Grand Opera House
651 Mulberry Street,
Macon,
GA
31201
651 Mulberry Street,
Macon,
GA
31201
1 person
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Actually, according to the Macon News, the Grand continued to run films until the last week of July 1966.
Stopped showing movies full-time in 1965.
Opened on September 22nd, 1884 as Academy of Music
Academy of Music opening 17 Sep 1884, Wed The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Georgia) Newspapers.com
Reopened as Grand Opera House on February 1st, 1905
Grand Opera House AKA: Grand opening 28 Jan 1905, Sat The Macon News (Macon, Georgia) Newspapers.com
More Macon cinemas updates to come.
The Robert Morton Organ Company records selling a 2 manual organ to the Grand Theatre in Macon Georgia in 1925. That is possibly this theatre. Is an organ still in this hall? Are there even empty chambers where an organ once stood?
The Grand was Macon’s premier movie theatre in the 50’s and 60’s, superb with double balconies and terried box seats on each side, what a magnificent theatre it was, the large marquee is gone and now Mercer University owns it. It was completely restored and now is the palace it always was with live shows, concerts etc. The Grand has one of the largest stages you will find in any theatre and the entire Macon community enjoys this grand venue.
Albert A. Weis took over the Grand Opera House in 1910, according to an item in the New York Times of June 28 that year. The article said that Weis controlled a circuit of theaters in Texas, Mississippi, and adjoining states.
As the Academy of Music, this theater is listed under Macon GA in the 1897-98 edition of the Julius Cahn Official Theatrical Guide. It lists a seating capacity of only 1,061, however. The Mgr. was Henry Horne. Ticket prices ranged from 25 cents to $1. The auditorium was on the ground floor. There were 7 in the house orchestra. The proscenium opening was 28 feet wide X 32 feet high, and the stage was 38 feet deep. Newspapers were the Telegram and the News. Hotels for show folk were the Brown House, Hotel Lanier, Park, Pierpont, and Stubblefield. The 1897 population of Macon was 35,000.