Dixie Center for the Arts

(Ruston Daily Herald, April 13, 1943)
Theatre Managers Doing All Possible To Get Rid Of Rats
Call For Cooperation From Owners Of Other Business Places

Ruston theatre managers said today they were doing everything possible to rid their shows of rats and hoped within a very short time to have them eliminated from the premises as nearly as possible. C. J. Hubley said he had fought rats every day since he had been in Ruston but he could not rid the town of them by himself and called upon the city for more cooperation.
Mr. Hubley further said the Dixie Theatre Company had spent well over one thousand dollars during the past year for poison, traps and remodeling to prevent them from entering the building. He now catches from one to fifteen each day and has done everything from filling the House with cats to shooting them, but he can’t keep them out as long as other stores in the city do nothing to stop them from breeding and living on the premises.
An interesting thing about rats in the theatre is that none are ever caught before show time, but after the theatre is closed at the last show. They seem to come in or roam about only when people are inside eating and dropping particles of food on the floor.
Professional rat exterminators have rat-proofed the building and he said he would offer a reward to anyone finding where they can enter the theatre.
Both the Dixie and Varsity Theatres are being given a thorough cleaning and extermination campaign to rid the building of all vermin and Mr. Hubley has asked all owners and tenants of buildings near the theatres to cooperate in an effort to kill or drive them from the city.
Mr. Butterfield, of Tech Theatre, says he has not found any sign of rats in his theatre and has asked for another inspection from WAAC officers. However, he constantly has poison and traps scattered about his theatre to make certain none will enter or stay in the building.
He plans to keep a few cats as a further precaution, he said.

Another photo is here.

This is a 2007 photo of the Dixie Theater.

The Dixie opened as the New Astor Theatre. It had a 2 manual/4 rank Wicks theatre pipe organ.

National Register of Historic Places:

Dixie Theatre (added 1993 – Building – #93001105)
206 N. Vienna St., Ruston
Historic Significance: Event
Area of Significance: Entertainment/Recreation
Period of Significance: 1925-1949
Owner: Private
Historic Function: Recreation And Culture
Historic Sub-function: Theater
Current Function: Recreation And Culture
Current Sub-function: Theater