MOTTS, ROBERT (BOB
). Music hall proprietor (Washington, Iowa; in Chicago, Illinois). He was credited with being the promoter of the first colored theater in the United States
(IndF, 15 July 1911). Originally owner of a saloon, he converted it to a beer garden in 1903 and to a music hall in 1904; in 1905, he razed the building to erect a new one, the Pekin Theater. His
Pekin Theater Stock Company
not only staged productions in the theater...