John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026

Lecture Tour of America 1882

Writing and Research on Oscar Wilde

Memphis

Tennessee

Leubrie's Theatre

Monday, June 12, 1882

The Decorative Arts

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The Milan Exchange, June 17, 1882, 4

Verification

Newspaper reports

Public Ledger, (Memphis, TN), June 14, 1882, 4

The Milan Exchange, June 17, 1882, 4

The Newark Advocate (Newark, OH), June 17, 1882, 2

Venue

Leubrie's Theatre

82 Jefferson Avenue, Memphis, TN

Built: 1857 (James Wickersham)

Leubrie's Theatre: 1880-c. 1886 (Ellis and Louis Leubrie)

Partially destroyed (fire): September 1891, closed as a theatre

The theater at this location had various names including Crisp's Gaiety, Memphis Theatre, Leubrie's Theatre, and New Memphis Theatre. For a full chronology see Historic Memphis.

Accommodation

Gaston's European Hotel

31 & 33 Court Street, Memphis, TN (now 107-111 S. Court Ave., adjacent to the D.T. Porter Building)

Began: 1867, nearby as an eating establishment (John Gaston)

Hotel opened: 1878

Name changed: 1883 (Gaston's Hotel)

Closed: c. 1916

Ephemera

Wilde, servant and manager listed at bottom.

Gaston's to the left of the taller Porter building on the South side of Court Square (1910)

John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026