Atlanta Municipal Auditorium, originally known as the ''Auditorium and Armory'', was an

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoriums can be found in entertainment venues, community halls, and t ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, USA. It was constructed with funds raised by a committee of Atlanta citizens and then sold to the city of Atlanta. The structure was dedicated in a pre-inaugural visit from President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) served as the 27th president of the United States from 1909 to 1913 and the tenth chief justice of the United States from 1921 to 1930. He is the only person to have held both offices. ...

in 1909 during which he was served a

possum Possum may refer to: Animals * Didelphimorphia, or (o)possums, an order of marsupials native to the Americas ** Didelphis, a genus of marsupials within Didelphimorphia *** Common opossum, native to Central and South America *** Virginia opossum ...

dinner, and the dining hall in which this event took place was named in his honor. The public dedication of the Auditorium took place with the hosting of the inaugural Atlanta Music Festival in May 1909. The Auditorium and Armory also housed the 179th Field Artillery, who stored munitions there as well as using the space for drills. Over the years various concerts, theater productions,

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s, balls, and

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

matches were hosted at the auditorium, as were the 1922 to 1932

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

tournaments. One additional event of note was the ''

Gone with the Wind Gone with the Wind most often refers to: * Gone with the Wind (novel), ''Gone with the Wind'' (novel), a 1936 novel by Margaret Mitchell * Gone with the Wind (film), ''Gone with the Wind'' (film), the 1939 adaptation of the novel Gone with the Wind ...

'' Ball, held in conjunction with the 1939

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

of the film. The building originally had a red

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

facade. After a 1940 fire the original architect,

John Robert Dillon John Robert Dillon (died 1948) was an architect active in Atlanta, Georgia. He became associated with the Bruce and Morgan firm in 1903, which became Morgan and Dillon in 1904. A graduate of Northwestern School of Architecture, he was named a ...

, redesigned the exterior and it was rebuilt with a

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...

facade. Until

Woodruff Arts Center Woodruff Arts Center is a visual and performing arts center located in Atlanta, Georgia. The center houses three not-for-profit arts divisions on one campus. Opened in 1968, the Woodruff Arts Center is home to the Alliance Theatre, the Atlan ...

opened, the Municipal Auditorium was the home of the

Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) is an American orchestra based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The ASO's main concert venue is Atlanta Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center. History Though earlier organizations bearing the sam ...

. Prior to the GSU sale the building housed an Austin concert pipe organ, typical of such turn of the century municipal halls (Chattanooga's Soldiers and Sailor's Auditorium still has theirs). It was (poorly) located in the ceiling space above the stage. By around 1970 it was used only two weeks in the Spring when most of the Atlanta High Schools held their graduation ceremonies there. Exactly one piece was played, Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance". Elton John had a performance there during this time, wearing a red hotpants jumpsuit. On October 26, 1970, the auditorium hosted the first Muhammad Ali fight in over three years, against Jerry Quarry. Ali had been banned from boxing in over 50 locations due to his refusal to participate in the Vietnam War draft. Atlanta was the first city to offer him a venue to box, effectively breaking the ban. The building was sold in 1979 to

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is al ...

which now uses the structure as their Alumni Hall. On September 17, 2010, Georgia State University renamed their Alumni Hall Dahlberg Hall, after alumnus A. W. "Bill" Dahlberg. Atlanta Municipal Auditorium is located at Gilmer and Courtland Streets in

downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts (Midtown Atlanta, Midtown and Buckhead being the others), it is the location of many corporate and region ...

References

External links

Video documentary on history of building

{{Coord, 33, 45, 13, N, 84, 23, 4, W, display=t, type:landmark Defunct indoor arenas in the United States Georgia State University John Robert Dillon buildings Landmarks in Atlanta Music venues in Georgia (U.S. state) Sports venues in Atlanta Sports venues completed in 1909 Former music venues in the United States Indoor arenas in Georgia (U.S. state)