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As the third largest city in the state, there are a lot of things to do and places to go in Rochester, Minnesota.

Rochester attractions and events are the focus of topics in this category. These may include concerts, festivals, and fairs, as well as sports programs, sporting or recreational facilities, or teams. Other appropriate topics for this category include local parks and zoos, museums, historical places, libraries, theaters, opera houses, art galleries, and entertainment venues, such as arcades. Theater and performing arts groups, orchestras, and bands in Rochester may also be submitted to this category.

Rochester has a history of appreciation for the theater and other types of early entertainment.

Throughout the country, people gathered in theaters during the early 20th century, and Rochester was no exception. The city was home to several ornate theaters. One of the most popular of its theaters was the Chateau Dodge Theatre, built in 1927. Featuring an interior decorated like a medieval village, the Chateau Theatre was originally a vaudeville house. The building still exists, although the original mezzanine and inner lobby are gone, and its front doors now face a green space rather than 1st Street Southwest. Now owned by the city, the intentions are to turn it into a multi-use performing arts center.

From 1885 to 1889, the Palace Opera House served as an entertainment center. After its early demise, the Metropolitan opened in 1902, hosting national vaudeville troupes and performing artists. Highly successful, the Met converted to motion pictures in 1915, as silent movies were all the rage. By the 1930s, the enthusiasm had faded, and the building was demolished in 1937, to be replaced by a Montgomery Ward store.

The Majestic opened in 1908. It was a comparatively small theater, with only two hundred seats, as compared to the Metropolitan's thousand seats. The Majestic was originally housed in a remodeled store building but moved to a new location on South Broadway in 1909. The Majestic was active for quite a while, but eventually, it closed its doors and faded into memory.

The Empress opened in 1914 and was heralded as being exceedingly modern and comfortable. The Saxe Theatre, which later became the Strand Theatre, had opened a month earlier than the Empress and had a seating capacity of 1,600. In the 1940s, people were filling the Empress on Saturday afternoons to view serials, each of which enticed viewers to return the following week for a continuation of the story. The serials ran before the full-length film, so attending the theater took up the entire afternoon. The Empress closed in 1956 and was razed in 1965 to make room for a parking lot.

The Lawler first opened in 1916 as B.B. Theatre. The three-story building seated a thousand, and the movie screen was centered beneath an arch framed by columns on each side. Sometime after the 1940s, the original marquee was replaced with a new one. Eventually, age took its toll, and by the time that it closed in 1985, it was a shadow of its former self. It was demolished in 1988.

The Time Theater opened in 1937, and included air conditioning and a fountain. Seating 420, it would be the last single-screen theater built in Rochester. After changing hands a couple of time, it became known for X-rated films during the 1960s. In 1982, it was converted into a restaurant.

The Starlite Drive-In opened in 1948 and averaged three new movies a week. When the Starlite North opened in 1971, the Starlite became the Starlite South. Starlite South closed in 1977, while Starlite North continued until 1988.

Rochester has a large park and trail system, with more than a hundred sites covering five square miles of parkland, as well as eighty-five miles of paved trails.

Additionally, the city includes several recreational facilities, such as the Quarry Hill Nature Center, Nordic ski trails, and four public golf courses: Eastwood Golf Club, Hadley Creek, Northern Hills, and Soldiers Field Golf Course.

The Rochester Art Center is situated downtown, and the oldest cultural arts institution in the city is the Rochester Symphony Orchestra & Chorale, founded in 1919. Originally, the Orchestra performed background music for silent movies shown at the Chateau Theatre.

Rochester also has several museums and historical buildings, many of which are open for tours. Although officially established in 1895, the Rochester Public Library has its roots in the Rochester Library Association, organized in 1865, and the Free Library and Reading Room Association of 1883.

Websites representing any of a variety of things to do and places to see in Rochester, Minnesota may be appropriate for this category.

 

 

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