DeSoto Theater

History

In 1928, O.C. Lam, the owner of Lam Amusement Company, laid plans to construct a new movie theater in downtown Rome. Lam wanted to build a movie palace—a luxurious theater modeled after New York’s famed Roxy. Lam purchased a section of prime real estate on Broad Street, in the heart of downtown Rome, for $50,000. The building’s Greco-Roman exterior and Georgian interior stylishly housed a number of movie palace innovations. Designed as an “all-talkie motion picture house,” the DeSoto Theater was the first venue in the South designed and built for films with spoken dialogue. Like New York’s Roxy, the DeSoto boasted a Vitaphone sound system. Additionally, the DeSoto was heated and cooled by an innovative blower-fan air conditioning and tubular boiler system. Lam named his new movie palace after Hernando DeSoto, the renowned explorer who passed through the region in 1540.

At a construction cost of $110,000.00, the DeSoto Theater opened for business in August of 1929. With a seating capacity of approximately 1,000, the DeSoto was one of seven largest movie venues in Georgia. Lam surely realized his vision for a splendid movie palace. The DeSoto Theater served the region as one of the main sources of entertainment for Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama for the next fifty years. In 1982 the DeSoto closed as a movie theater but soon reopened as the permanent home of the Rome Little Theater, a non-profit community theater organization.

The Rome Little Theater has staged hundreds of live performances at the DeSoto in the last 26 years. The DeSoto continues to be a source of entertainment for downtown Rome, serving also as a venue for the annual Rome International Film Festival. More than 80 years since it first opened its doors, the DeSoto still retains its ArtDeco marquee, French mirrored entrance hall, and Georgian interior design.

In 2009 the ownership of the DeSoto was transferred to the newly formed Historic DeSoto Theatre Foundation and is now managed by the Foundation’s Board.

Town Demographics

Incorporated: December 29, 1847     Population: 34,980     Total Area: 29.84 square miles

Rome, the county seat of Floyd Country, was incorporated as a city December 29, 1847. The origin of the city’s name is quite interesting. It has been said that five travelers met at a spring in Rome, agreeing that it would be a fine place to start a city. They would establish the city by each placing a suggestion for a city name in a hat. Colonel Daniel R. Mitchell, who stated that the landscape of the city reminded him of Rome, Italy, drew the name.

Rome is home to numerous landmarks, monuments, and museums honoring the heritage of the city. Every October, Rome hosts the Heritage Days to pay tribute to the town’s forbearers. Also, the Festa Roma festival is held in Rome during the month of July.

According to the 2000 Census, the City of Rome had a population of 34,980 persons. Between 1990 and 2000 the city experienced a population increase of 15.0% compared to the state growth during this period of 26.4%.