The Holliday Street Theater also known as the New Theatre, New Holliday, Old Holliday, The Baltimore Theatre, and Old Drury, was a historical theatrical venue in Federal Period Baltimore, Maryland. It is known for showing the first performance of Francis Scott Key's "The Star-Spangled Banner". [1]
The New Theater on Holliday Street was founded by two business partners in 1794 and was opened to the public on September 25, 1795. The theater showcased a variety of acts, including comedy, dance, music ensembles, and opera. It also hosted a production of John Howard Payne's opera Clari in the early 1800s.
As the theater's popularity grew, management decided to demolish the existing wooden building (which was now known as Old Holliday Theater), and replace it with a new brick one. The new venue opened in May 1813 as The Baltimore, though eventually it retained its name as the Holliday Street Theater. Over time, it came to be known informally as Old Drury. [1]
On October 19, 1814, lyrics from Francis Scott Key's poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" set to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven" were performed onstage at the theater; it was so enthusiastically received that the performance was repeated for several nights afterward. As the song – now known as The Star-Spangled Banner – gained in popularity, it was accompanied by an illuminated scene of the siege on Fort McHenry. [2] The song would be adopted as the United States national anthem a century later.
The theater was shuttered in the late 1840s, and in 1854 was purchased by John T. Ford, the theater manager who would go on to operate Ford's Theatre and Ford's Grand Opera House. The Holliday Street Theater was damaged by fire in 1873; Ford rebuilt it and eventually sold it back to those from whom he had bought it. The building again fell into disrepair and was finally converted into a motion picture theater. It was demolished in 1917 to make room for the War Memorial Plaza. The site is located between the War Memorial Building and Baltimore City Hall. [3]
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and poet from Frederick, Maryland, best known as the author of the text of the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner". Key observed the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 during the War of 1812. He was inspired upon seeing the American flag still flying over the fort at dawn and wrote the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry"; it was published within a week with the suggested tune of the popular song "To Anacreon in Heaven". The song with Key's lyrics became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner" and slowly gained in popularity as an unofficial anthem, finally achieving official status as the national anthem more than a century later under President Herbert Hoover.
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the large U.S. flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort after the battle.
Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attack by the British navy from Chesapeake Bay on September 13–14, 1814.
The Star-Spangled Banner Flag House, formerly the Flag House & Star-Spangled Banner Museum, is a museum located in the Jonestown/Old Town and adjacent to Little Italy neighborhoods of eastern downtown Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
Mary Pickersgill was the maker of the Star-Spangled Banner hoisted over Fort McHenry during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. The daughter of another noted flag maker, Rebecca Young, Pickersgill learned her craft from her mother, and in 1813 she was commissioned by Major George Armistead to make a flag for Baltimore's Fort McHenry that was so large that the British would have no difficulty seeing it from a great distance. The flag was installed in August 1813 and, during the Battle of Baltimore a year later, Francis Scott Key could see the flag while negotiating a prisoner exchange aboard a British vessel and was inspired to pen the words that became the United States National Anthem in 1931.
Defenders Day is a longtime legal holiday on September 12, in the U.S. state of Maryland, in the City of Baltimore and surrounding Baltimore County. It commemorates the successful defense of the city of Baltimore on September 12-13-14, 1814 from an invading British force during the War of 1812, an event which led to the writing of the words of a poem, which when set to music a few days later, became known as "The Star-Spangled Banner", which in 1931 was designated as the national anthem of the United States.
The music of Baltimore, the largest city in Maryland, can be documented as far back as 1784, and the city has become a regional center for Western classical music and jazz. Early Baltimore was home to popular opera and musical theatre, and an important part of the music of Maryland, while the city also hosted several major music publishing firms until well into the 19th century, when Baltimore also saw the rise of native musical instrument manufacturing, specifically pianos and woodwind instruments. African American music existed in Baltimore during the colonial era, and the city was home to vibrant black musical life by the 1860s. Baltimore's African American heritage to the start of the 20th century included ragtime and gospel music. By the end of that century, Baltimore jazz had become a well-recognized scene among jazz fans, and produced a number of local performers to gain national reputations. The city was a major stop on the African American East Coast touring circuit, and it remains a popular regional draw for live performances. Baltimore has produced a wide range of modern rock, punk and metal bands and several indie labels catering to a variety of audiences.
