An unprecedented black establishment plunges its roots deep in a segregated Southern city to provide the first successful blossoming of black culture and entrepreneurship still evident in the Classic City of Athens, Georgia, over a century later.

A hub for black culture in Athens, the Morton Theatre was located in the heart of the historic black business district on Hull and Washington Street, commonly known as the Hot Corner.

Built in 1910, the Morton Theatre stands as one of the first black run business and cultural institutions in Athens. This theater provided a meeting ground for the black community and facilitated a surge of black entrepreneurship and culture that Athens might have otherwise lacked.

“From one end to the other, it was a black operation. We can’t find another one that can make that claim,” Bill Herringdine, president of the Morton Theatre Corp told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1993.

According to the Morton Theatre website, the Morton is one of the longest standing vaudeville theaters built in the United States and offered itself as the first the professional black business district in the segregated Southern city.  From professional black business occupants such as doctors, dentists and pharmacists, to performing arts of both local and well-known artists, to black activist organizations, the Morton Theatre is a host to a plethora of influential Athens culture.

Unfortunately, according to a 1994 Atlanta Journal-Constitution report, a fire broke out in the projection booth in 1954 resulting in the fire marshal’s orders to shut down the lower theater level due to inefficient fire exit availability. Despite this, various street level business sections continued operation.

The theater was reopened in the fall of 1993 following a management agreement between Athens-Clarke County government and the Morton Theatre Corporation.

”The Morton Theatre provides an opportunity for cultural rejuvenation; to visit a past all but forgotten,” John Jeffreys, a Clarke County Commissioner, told the New York Times in 1988. ”It was the home of blacks when the performing arts and economic development were thriving.”

 

The reopening of the Morton allowed for the theater to function again as a performing arts space and stand as a continuing reminder of the cultural influences Morton left on the city of Athens.

Morton Theatre Corp. on Twitter: “Great Hot Corner 2013 weekend! pic.twitter.com/iiaElUieHs / Twitter”

Great Hot Corner 2013 weekend! pic.twitter.com/iiaElUieHs