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Dunbar Theatre was a 1600-seat theatre and jazz club on the corner of Lombard Street andBroad Street inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania.[1] It opened in 1919 and was later called theGibson Theatre andLincoln Theatre.
The theatre was opened on December 29, 1919 by African-American bankers E. C. Brown and Andrew Stevens, Jr. with a performance from theLafayette Theatre group fromHarlem, who were raising money for theNAACP andMarcus Garvey. They performedShuffle Along at Dunbar, before moving to Broadway where it premiered as the first all-black cast and production.[2] Brown and Stevens ran into financial difficulty and in September 1921[3] the theatre was acquired by businessmanJohn T. Gibson, who bought it for $420,000,[4] offering a 10% share to another partner.[2][5] The club, which was renamed the Gibson Theatre, along with theStandard Theatre made Gibson the wealthiest African-American in Philadelphia in the 1920s.[6]
Despite his wealth and the club's success, Gibson was ruined by The Great Depression, and the theatre was sold to Jewish owners in December 1929,[7] who renamed it the Lincoln Theatre.[2] As early as October 1928 it was announced thatIrvin C. Miller would take over the theatre, known at the time as the Gibson.[8]
It flourished as a jazz venue in the 1930s and 1940s with performances from the likes ofDuke Ellington,Lena Horne and theNicholas Brothers.[2]
Today there is a historical marker sign at 500 South Broad Street on the southwest corner of Broad and Lombard Streets in the city remembering the theatre and its role in history as a successful venue for black performers of the 1920s to 1940s.[2]
39°56′40″N75°09′56″W / 39.94444°N 75.16556°W /39.94444; -75.16556