After a string of short-lived performance halls from as early as 1832, a group of prominent businessmen founded what would be the pinnacle of Macon‘s cultural-venue life: The Academy of Music. The venue featured a magnificent rose window, and its opening night was the event of the season. However, as beautiful as it was, it took less than twenty years for the Academy of Music to become obsolete.
In August of 1902, the Academy’s stockholders met to finalize plans to modernize the entire footprint of the building. Ultimately, they modernized in the extreme: All of the old Academy building was demolished, and a seven-story metropolitan-style office tower was constructed with a much larger theater incorporated behind it.