Philadelphia’s South Street corridor has long been a central location for the arts, dating back to 1767. Its Southwark Theatre, once on the corner of today’s South and Leithgow Streets, was the first and oldest theater in America.
And in the area where fans now line up outside the Theatre of the Living Arts for a concert or at Repo Records for a listening party, there once stood two theaters that served as a hub for Black artistry, attracting crowds as far back as the early 1900s. And they were all owned by one man.
John Trusty Gibson was born in Baltimore in 1878. While there he studied at Morgan College Preparatory School (now Morgan State University). After he left in 1890 in pursuit of economic opportunities, he lived primarily in West Philly and the Pennsylvania suburbs.
At the time jazz was growing in prominence in the city and around the country. During the Great Migration, a period in the early 20th century when Black Americans from the rural South moved to urban centers in the North, some took their musical traditions with them and merged ragtime and blues into a new genre.
It was during this time that Gibson purchased the Standard Theatre at 1124 South Street. Originally a Baptist church, the building served as a venue for vaudeville shows and performances of popular music. The theater attracted diverse audiences who heard jazz giants like Duke Ellington and Ethel Waters.
Gibson later expanded his business by opening the Dunbar Theatre, within walking distance of South Street at Broad and Lombard Streets, in 1919. The building was originally constructed for Black bankers, and became a home for musical comedy and roadshows. It was later renamed the Gibson Theatre.
These venues were considered part of the “Chitlin’ Circuit, which provided work for Black performers during the Jim Crow era. And thanks to the popularity of his theaters, Gibson became the richest Black man in Philadelphia.
But having heavily invested in real estate, Gibson lost his properties. The Dunbar and Standard would become movie houses and eventually close. Gibson died in 1937, living close to poverty in his final years.
Today, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Division of Disease Control stands at the former site of the Dunbar/Gibson Theatre. At the former site of the Standard Theater, there’s a shuttered Caribbean restaurant. History markers commemorating the former theaters are at both sites.
Although Gibson’s theaters no longer exist, Philadelphia’s jazz legacy remains alive.