The Star-Spangled Banner, or the Great Garrison Flag, was the garrison flag that flew over Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor during the naval portion of the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. It is on exhibit at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Seeing the flag flying over Fort McHenry on the morning of September 14, 1814, after the battle ended, Francis Scott Key was inspired to write the poem "Defence of Fort M'Henry". These words were written by Key and set to the tune of "To Anacreon in Heaven", a popular song at the time, by John Stafford Smith. In 1931 the song became the national anthem of the United States.
John Adolph Emil Eberson was an Austrian-American architect best known for the development and promotion of movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre style. He designed over 500 theatres in his lifetime, earning the nickname "Opera House John". His most notable surviving theatres in the United States include the Tampa Theatre (1926), Palace Theatre Marion (1928), Palace Theatre Louisville (1928), Majestic Theatre (1929), Akron Civic Theatre (1929), the Paramount Theatre (1929), the State Theater 1927, and the Lewis J. Warner Memorial Theater (1932) at Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts. Remaining international examples in the atmospheric style include both the Capitol Theatre (1928) and State Theatre (1929) in Sydney, Australia, The Forum and Le Grand Rex.
John Thompson Ford was an American theater manager and politician during the nineteenth century. He is most notable for operating Ford's Theatre at the time of the Abraham Lincoln assassination.
The Baltimore County Sheriff's Office (BCoSO) is a Sheriff's Office in Baltimore County, Maryland, US, and the secondary law enforcement agency of the County which provides protection for the Baltimore County Courthouse in Towson, Maryland. The Baltimore County Sheriff's Office is one of the oldest sheriff's offices in existence in the State of Maryland, dating back to 1659, the year of the County's founding.
The Baltimore County Courthouses are located in Towson, Maryland, the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The older, original Baltimore County Courthouse was built between 1854 and 1856. It has had three additions that eventually formed an 'H' shape. It houses many of the offices of the county government, including the executive branch, county executive, and their departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and other bodies, and the county council.
The Baltimore City Heritage Walk is a heritage trail that links 20 historic sites and museums in downtown Baltimore, Maryland.
War Memorial Plaza is a public square, small park and space in Downtown Baltimore between City Hall and the War Memorial Building, between Holliday Street on the west, East Fayette Street on the south, North Gay Street on the east, and East Lexington Street on the north.
The Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was the first theater in the United States built by entrepreneurs solely as a venue for paying audiences.
The Francis Scott Key Monument is a monument to the author of the text of the American national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner", in the Bolton Hill neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The monument features a gilded statue of Lady Columbia waving a flag on a pedestal of four stone columns, surrounded on two sides by gilded reliefs depicting the Battle of Baltimore. At the pedestal's base is a bronze statue of Francis Scott Key standing in a rowboat carved from stone.
Brown's Brewery was a brewery located on East Lombard Street in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1813, Mary Pickersgill sewed the famous Star Spangled Banner Flag in one of its malthouses. At the time, the brewery was owned by Baltimore merchant George I. Brown who had bought it from Edward Johnson, the third Mayor of Baltimore. George Brown sold the brewery to Eli Claggett in 1818, and until its final closure in 1879, it was known as Claggett's Brewery. The site once occupied by the brewery was excavated in 1983 as the Baltimore Center for Urban Archeology's first project.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Orpheus with the Awkward Foot is a monumental statue located at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The monument, designed by sculptor Charles Henry Niehaus, was commissioned by the United States Commission of Fine Arts to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the writing of "The Star-Spangled Banner", written by Francis Scott Key during the Battle of Baltimore in 1814. The statue was dedicated in 1922, with U.S. President Warren G. Harding in attendance.
The Key House, also referred to as the Key Mansion, was the Washington, D.C., home of lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key from 1805 to 1830. It was built in 1795 and demolished in the 1940s for a highway ramp.
39°17′27.25″N76°36′36″W / 39.2909028°N 76.61000°W