Theater Preservation
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A poster for a 1976 fundraising event to "Save the Fox"—part of a citywide campaign in 1970s after the threatened destruction of the historic Atlanta theater.
Courtesy of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
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The interior of the Springer Opera House in Columbus. Constructed in 1871, the National Historic Landmark was threatened with demolition in the 1960s, inspiring local preservation efforts across the city. The opera house is now the State Theatre of Georgia.
Courtesy of the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
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A notice in the Morehouse College newspaper announcing the grand opening of Bailey's Ashby Theater. In 2020 the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation placed the theater, one of the first for African Americans in Atlanta, on its endangered sites list.
Courtesy of Georgia Newspaper Project, Georgia Historic Newspapers.
As the losses mounted, grassroots preservationists began identifying historic theaters around the state, leading in 1951 to the founding of the Georgia Historical Commission (GHC), Georgia’s first statewide preservation authority. Fifteen years later, The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 provided another catalyst for preservationists. The legislation spurred a burgeoning preservation movement in Savannah, where legislators passed the state's first historic preservation ordinance, giving legal protection to the downtown Savannah Historic District. The work in Savannah prompted the passage of the Georgia Historic Preservation Act, which allowed local governments to establish historic districts and appoint commissions to regulate changes to buildings and review new construction within historic districts. Despite the significant strides in state and local legislation, private and corporate preservationists like the Fox Theatre Institute were essential to the preservation and renovation of many historic Georgia theaters. Community fundraising and local donations provided the necessary funds to restore and reopen the long-closed Tybee Post Theater and Calhoun’s GEM Theatre, both of which faced demolition in the early 2000s before their rescue.