LINCOLN HALL

Inscription

LINCOLN HALL
AUDITORIUM DEDICATED IN 1903.
DESIGNED BY A. RUSSELL. LATER,
W. SABINE IMPROVED ACOUSTICS.
HELD NATIONAL ACTS, SYRACUSE
SYMPHONY & CENTRAL HS EVENTS.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2024

Located in the business district of downtown Syracuse is the former Syracuse Central High School. And within the school is the Lincoln Hall auditorium, which served as an important gathering space for students, educators and the broader Syracuse community alike.

Designed by noted architect Archimedes Russell, the Central High School building is an awe-inspiring structure, as evidenced by its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981.

However, despite this, there was an initial flaw to the building that was quickly discovered once classes commenced in 1903: that being, the acoustics of Lincoln Hall, or, the school auditorium.

After being dedicated in 1903 as Lincoln Hall in honor of President Abraham Lincoln, it was soon realized that the spacious design of the room impacted sound quality. It was bad enough that only four years later, Harvard physicist and acoustic specialist Wallace Clement Sabine was brought in by the school district to evaluate, and hopefully improve the acoustics of the space.

Sabine proposed a solution, adding curtains and felt to the walls, which did the trick. Regarding the improvements, the Syracuse Herald reported in its April 2^nd, 1908, edition:

“It will be remembered that last summer professor Sabine of Harvard, expert in acoustics, so treated the walls with felt and canvas that instead of being the worst it is the best hall in the city for music and for speaking.”

Those improvements quickly made Lincoln Hall a popular concert venue, which hosted national acts, symphonies and orchestras from across the county, and, just as importantly for those who attended Central High, school functions and gatherings.

Later, Lincoln Hall was enlarged and updated with increased seating, at which point it became more frequently referred to as “Lincoln Auditorium,” though use of “Lincoln Hall” remained common enough in advertisements for upcoming events. In fact, creating some initial confusion, at one point there was another nearby “Lincoln Auditorium” according to the January 24^th, 1932, edition of The Syracuse American:

“Attention is called to the great confusion which results from the fact there is a Lincoln hall and a Lincoln auditorium, the first being located in Central High School, the second being located in Lincoln Junior High School. Numerous instances are known in which people have driven from considerable distance arriving at the Lincoln School auditorium at the hour when the performance they plan on seeing starts at Lincoln hall, three miles away.”

Despite this, Lincoln Hall remained a popular venue for events until the 1970s when the school was closed.

Since then, the Lincoln Hall auditorium has remained quiet; however, a recent development promises a new future for it, as well as the school itself. Syracuse City School District plans on reopening the building as a STEAM school with several innovative programs that students will be able to choose from.

Still, even as the courses offered seek to prepare students for emerging fields of the 21^st century, the history of the building will be preserved with a historical marker. This is thanks to the dedicated efforts and research of a 12th-grade public policy class at the adjacent Institute of Technology at Syracuse Central, led by social studies teacher Katie Argus, who submitted the application for a historical marker for Lincoln Hall.

For more information about the events hosted in Lincoln Hall, visit New York Heritage Digital Collections, which includes a digitized collection of programs held there between 1930–1972.

LINCOLN HALL

Links