Clemens Performing Arts Center

Opened on 21 December 1925 as the Powers Theater, with two and a half thousand seats for vaudeville and silent film, Elmira's grand house was twice nearly lost to the Chemung: the flood of 1946 and Hurricane Agnes in 1972 left it close to demolition. Citizens raised three-quarters of a million dollars, a preservation body was formed in 1975, and the theatre reopened in 1977 under the name of Samuel Clemens, who was often resident in Elmira while writing his books. Some six hundred seats were given up in that renovation. Mandeville Hall, a black-box room of 2,500 square feet, followed in 1987; lobby works came in 1999, and the restoration and expansion of the Powers Theater was completed in 2008.