Once known as the Tivoli Theatre, the Weinberg has stood as a fixture in downtown Frederick for generations, but its history also reflects a period when Black patrons were separated from white audiences and required to use separate facilities. Members of the Frederick community gathered at the Weinberg Center for the Arts for a moment of reflection and learning as a new interpretive panel documenting the theater’s history of segregation was unveiled.
Physical remnants of those segregated spaces remain within the Weinberg today, providing a tangible connection to a difficult chapter in the city’s past. The new interpretive panel places that history within the broader story of the Weinberg Center and Frederick over the past century, creating an opportunity for visitors to understand not only the theater’s architectural history, but also the experiences of the people who entered its doors.
Preserving and sharing these stories provides an opportunity to acknowledge the full history of Frederick while creating space for continued learning and a more inclusive future. The interpretive panel unveiling can be viewed online [here].
Photo Credit: COF