Liberty Theater was the center of Black nightlife in Valdosta, Georgia. It used to be a theater and nightclub, but the nightclub was demolished in 2023 after it became too unstable. Built in the 1930s, it is a contributing property to the Southside Historic District.
The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation announced its 2025 Places in Peril on February 26, 2025. I was selected to photograph one of those places: The Powell Opera House in Blakely, Georgia. It is hidden inside a brick building in the downtown area.
The Powell Opera House is on Court Square in Blakely, Georgia. Arthur G. Powell, a local lawyer, had the building constructed in 1904 by the Columbus, Georgia construction firm Biggers and Crisp. It was initially a three-story building until a 1906 fire damaged it. In 1910, it was restored as a two-story building. The building is a curious design. The first floor and the front section of the building were always designed to be shops or offices. In a 1905 edition of the Early County News, there are advertisements for dentists, insurance agents, and attorneys. An advertisement for Irvin S. Olliff, a dentist, publicized that their offices are on the “Second floor front” of the Powell Opera House.
Located on the second floor of the Powell Building, which is sometimes known as the Southern States Life Insurance Building and The Gay Building, the theater has served as a storage facility for several decades. While it was known as an “Opera House,” no known operas were ever staged there.
In 1981, there was a push to restore the opera house and get it listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, that plan seemed to have stalled. Luckily, Susanne Reynolds, the Director of Economic Development of Early County, has spearheaded the effort to restore the space so that the community can use it.
The State Theatre opened in 1940 on Highland Avenue in the historic neighborhood of Centennial Hill. It operated as a movie theater for the Black community until at least 1955. Over the years, it underwent several name changes, including the Nu Art Theatre, the Ritz Theatre, and the Art Theatre. By 1995, the building had been repurposed as a nightclub called Top Flight Disco. In 2008, it reopened as the Rose Supper Club Inc., which operated until its closure in 2013. It is now vacant.
The Canton Theatre opened in 1911 and showed silent films. It was renamed “The Bonita” in the 1920s and renamed again “The Haven.” In the late 1930s, the Martin-Thompson Theatre Company acquired it, remodeling it in the Art Deco style and restoring its original name. After several years as a successful movie house, the theater closed in the 1970s. The town of Canton acquired the theater and reopened it in the 2000s.
The Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre, located in the heart of Marietta, Georgia, is an Art Deco gem that opened in 1935. Originally built as a movie palace by the Manning-Winks Theatre Company, the Strand is used for movies and the performing arts today. Manning-Winks was a theatre company that owned movie houses throughout north Georgia and eastern Tennessee.
The theater has a long history in the community. The first Strand was opened in 1914 on Atlanta Street, but like so many early buildings, it was lost to fire in 1929. The current location came to fruition after another fire damaged the buildings at this corner of Marietta Square.
The theater was used continuously until the early 2000s. It then fell into disrepair. Under the leadership of Earl and Rachel Smith, the theater was restored and reopened in 2009.
The DeSoto Theatre, which opened on August 5, 1929, was the first Southern theater built for “talkies.” Designed by O.C. Lam and modeled after the Roxy Theatre in New York, it featured modern amenities at a cost of over $100,000. After closing as a cinema in 1982, Rome Little Theatre transformed the space into a performance venue by adding a stage, orchestra pit, and new seating. In 2008, the Historic DeSoto Theatre Foundation was established, and the theater was deeded to the Foundation to preserve and maintain the historic building.
