Canton Palace Theatre

The Canton Palace Theatre dates back to 1926, and was a gift to the community of Canton by local entrepreneur Harry Harper Ink. At the time of it's opening, Canton was alive with 1920s' roaring culture of dance, post-prohibition partying, and nights out on the town. Big Bands would play there often in the 1930s and 1940s, perhaps the beginning of the music scene in Downtown Canton.

The palace was designed by John Eberson, an Austrian-born architect who had a niche for designing atmospheric theaters, including the Akron Civic Center. The design of the theater itself was to imitate a Spanish outdoor Summer evening, including a starry night ceiling with clouds, which are still being made by the Theatre's original cloud machine. In addition to that, the two giraffe plaques above the arch of the stage are an honor of the entrepreneur who paid for the Theatre, as the bottles of cough syrup his company produced came in giraffe shaped bottles. Other ornate additions to the Theatre include a system for numerous stage curtains and theatrical backdrops, an orchestral pit for eighteen musicians, eleven dressing rooms, a chorus, music, and shower room, and a musician's lounge.

https://cantonpalacetheatre.org/about-us/#palace-history