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George W. Thatcher Jr. built the Capitol with the intent to out-do the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. However the name Capitol Theatre was not formed to rival the Capitol Theatre in Salt Lake City. In Salt Lake City, the theatre was first called the Orpheum Theatre, completed in 1913, and the name was later changed to Capitol Theatre in 1927. The Capitol Theatre took two years to build and opened March 29, 1923 at the cost of $250,000. The Thatchers financed the project designed by B. Marcus Priteca who also built theatres in Washington and California. George W. Thatcher Jr. wanted it to be the finest theatre west of the Mississippi, the “Jewel of Cache Valley”. Abbot and Costello, John Philip Sousa, the Marx Brothers, and George Burns and Gracie Allen performed at the Capitol Theatre. VIPs such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Ted Williams and Jackie Kennedy Onassis have visited the theatre.
The Capitol Theatre became the center of cultural activity in Cache Valley. Logan was referred to as “the Athens of the West.” The Theatre’s design assimilates Neoclassical, Italian renaissance and a touch of Chinese art, featuring patterns of fleur-de-lis, fruit, cherubs, leaves, mythological figures of Zeus and Poseidon, the Muse of Art, eagles, strings, horns, lions and rams. The laurel wreaths are a symbol of high achievement. The ram heads are found at the Temple at Carnac in Egypt, a symbol of great power. The egg and dart pattern molding is a symbol of life and death coming together. The Greek Muse is the symbol of all the Arts.
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