The Murphy Theatre
Charles Webb Murphy, who owned the Chicago Cubs during their glory years of 1906-1914, built this landmark in downtown Wilmington's historic district. Built as a monument to Murphy, this theater boasts 750 seats and has been restored to its original grandeur. The stately theater is still utilized when nationally-known acts grace its stage or community theater is featured. - See more at: http://www.clintoncountyohio.com/local-attractions.php#sthash.jVbm1f6Q.dpuf
The Murphy Theatre opened on a warm evening late in July of 1918, and although Charles Webb Murphy's Chicago Cubs had won four pennants and two world series between 1906 and 1914, the opening of his theater seemed to give him more pleasure. He owned the Cubs, of course, and at the time it was said he was the best-known baseball man in the world. But when he built the Murphy he owned his hometown.
The Murphy Theatre was built out of all perspective for where it was. It had a thousand seats in a town of barley 5,000, and yet during the three performances of opening night, 3,000 people bought tickets, and nearly that many more were turned away. (Charlie sneaked some of his friends in through the basement).
Everything went on there - plays, vaudeville, lectures, minstrel shows, movies. The high school graduations were held there, and band concerts. Most of the town, and the surrounding countryside as well, was intimately connected to it, in one way or another. There were churches for salvation, banks for business, the college for education, and the courthouse for justice, at least upon occasion, but the Murphy was the one institution that performed all those functions, and did so effortlessly.
Its grand, old-fashioned marquee still throws light over the center of town, welcoming both travelers and the homeward-bound. The absence of it would render Wilmington as lifeless in appearance as those other small, undistinguished, forgettable towns across Ohio that grow dark and turn inward at nightfall.
An obvious fact is that the Murphy needs the town. A less obvious fact is that the town needs the Murphy.
Explore Related Categories
