Madera remembered Athletic Hall

For The Madera Tribune

Looking east on Yosemite Avenue from E Street, this 1928 photograph shows the two-story building which housed the Masonic Lodge rooms, Athletic Hall, and the Opera House in its upper floor. It can be located in the middle of the block down from the Rosenthal-Kutner building.

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In July 1966, somebody decided to change the appearance of downtown Madera by taking the top off of the Richard Mah building in the 200 block on the south side of Yosemite Avenue.

The demolition project was the talk of the town and made the front page of The Madera Tribune. The landmark building had been around for a long time, and many hated to see it go, for it had once housed Madera’s first Masonic Lodge, Athletic Hall and the old Madera Opera House in which Madera’s first movies were shown.

Although the Madera County Assessor’s office dated the construction of the building at 1900, John Gordon, one of Madera’s early mayors said it was standing when he came to town in 1897.