The Riley Center, also known as the Grand Opera House and formally as the Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts is a performing arts and conference center in Meridian, Mississippi. Added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and renovated in September 2006, it is remarkable for being preserved to its original beauty while incorporating the latest in modern technology and amenities. The Grand Opera House and the adjacent Marks-Rothenberg Department store were built in 1889 by two half brothers, Israel Marks and Levi Rothenberg. In addition to the extensive theater renovation, the department store was completely transformed into a state of the art conference facility. Together the theater and conference space make up the Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts, owned and operated by Mississippi State University-Meridian Campus.
Read more about Riley Center: Riley Center Today
Famous quotes containing the words riley and/or center:
“the ache here in the throat,
To know that I so ill deserve the place
Her arms make for me;”
—James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916)
“Actually being married seemed so crowded with unspoken rules and odd secrets and unfathomable responsibilities that it had no more occurred to her to imagine being married herself than it had to imagine driving a motorcycle or having a job. She had, however, thought about being a bride, which had more to do with being the center of attention and looking inexplicably, temporarily beautiful than it did with sharing a double bed with someone with hairy legs and a drawer full of boxer shorts.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)