Vintage Black & White Photo of the Adelphi Theater in Chicago 

PRE-WW1 Black Americana

Wire Service Print

 Photo of the Adelphi Theatre.  According to a website about cinema, it was opened in 1912 by O.C. Hammond, who, along with his sons, operated a small chain of theatres on the South Side.  This picture lists the address as Clark & Estes, Chicago. 

Again according to the Cinema Treasures Website; the Hammonds' theatres were a place where African-Americans, pouring into the South Side of Chicago from the South during this time, could be entertained in comfort and class, which they were not able to enjoy at the majority of the theatres in the area which catered to white audiences and often treated African-Americans poorly or denied them admittance entirely.

The Adelphi Theatre was located on S. Indiana Avenue at E. 31st Street, across from Dunbar Park. The Adelphi Theatre was renamed Elba Theatre by 1920 and continued to operate at least through the 1930’s. In 1952 it was converted into a bowling alley. It has been demolished.

I do not know the date of the photo but the estate that I bought it from sold many photos taken from WW1 to the 1960's. 

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