The marquee had been removed and it was difficult to tell if the original auditorium still stood behind the facade. If what I could make out of the back of the building was the original structure, than a seating capacity of 390 could have been about right.

Located at 456 Cherokee Avenue (on the east side of the street), between Memorial Drive and Grant Park, it would have been in a pretty rough part of town when it operated as a movie house. The audience would have been drawn from the neighborhood around Grant Park; the Capitol Homes Federal Housing Project (that was being torn down in 2003); and the area known as Cabbage Town (the frame houses that were originally rented out to the workers at the old cotton mill opposite Oakland Cemetary). As nearly as I can recall, the Temple ceased to operate as a movie house sometime in the late 1950’s. By that time, at least a dozen neighborhood theaters catering to white audiences closed down. Remember, these theaters operated in an era of racial segregation.

The Temple opened the first of December 1934.