14
WBM
letters to the editor
History Addition MANY
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EMAIL: 2info@wrightsvillebeachmagazine.com
MAIL: P.O. Box 1110, Wrightsville Beach, NC 28480
Letters to the editor may be edited for clarity.
thanks
for your
very interesting
article honoring
Tony Rivenbark’s
long and stellar
career at our
Thalian Hall.
Regarding your
sidebar “Who Built
Thalian” it should
be noted that in
December 1854
Wilmington and
Weldon Railroad
President Robert
H. Cowan, and
Donald MacRae
were charged with
securing plans for a
new building which would house both the theater and city hall. Historian James
Sprunt writes that Mr. Cowan was a Thalian member like his Uncle John, “a very
popular member who bore a prominent part in all their representations.”
As you correctly point out, prominent theater architect John M. Trimble of
New York was selected for the design, though the structure was actually built
by two contractors, Nantucket native Robert B. Wood and G.W. Rose. Local
architect and New Jersey-native James Post provided project supervision and
subcontracted the carpentry. In addition to using available white artisans, Post and
Wood often employed slave carpenters, masons and plasterers owned by free black
contractors.
It is important to mention all who helped erect such a beautiful building we can
admire today.
— Bernhard Thuersam, Historian, Wilmington, NC
I WOULD like to congratulate your magazine on a most memorable September
issue. The history of Thalian Hall was excellent and Tony Rivenbark was a true
treasure. I thought that your March 2022 issue was hard to beat...but you did it!!
— Carol Radford, Wilmington, NC
Wendy Laursen
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Tony Rivenbark on Thalian Hall’s main stage after the major
expansion and reopening in 2010.
BROWNIE HARRIS
october 2022