The Dixie | |
Former names | Astor Theater (1928-1932), Rialto (1932-1956) |
---|---|
Address | 212 North Vienna Street |
Location | Ruston, Louisiana |
Owner | Private |
Type | Theatre |
Genre(s) | Performing Arts, Symphony, Theatre |
Seating type | Auditorium |
Construction | |
Opened | 1928 |
Renovated | 1933, 1956, 1999, 2006 |
Website | |
dixiecenter | |
Dixie Theatre | |
Location | 212 North Vienna Street, Ruston, Louisiana |
Coordinates | 32°31′49″N92°38′16″W / 32.53015°N 92.63775°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Part of | Downtown Ruston Historic District (ID100000598) |
NRHP reference No. | 93001105 [1] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 14, 1993 |
Designated CP | January 31, 2017 |
The Dixie Center for the Arts, also known as the Dixie Theater or simply the Dixie, is a theater-style venue located at 212 North Vienna Street in Ruston, Louisiana.
The venue originally opened as the Astor Theater in 1928. The Astor offered showings of silent films and live concerts with tickets ranging from 10 to 50 cents. In 1932 the Astor Theater underwent lite renovations with the most notable being the addition of a crystal chandelier and a change in identity from the Astor to the Rialto. [2]
In the early 1950s, the theater underwent one last name change. After being purchased from the famous Dixie Theater Corporation of New Orleans, the space was officially known as the Dixie Theater. The corporation renovated the space and re-opened in 1956. The most notable renovation to the space was the addition of air conditioning and the iconic flashing neon star which rises above the marquee. [2]
After years of neglect and disrepair, the space underwent an extensive renovation to preserve the historic venue. The Dixie Center for the Arts held a grand re-opening for the space in 2006 and has remained the proprietor of the property since. [2]
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 14, 1993. [1] [3] [4] It was also declared a contributing property of Downtown Ruston Historic District at the time of its creation on January 31, 2017. [5]
In addition to being a rent-able space for various event, many artistic and musical organizations call the Dixie their home.
Ruston is a small city and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. The 2020 population was 22,166. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex region and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Ruston is the principal city of the Ruston micropolitan statistical area, which includes all of Lincoln Parish.
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The History of Louisiana Tech University began when the Industrial Institute and College of Louisiana was founded in Ruston, Louisiana in 1894. The institute was founded to develop an industrial economy in the state of Louisiana. Four years later, the school was renamed the Louisiana Industrial Institute when Louisiana adopted the Constitution of 1898. When the Constitution of 1921 was passed, the school changed its name again to Louisiana Polytechnic Institute to reflect the school's evolution from a trade school into a larger and broader technical institute. Although the university was informally called Louisiana Tech for about five decades after the 1921 name change, it was not until 1970 when Louisiana Polytechnic Institute officially changed its name to Louisiana Tech University. Over the course of its history, the school grew from a small industrial institute with one building to a university with five colleges and an enrollment of around 11,800 students.
Rivalry in Dixie is the name given to the Louisiana Tech–Southern Miss football rivalry. It is a college football rivalry game between the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and Southern Miss Golden Eagles.
The Ruston USO is a historic building located at 212 North Trenton Street in Ruston, Louisiana.
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Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC), formerly the "movie palace" known as the Rahway Theatre, is a non-profit performance venue in Rahway, New Jersey, a small city west of Staten Island that was recently named "#2 Best Small Town Arts Scene" in the country by USA Today. As of the early 2020s, downtown Rahway has become a regional hub in the performing and visual arts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
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Media related to Dixie Theater at Wikimedia Commons