Temple Theater

The Hamasa Shriners outgrew their old building and hired the architect Emile Weil, who gave the new temple a Moorish Revival design. Construction began in 1923 and the ballroom opened in 1924. In 1927 the Shriners leased the theater to the Saenger company of New Orleans, which made it a movie house of about 1,800 seats and renewed the lease in 1952. The Robert Morton organ, with 608 pipes and a toy counter of sound effects, was damaged by rain and restored by theater-organ enthusiasts. Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson and Bill Monroe played the stage.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Meridian Civil Rights Trail — steps away
  An 18-stop self-guided trail through Meridian, from the Black business district and the 1964 Freedom Summer office to Wechsler School, the federal courthouse and James Chaney's grave.
• Mississippi Arts + Entertainment Experience — 0.3 mi
  Meridian's two-level museum of Mississippi artists and entertainers, opened in 2018, with a Hall of Fame and a Walk of Fame that leads to it from the Riley Center.
• Jimmie Rodgers Museum — 0.3 mi
  The museum in Meridian that holds the guitar of the Singing Brakeman, Jimmie Rodgers, the first inductee of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
• Highland Park Dentzel Carousel — 1.2 mi
  The last two-row stationary Dentzel menagerie in the world, in its original carousel house in Meridian's Highland Park, a National Historic Landmark since 1987.

More markers nearby

• Meridian Rhythm & Blues and Soul Music — steps away
• Elsie McWilliams — 0.2 mi
• Moe Bandy — 0.3 mi
• Meridian — 0.4 mi