The historic 54,000 square-foot Webster School opened in 1921 to support Pontiac’s population boom as tens of thousands flocked from the south to work in the rapidly growing automotive manufacturing industry that originally put the city on the map. The building was designed by Perkins, Fellows, and Hamilton, who were known for going over budget to create particularly ornate architectural designs and responsible for other local landmarks such as Lincoln Park Zoo. It originally featured 26 classrooms, a combination gym and auditorium, and an ornate foyer, all on five acres of land.

Originally an all-white school, Webster was desegregated in the 1970s and one of several schools made to participate in a bussing program after a historic lawsuit between the NAACP and the local school district. Already in a population decline as residents moved from the aging city center, the school was eventually closed in 2008 after nearly 90 years of operation.

It sat vacant for over 10 years until Micah 6 Community, the project sponsor, purchased the building in 2016 to serve as the new location for the mixed-use community-centered nonprofit hub.

Chattanooga’s Tivoli Theatre, “the Jewel of the South,” opened its doors to the public in 1921 as a state-of-the-art performance space. Built as a smaller-scale replica of Chicago’s Tivoli Theatre, this 1,750-seat entertainment hall was the first public building in the south, and one of the first in the country, to install an air conditioning system. After decades of success, the theatre’s performance steadily declined through the 1950s as more modern movie theatres started to open in the city. The city took control of the building in early 1961 and reopened the space in 1963 as Chattanooga’s new Cultural Center.

The transformation into a Cultural Center was hailed as the beginning of revitalization in Chattanooga’s downtown area and the space was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. In 2015, the city of Chattanooga created the nonprofit Tivoli Theatre Foundation to operate the venue and to lead fundraising efforts to repair the building. The theatre was closed in 2022 to begin the full restoration.

The Trigg-Smartt building adjacent to the Tivoli Theatre was built in 1889 as a commercial space. The building was named after the original tenants, Trigg Dobbs & Company, a wholesale grocer, and Smartt Brothers & Company, a wholesale shoes and boots company. Trigg-Smartt was owned and operated by these two companies until 1911 when James Trigg sold his portion of the building to James Smartt and vacated the building. Smartt Brothers & Company continued to operate in the building until the death of Smartt in 1913. After his death, the business vacated the building and welcomed a variety of commercial tenants through the years. One of those tenants included the Fowler Brothers Furniture Company, the largest furniture company in Tennessee, which occupied the building until 1985. The Trigg-Smartt building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

In 1925 B. G. Collier, head of the African American Grand Lodge of the Knights of Pythias, purchased lots in the Hill District neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The Hill District is often referred to as Pittsburgh’s Harlem, due to its historically rich cultural and artistic environment that remains prevalent to the present day. In 1927, Collier commissioned prominent African American Architect Louis A. S. Bellinger of Pittsburgh, to build the Pythian Temple, a fraternal lodge and commercial building for Black construction workers to enjoy community events, music, and more. Bellinger was working as one of only sixty black architects in the United States in the 1930s. Located at 2007-2013 Centre Avenue, the three-story building designed in a Tudor Revival style was completed in 1928 and became one of the largest and most prominent secular buildings in the Hill District. 

Bellinger’s architectural vision for the Temple formed the blueprint for the Temple’s transformation in 1937 when Harry Hendel, a promoter and theater owner, bought the Temple and remodeled it as a commercial theater. After the transformation, the building was known as the New Granada Theater. The first floor became a commercial movie theater while the second floor housed a ballroom with a stage where jazz greats played. Harlem musicians touring from New York City to Chicago would stop at the New Granada theater to play on the second-floor stage. Jazz legends such as Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington all played at the Theater during its prime.  

Through the decades, the Theater’s popularity slowly declined, and it was finally closed in the mid-1970s. During a period of vacancy between its closure and 1990, the interior suffered extensive damage after the roof collapsed. In 1990, Hill CDC purchased the Theater to save it from demolition. Since then, Hill CDC has committed itself to restoring the New Granada Theater to a place of prominence and cultural enrichment in the Hill District.

The Apollo Theater opened in 1914 as Hurtig & Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater and was renamed the Apollo in 1934, branding itself as “America’s Finest Colored Theatre.” It became a cultural hub during Harlem’s shift to 125th Street and survived the Great Depression by merging with the Harlem Opera House. Its 1,700-seat capacity and central location made it a key nightlife destination, drawing up to a million attendees annually. The Apollo helped shape the trajectory of American music and popular culture, launching the careers of legendary artists and pioneering new genres.

Amateur Night helped discover stars like Sarah Vaughan, James Brown, and the Jackson 5. The Apollo was also vital to the development of bebop and R&B. Performers often viewed its passionate audience, especially those located in the “buzzard’s roost” in the balcony, as the ultimate test.

The theater thrived during the R&B and soul eras but declined in the 1970s, closing in 1976. After several failed revivals, Percy Sutton’s Inner City Broadcasting renovated and reopened it in the 1980s. The state took over in 1991, creating the Apollo Theater Foundation. The theater stabilized financially in the 2000s, and a major renovation in 2006 modernized the facility. In 2024, the Kennedy Center honored the Apollo for its lasting impact on American culture.