Wheeling, West Virginia, has a rich tapestry of history as the state’s first capital. Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains along the Ohio River, Wheeling was an industrial powerhouse known as the “nail city,” supplying cut nails to the entire nation. By 1910, the city’s population surged to over 41,000, and its thriving industry played a pivotal role in supporting World War I. However, at this time, Wheeling, like many American cities, was under the shadow of segregation, with Jim Crow laws deeply ingrained into the societal fabric and dictating accessibility to locations and services based on race. Amidst this complex socio-political landscape, the YWCA Wheeling was established in 1906, initially operating from a rented space on an adjacent block before construction on their permanent and current location at 1100 Chapline Street was completed in 1915.

Despite the segregation laws of the time, the YWCA Wheeling emerged as a beacon of progressive ideals. While not untouched by the era’s legal constraints, the organization made it a priority to champion equal access regardless of race. In their early years, they actively campaigned and fundraised to extend their protective services and advocacy to African American girls and women, serving as a testament to their commitment to social justice.

By 1921, the YWCA Wheeling successfully established the Blue Triangle Branch in a neighboring building to serve the African American members of the community. Both organizations worked together serving the women and children of Wheeling until 1956 when the YWCA integrated the Blue Triangle Branch into its Chapline Street headquarters.

For more than a century, the YWCA Wheeling has been operating from this historic location, growing its programs, and continuing to support the women and families of Wheeling. The building, steeped in history and resilience, now requires essential repairs and upgrades to ensure the YWCA can continue its mission into the future.

This project is facilitating the long-awaited reunion of the iconic Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati with its original home, the Emery Theater. Historic Emery Theater was constructed in 1911 in Cincinnati’s “Over-the-Rhine” neighborhood. Commissioned by Mary Emery and built by the famous architecture firm Samuel Hannaford & Sons, the large theater was designed to hold thousands of patrons while astonishing each of them with an unobstructed view and exceptional acoustics. It was built using the principle of the “isacoustic curve,” meaning the room sloped upward from front to back, an ideal configuration for sending sound effortlessly throughout. It also featured two large balconies, both of which seemed to float above the main floor, in a method of theater construction that was new in the early 19th century. Originally part of the Ohio Mechanics Institute trade school, the Emery Theater soon hosted world-renowned artists like George Gershwin and John Philip Sousa, as well as influential dignitaries like Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Children’s Theatre of Cincinnati (TCT), founded in 1919, is the oldest professional children’s theatre in the nation, spending more than a century entertaining youth and inspiring them in the art of theatre. Originally owned and operated by Cincinnati’s Junior League, TCT launched as an independent nonprofit in 1949 with a mission to educate, entertain, and engage audiences of all ages through professional theatrical productions and arts education programming. TCT called the historic Emery Theater home from their incorporation as an independent nonprofit until 1969, when they relocated to downtown Cincinnati’s Taft Theatre.

In the years after losing the patronage of The Children’s Theatre and The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Emery fell deeper into disrepair, lying dormant for many years while TCT was forced to limit their performance days to only 40 a year at their new location in the Taft Theatre. The decision was made by TCT to return home to the historic Emery Theater and they launched a campaign to undertake a major renovation in a way that pays homage to the past while reimagining it for the future.

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.