Robert T. Motts

CTL-E-6123 · Person · other · 1861–1911

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07338 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6123.

Robert T. Motts was a Chicago saloon owner, gambling figure and Republican Party organizer who founded the Pekin Theatre, the Black-owned musical and vaudeville house at 27th and State Street on Chicago's Near South Side. Born June 24, 1861, in Iowa, he left home at eighteen for St. Louis and then Chicago, worked odd jobs and as a coachman, and after the 1893 World's Fair invested in the saloon at 2700 State Street, eventually buying out his partners. Answering a 1901 call by Black businessmen for a Chicago theater controlled by Black people, and inspired, in one account, by a 1901 visit to a Paris music hall, he converted his Pekin saloon and restaurant into the Pekin Theatre, the 'Temple of Music.' It opened its first all-Black show on June 18, 1905, to an estimated crowd of 400. After a 1906 fire he rebuilt it as the New Pekin, raising capacity from 400 to 1,200, with an all-Black stock company and staff presenting original musical comedies. Thomas Bauman's University of Illinois Press study calls the Pekin Chicago's first Black-owned theater in its title. Motts died July 11, 1911, in Chicago, aged fifty.

The record

• Also known as: Bob Motts

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Scan Tail Wave 4 — 747 Program, Wave 11; fourth Scan Tail packet at the founder's 40-record size). Gate A (2026-10-16): no Robert T. Motts entity in the live graph at 3,763 entities (exact / normalized / alias match + token containment; CLEAR). ID CTL-E-6123 free. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Tier 4 — scan tail tranche #2051–#2700 of corpus-gap-candidates-2026-10-15.json, ranked clean survivor #2177 (beyond the #2050 point where Wave 3 screening stopped). The scan supplied the NAME STRING ONLY; no fact in this record is sourced to it (CTL-GOV-004). SCOPE GATE: PASS — Core Black Chicago record under BCI-001/PPL-001; founder of the Pekin Theatre (CTL-E-0859). Vital status: Deceased — born June 24, 1861, Iowa; died July 11, 1911, Chicago, Illinois, aged 50 (Wikipedia, accessed 2026-10-16, citing the Chicago Whip and Cook County deaths index; death year corroborated by BlackPast's 1905–1911 theater span and the Registry's 'until his passing in 1911'). STATISTICS — STATISTICS (sourced, dated): Pekin opening crowd estimated at 400 patrons (BlackPast, accessed 2026-10-16); capacity raised from 400 to 1,200 after the 1906 fire and rebuild (African American Registry, accessed 2026-10-16). Motts: born June 24, 1861, died July 11, 1911, aged 50 (Wikipedia). CONFLICT SHOWN, NOT BLENDED: Pekin opening year in Thomas Bauman book synopses in search results gives 1904 for Motts opening the theater, against June 18, 1905 in BlackPast and the African American Registry — 1905, the dated first-show account, is recorded. MEDIA: photo HELD (Pekin Theatre promotional flyer / 'Pekin Rag Intermezzo' score cover illustrated on the African American Registry Pekin Theatre page — for a later PHOTO-001 pass to verify creator, rights and credit; no license claimed. — named candidate only; file-level rights verification per CTL-PHOTO-001 still required; no license claimed); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-6123-robert-t-motts.svg); video HELD (no matching-entity CTL Short or verified-rights archival video staged); audio HELD (no rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged); map N/A (person record). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Persons carry no map in the packet standard.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created chart (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced statistics and timeline fact) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short or verified-rights archival video staged.) | audio = HELD (No rights-cleared matching-entity audio staged.)

Sources

• BlackPast.org, "The Pekin Theater (1905–1911)" (published 2014-06-03; accessed 2026-10-16) — Iowa native Robert T. Motts turned his hotel/gambling saloon into the Pekin at 27th and State; opened first all-Black show ever produced in Chicago June 18, 1905 to an estimated 400; 1901 call for a colored theater controlled by colored people; 1906 transformation to New Pekin and Pekin Stock Company; first theater in the city to feature Black performers (as framed there) — https://blackpast.org/african-american-history/pekin-theater-1905-1911/ (primary source · build store)
• African American Registry, "The Pekin Theatre (Chicago) Opens" (accessed 2026-10-16) — established June 18, 1905; one of the first Black-owned musical and vaudeville stock theatres in the United States; Motts founded it after a 1901 Paris Café Chantant trip (as stated there); converted saloon/restaurant at 27th and State in 1905; after 1906 fire capacity raised 400 to 1,200, New Pekin reopened March 31, 1906; Pekin thrived under Motts until his passing in 1911 — https://aaregistry.org/story/the-pekin-theatre-opens/ (primary source · build store)
• Wikipedia, "Robert T. Motts" (accessed 2026-10-16) — born June 24, 1861, Iowa; died July 11, 1911 (aged 50), Chicago, of splenic leucemia (as spelled there); saloon owner who established and managed the Pekin Theatre; invested in 2700 State Street saloon after the 1893 World's Fair and bought out partners; funeral at Quinn Chapel, interred Washington, Iowa — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_T._Motts (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6123 · Combined Graph record U-07338 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources.
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