Famous people's places / Detroit – Downtown
Temple Theatre
Closed – archive entry · 1930
Vaudeville house on Monroe Street opened in 1901 as part of the Wonderland entertainment complex, Harry Houdini's most frequent Detroit stage, later demolished for downtown redevelopment.
01 / The story of this place
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The Temple Theatre opened on December 23, 1901, on Monroe Street as part of an entertainment complex built around the Wonderland dime museum, with the theater portion later becoming a stop on the B. F. Keith vaudeville circuit. Its stage hosted many of the era's biggest touring acts, including Will Rogers, Buster Keaton, George Burns, Jack Benny and W. C. Fields, but no performer appeared here more often than escape artist Harry Houdini, who played the Temple repeatedly, including during his famous 1906 bridge jump into the Detroit River while he was booked at the theater. The Temple closed around 1930 as vaudeville declined and downtown Detroit's entertainment district shifted toward larger movie palaces. The building was later demolished, and the site on Monroe Street, next to today's Detroit Opera House, now forms part of the One Campus Martius development. No trace of the theater remains today.
- Opened December 23, 1901, on Monroe Street
- Part of the Wonderland entertainment complex; later a B. F. Keith vaudeville house
- Harry Houdini's most frequent Detroit stage
- Closed around 1930 as vaudeville declined
- Site now part of One Campus Martius, next to the Detroit Opera House
Famous Detroiters
Famous people tied to this place 1
Lexicon entries for the people who lived, worked, performed or liked to spend time here.
- Harry Houdini 1874–1926 · illusionist, escape artist, stage and film performer
Performed here
Keith's vaudeville house, Houdini's most frequent Detroit stage; he was playing here during the 1906 bridge jump. The site is now part of One Campus Martius.
Sources & fact check · Checked: 2026-09-25
An independently written bilingual guide. This collection is not an attendance-based ranking.
03 / Events
Events at this place
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We have no published upcoming events linked to this place yet. That does not mean the venue has no events; check its official calendar too.
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