Alamo Theatre
333 N. Farish Street,
Jackson,
MS
39207
333 N. Farish Street,
Jackson,
MS
39207
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The original Alamo Theatre dated back to 1912 in Jackson, Mississippi. It added sound to remain commercially viable and served as the primary movie house for African American residents. The Alamo had received an upgrade operating as the New Alamo Theatre under operator Arthur Lehman in the 1920s with Lehman adding sound to remain viable.
During the Depression, Lehman built the new Booker-T Theatre in 1937 opening in 1938. During the War, Dentist and civic leader Dr. A.H. McCoy built the first African American owned theater in Jackson opening in 1944 as the Ritz.
After the War, Lehman felt it was time for a new, New Alamo Theatre and it got a new, streamline moderne venue as drawn in 1948 by Jones & Haas Architects with Jack Corgan listed as the Associate Architect (sketch in photos).
The older New Alamo was renamed on January 21, 1949 as the Amite Theatre. The newer New Alamo Theatre launched on January 26, 1949 (ad in photos) with an open house and The Sammy Green Show on Stage as its entertainment. During the TV era, the Ritz closed in 1954, the Booker-T closed in 1956 followed by the Amite Theatre leaving the Alamo as the lone African American movie house. It thrived in the Blaxploitation era but enthusiasm waned in the late 1970s.
The Ritz closed in 1983 and the pink and blue building was boarded up as a target of post-theatrical incidents. That boarding up proved invaluable because its condition was relatively good and it was targeted for restoration in 1992. State funds of $1.5 million later in the 1990s allowed it to fully refresh to its reopening in 1997 as an events center. It continues as a vibrant entertainment hub in the 2020s.
The well-researched paper Movie Theaters in Twentieth-Century Jackson, Mississippi, by Jerry Dallas (PDF here), says that the third Alamo Theatre opened on February 26, 1949. Arthur Lehman’s new, 750-seat Alamo had been designed to present live performances as well as movies, and for many years brought big-name African American entertainers to Jackson audiences.
The Alamo actually outlived all of downtown Jackson’s white theaters, lasting into the early 1980s, but it had closed by 1983.
Oh, you can also reach me thru email….
Well, Hello all! My name is Shawn Smith and I am the manager @ the historical Alamo Theatre. For information, tours or booking please call the theatre at 601.352.3365! I look forward to all of your calls. BTW, if you are on FaceBook, you can find us at the The Alamo Theatre. I post all upcoming shows there.
Here is a marquee photo:
http://tinyurl.com/y96nwu4
Well, five minutes after my question, I came across another history description of the Alamo Theatre on another web site.
http://www.visitjackson.com/view.php?eid=616
It States,,,
The first structure was located on Farish Street in the 100 block across from where McCoy Federal Building now stands. The second Alamo was located on West Amite Street at Roach Street. This newly renovated structure (the third) was built in the early 1940’s in this Farish Street Historic District.
Jerry Stevens
Doing Family history research, I came across a cousin, Webb Stevens, WW I Draft Registration, dated June 5, 1917.
His occuption description on his draft card stated,
Motion Picture Operator,
Alamo Theatre, [no street address]
Jackson, Mississippi,
Employer: R A Bell.
The 1917 date on the draft card predates, by 25 years, the 1942 opening date described in the above history of the theatre.
It seems obvious there was another Alamo Theatre located in Jackson
prior to the Farish Street Alamo.
If so,
Does anyone know where it was located in Jackson?
Jerry Stevens
Jackson, Ms
Can anyone tell us the condition of this theatre in Jackson MS after Hurricane Katrina?
Chuck: I figured it probably had been closed for some time yet it was sad to see it gone. It would be nice to see it included on CT though.
Would love to see an interior photo of this art deco cinema in MS.
Charles: Great photo of the Alamo. I’ve been looking at the LA and MS CT theatres and wonder which ones, if any, survived? I don’t know the name of the theatre pictured on AOL news that ‘was’ in Bay St. Louis MS, but sadly the brick structure was leveled.
Charles: I couldn’t bring up the above site. Also I noticed on an AOL window a photo of an old theatre that was demolished during Hurricane Katrina. It is in Bay St. Louis MS, but that theatre is not listed on CT.