The original building on this site was home to the Athens YMCA from 1889 until 1919, then became a music store, movie house, hotel, Masonic Temple, furniture company, and Sears Roebuck store before being replaced by the Elite Theatre in 1935. Except for a brief period as a Methodist church, the theatre, later renamed the Georgia Theatre, served as a significant performance venue for emerging and established musicians from Athens and beyond. After fire devastated the historic concert hall on June 19th, 2009, it was rebuilt with reverence for the creative spirit long embraced in Athens, and it stands reborn through the diligent restoration work of the people of Athens and others who helped restore it and make it better.