The Lincoln opened on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 1928, as the Ogden Theatre and Ballroom. Local entrepreneur Al Jackson developed it, and architect Carl Anderson dressed it in Egyptian Revival style, a look that was in fashion for a few years after King Tut's tomb was found in 1922. The details drew on the Temple of Karnak. It took the Lincoln name in 1939.
A stage for Black Columbus
For more than 40 years the Lincoln was a main stage for Columbus's African American community, showing films alongside vaudeville and live music. Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Miles Davis, James Brown and Nancy Wilson all played here. Sammy Davis Jr. performed on the Ogden stage when he was three years old.
Highway construction and integration pulled residents toward the suburbs, and the theater closed in the early 1970s. By 1991 it was slated for demolition.
Saved and reopened
A renovation began in 2007, and the Lincoln reopened in May 2009. Broadway star Maurice Hines gave the first performance on May 28. The City of Columbus owns the building, CAPA manages it, and the Columbus Jazz Arts Group presents concerts here and runs a jazz academy.
The restored house seats a little under 600, which keeps every show close. Jazz is the heart of the place. See our jazz and blues calendar and R&B shows for what is coming.
Crossing Long Street
The Lincoln sits on East Long Street just east of downtown. Coming from downtown, Long Street crosses I-71 on a bridge cap lined with the Cultural Wall, 60 panels of art and photographs about the neighborhood's history. The interstate split King-Lincoln from downtown in the 1960s, and the cap, finished in 2014, was built to stitch the two back together.
There is street parking on the blocks around Long Street, and downtown garages are a short drive west if those fill up.
Nearby
The King Arts Complex, another cultural anchor for the neighborhood, is just north on Mount Vernon Avenue. If you are making a night of downtown theaters, the Southern Theatre is a short drive away.