CHICAGO: PEKIN THEATER

Established in 1905, the Pekin Theater was the first Black-owned musical theater in the country. Located in the heart of the prosperous Black neighborhood of Bronzeville and seating 1,200 people, the Pekin was nicknamed the “Temple of Music.” It was the first theater to have an all-Black acting troupe, enabling “African-American theater artists with an opportunity to master theater craft and contribute significantly to the development of an emerging Black theater tradition.” (Robinson, Edward. “The Pekin: The Genesis of American Black Theater,” 1982.) The Pekin was “renowned for its school for actors, an orchestra able to play ragtime and opera with equal brilliance, and a repertoire of original musical comedies.” (Ibid.)

Sometime in the 1930s, the city appropriated the building through eminent domain, as large swaths of the neighborhood were being cleared for “urban renewal.” (More on “urban renewal” in Bronzeville in the previous post.) It briefly became the Third District Police Station and Jail, before ultimately being demolished in the 40s. The site remains vacant.