Date:  ca. 1925

Image Number:  Roll3Neg20A

Comments:  Victory Hall, later called Victory Theatre, was completed in 1920 on Scottsville's Valley Street to commemorate the Armistice of World I.  Designed by D. Wiley Anderson, a local architect, the hall was constructed of yellowish brick made from John Martin's foundry on the low grounds of old Snowden.  Victory Hall became Scottsville's cultural center for over four decades as it hosted local dramatic productions as well as the traveling vaudeville and Chautauqua shows that came to town each year.  Even the famed violinist Fritz Kreisler once appeared here.

The hall comfortably sat an audience of over three hundred with an interior similar to an old opera house, complete with balcony, a lovely heavy velvet stage curtain and embossed valance, and huge moose heads on each side of the proscenium.  There were also two backstage dressing rooms.

With the advent of movies, William E. Burgess introduced silent films with player piano accompaniment to Victory Theatre audiences. Eventually the classics and musicals of Hollywood's Golden Era were shown here using a big screen and modern projectors; shown at right is the Burgess 'Talking Pictures' program for three months in 1934. However, live performances and events were always welcome on its stage.  For over thirty years, Victory Theatre was the venue for Scottsville High School's senior class plays, graduation ceremonies, beauty contests, and local talent shows.  In the 1940's and 50's, many of the future greats of country music performed on the Victory Theatre stage.

Victory Theatre eventually closed due, in part, to modern transportation and the increasing popularity of television.  In the early 1960's, it was converted into the Scottsville Municipal Building with town offices, meeting rooms, and a large parking bay first used by the volunteer fire department and later by the volunteer rescue squad for housing vehicles.