Greenville Texas Municipal Building and Auditorium, opened in October 1939
On a fall evening in 1939 former Greenville resident and recognized baritone Mack Harrell made his hometown debut with a German Lieder recital. The event held on Thursday, October 26, 1939 marked the opening of the new $200,000 Greenville Municipal Auditorium and the celebration of Harrell’s recent contract with the Metropolitan Opera of New York City. The Dallas Morning News called the event the “most brilliant affair in Greenville society in years.” Sponsored by the Co-operative Concert Committee, the recital was attended by everybody who was anybody in the surrounding area.
For the first time in the city’s history, all municipal offices were under the same roof. The fire department and police department along with the new jail joined the mayor, city commissioners, and department heads on the ground floor. Above, on the second floor was the new auditorium, well planned and about to be known for its fine acoustics.
The building was a tribute to a large group of men who came together to apply for a grant and loan from the Federal government through the Public Works Administration. Turned down on the first round in 1933, the group led by Mayor A. S. Moore resubmitted the application in 1938. This time they were successful. Local architect William R. Ragsdale supervised the construction as he had done a decade earlier on the Hunt County Courthouse. All bills were paid on September 27, 1939. Ragsdale recommended the city accept the new building on October 9th. A little over two weeks later the festivities began.
Baritone Mack Harrell, who was raised in Greenville and returned to perform at the opening of the Greenville Municipal Auditorium
Harrell’s program consisted of twenty pieces by such composers as Handel, Mozart, Schubert, Wolf, Berber, and Schindler. Harrell began his musical career as a violinist, but was encouraged by his bride to focus on his outstanding voice. He chose to specialize in German Lieder music.
What makes all of this even more interesting is that the recital occurred less than two months after Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler invaded Poland and destroyed her army. World War I ended only twenty-one years earlier. During World War I, there were strong anti-German feelings throughout the United States that included boycotts of concerts with music by German composers. In 1939 were the same feelings prevalent in the United States?
At that time the United States was still recovering from the devastating economic disaster that had wrecked the nation for a decade or more. Americans focused more on their problems than those taking place in Europe. On September 5, 1939, the United States declared its neutrality with regard to European problems. However, sixteen days later the Neutrality Act was repealed and a Cash and Carry Plan was adopted that allowed the United States to provide Great Britain and France with arms and food.
Since 1900 public opinion had become an issue for most Western countries. While dictators still ruled, they watched the people over their shoulders. Public Opinion Polls were taken frequently here in America. The week of Harrell’s recital only 5% of those polled favored U. S. involvement in the European war militarily. At that time, Americans were satisfied with the Cash and Carry Plan. They could sit back and enjoy Mack Harrell’s recital with no ill feelings for their future foe.