Carolina Civic Center Historic Theater

Business Hours

About

Located in the heart of historic downtown Lumberton, the Carolina Civic Center facility opened its doors for the first time on June 18, 1928.  Then known as the Carolina Theatre, a vaudeville and silent film house owned by the Lumberton Theatre Company, it served the City of Lumberton and Robeson County as the area’s primary cultural arts center for more than four decades.  With the nationwide flight from downtown areas during the late 1960’s and 1970’s, the Carolina Theatre closed its doors for business in 1975. Averting plans to demolish the theater and replace it with a parking lot, a determined effort to save the historic structure by a group of local citizens resulted in the facility reopening June 18, 1985 as the Carolina Civic Center.

The Civic Center, largely underutilized for the past decade due to deterioration of the building, reopened to the public in February 2009, following a two-year, $2 million major renovation and upgrade project supported by public and private funding.  The facility, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, re-opened February 2009 with a full season of its own performances and rentals.

Film returned to the theater late summer 2009; Go to the “Events” page and calendar to see our programming of films and live performances!

The mission of the Carolina Civic Center is to strive to offer our town and surrounding areas a diverse cultural experience within its historical building. The mission statement of the Carolina Civic Center includes:

presenting culturally and racially diverse quality programming
providing educational opportunities and training in the fine arts
producing performing arts programs for the community
participating in downtown and community economic development and tourism