Courtesy of Little Pilgrimages of Old New England Inns by Mary Ann Crawford

1850

1880

Photo courtesy of New Haven Colony Historical Society

1883

1884

1886

1887

Courtesy of EBay

1888

Courtesy of Blacks at Harvard: A Documentary History of African-American Experience At Harvard and Radcliffe by Werner Sollors

1892

Photo courtesy of New Haven Colony Historical Society

Courtesy of New Haven Guide to Architecture and Urban Design by E.M. Brown

1894

Vanderbilt Hall (the view facing the Hyperion Theatre), photo courtesy Yale University Manuscripts & Archives digital images database

1895

1901

An overview of New Haven Green that is decorated for the bicentennial celebration of the founding of Yale University. (Photo by Schenectady Museum; Hall of Electrical History Foundation/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)

President Theodore Roosevelt and Yale President Arthur Twining Hadley leading the university’s bicentennial procession, New Haven, Connecticut, October 20, 1901. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images).

President Theodore Roosevelt at Yale University, 20th, United States, New York Public Library, . (Photo by: Photo12/UIG via Getty Images)

Courtesy of David Fear’s Mark Twain Day by Day

**Mark Twain regarding Arthur Twining Hadley, then president of Yale:** Now there’s a very remarkable man. I’ll never forget what he said about me, the day I was invited by Yale to come up and be given a degree. The great platform was filled with men to be honored. Our writer group was put somewhat upstage. Quite a few of the boys were there, Howells, Cable and other writers I knew; and as each was called down to receive his degree, President Hadley in a few words gave a most wonderful summing up of the character and achievements of each. As each came back, he’d whisper to me: ‘Sam, what will Hadley say about you and your dark and checkered career?’ They made me so nervous I couldn’t sit still. At last my turn came. Downstage I walked. When an official called the name of Samuel Clemens, the New Haven boys all rose to their feet and made quite a noise. When at last it was over, Hadley declared: ‘After this demonstration, anything I could say would be useless.’ Hooded and honored I came back without knowing what Hadley had meant to say. I was disappointed and so were the boys. But one of them told me, at the end of the ceremonies that day: ‘Sam, every speech that Hadley made was written ahead in a little book, which is in the hands of his secretary, that young woman over there.’ Eagerly I went to her and never have I flattered a female as I did that young woman that day. At last she let me see the book. As I turned the pages, every speech exactly as it had been spoken was there. Faster I turned them with feverish hands! And on the last page I read these lines: ‘Samuel Clemens. After this demonstration anything I could say would be useless.’ **– quoted in The Bridge by Ernest Poole, p. 172.**

Celebrating Yale’s bicentennial with lights strung on the New Haven Green, photo courtesy of Yale Library

1902

Courtesy of The Julius Cahn-Gus Hill Theatrical Guide and Moving Picture Directory, Volume 4 By Gus Hill, Julius Cahn

1903

Hyperion Theatre program, photo courtesy of New Haven Colony Historical Society / Yale library

1904

“The Hyp,” courtesy of Yale College Class Book

1908

People standing on Chapel Street (Hyperion Theatre,) photo courtesy Yale University Manuscripts & Archives digital images database

1910

Hyperion Theatre, CT historical society photo

Hyperion Theatre antique wood cigar box by JP Kilfeather New Haven. Photos courtesy of eBay

1911

Courtesy of Mae West: It Ain’t No Sin by Simon Louvish

1912

1916

Courtesy of eBay

1917

The Hyperion, Chapel Street, photo courtesy of New Haven Colony Historical Society / Yale library

1919

George B. Bunnell advertisement for Hyperion, photo courtesy of New Haven Colony Historical Society / Yale library

1923

Drawing of theater facade by Anthony F. Dumas, courtesy of Library of Congress

1928

When the City Was a Silver Screen by Richard Kim, The New Journal at Yale

1933

“With the Shubert Theater and the Roger Sherman both fronting on College Street, this block became the core of the New Haven theater area. In 1929 the Crown Theater was constructed around the corner on Crown Street and in 1933 the entrance to the Hyperion was moved from Chapel to College Street so that it could compete more readily with the Roger Sherman. The interior remodelling of the Hyperion emphasized the screen over the stage. Part of the reason behind this costly renovation effort was the growing popularity of movies, but also it was the result of competition.” – Chapel Street Historic District nomination form