Charleston Municipal Auditorium

Charleston's Municipal Auditorium opened on November fourth, nineteen thirty-nine, when five thousand people crowded in for a four-hour dedication ceremony. The building was a Public Works Administration project, funded by a city bond referendum paired with a two hundred twelve thousand dollar federal grant, together totaling about five hundred thousand dollars, and designed in Art Deco style by local architect Alphonso Wysong.

The concrete and steel structure holds three thousand four hundred eighty-three seats, making it the largest theater in West Virginia. Its bold geometric facade and soaring interior have changed little since the New Deal era. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in nineteen ninety-nine, the auditorium has hosted everything from symphony concerts and wrestling matches to rock shows, a durable civic anchor in the heart of the state capital.