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The Met was the first theatre in Morgantown to show a talking movie. “Scandals,” opening at the Met with its original cast before its multi-year run in New York, and “Pat Rooney’s Five Rodeo Boys,” featuring a three-year-old Mickey Rooney, also showed here.Īs the entertainment industry changed, so did the performances at the Met. During its early years, the Met housed operas such as “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Madame Butterfly,” and much more. The Met has housed some of the city’s best entertainment since its completion in 1924. The Met was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

In 1933, the Met became one of the first theatres in the country to install an air conditioning system, meaning that every cubic inch of air in the theatre was displaced with clean, fresh air every three minutes. The building originally contained four crystal chandeliers from Czechoslovakia, featuring 2,700 pieces each, but these melted during the 1930 fire and were replaced by simpler lighting. Additionally, the interior decorations were all designed specifically for the Met, which featured a color scheme of French gray, old rose, and gold. Over 4,000 barrels of cement were used in the construction of the theatre.

Bates as the small-town counterpart to New York’s Metropolitan Opera House and opened to the public on July 24, 1924. The Metropolitan Theatre is one of Morgantown’s best examples of Neo-classical Revival architecture and was described as “West Virginia’s most beautiful playhouse” upon its opening. Click here to learn more about the Met via the Historic Downtown Morgantown Audio Walking Tour.