Majestic Theatre opens in Dallas
104 years ago on April 11th, 1921
On this day in 1921, the Majestic Theatre opened on Elm Street in downtown Dallas. The five-story structure, designed by Chicago architect John Eberson in the Renaissance Revival style, was the flagship of Karl Hoblitzelle's Interstate Amusement Company chain of vaudeville houses. Among the stars who appeared there were Mae West, Jack Benny, Harry Houdini, Duke Ellington, and Cab Calloway. Fort Worth resident Ginger Rogers began her career at the Majestic, and Vin Lindhe was a member of a girls' trio that played there in 1927. The Hoblitzelle Foundation gave the theater to the city of Dallas in 1976. A year later it became the first Dallas building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Various local theatrical and musical groups have subsequently called the Majestic home.
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From Cabeza de Vaca's ship-wreck in 1528 through the Texas Revolution to present day—almost 500 years of recorded history—a myriad of significant events in Texas history have occurred. These events are arranged by day of the year to allow the reader to see into the past on any specific day.
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