Early African American Theaters in Louisville, KY

The first African American moving picture theater in Louisville was opened by Edward Lee in 1908, located at 13th and Walnut Streets. Lee also owned the Taft Theatre at 1314 Cedar Street and The New Odd Fellows Theatre that opened in 1908. The New Tick Houston Theatre on Walnut Street between Ninth and Tenth Streets was opened to African Americans in 1910. This information comes from The Ghost Walks; a chronological history of blacks in show business, 1865-1910, by H. T. Sampson. See also "Theater for colored people opens to-morrow," The Courier-Journal, 05/16/1908, p.8; "Grand Opening of the Odd Fellows Theater," an ad in The Courier-Journal, 10/18/1908, p.14.