Grand Ole Opry House Celebrates Golden Anniversary

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Pictured (L-R, back row): Steve Gatlin, Don Schlitz, Del McCoury, Douglas B. Green, Woody Paul, Joey Miskulin, Fred LaBour, Mark Wills, Jamie Dailey, T Graham Brown, Gary Mule Deer and Clint Black; (L-R, front row): Larry Gatlin, Rudy Gatlin, Jeannie Seely, Bill Anderson, Connie Smith, Mandy Barnett and Crystal Gayle. Photo: Chris Hollo

The Grand Ole Opry House celebrated its landmark 50th anniversary over the weekend on March 16, 50 years to the day since the venue first opened with a star-packed show attended by President and Mrs. Richard Nixon.

The special anniversary show opened with the night’s cast on stage performing Roy Acuff’s “Wabash Cannonball” followed by Opry member Mark Wills kicking things off with an all-cast performance of “Country Roads, Take Me Home,” saying, “Here’s to all those city streets and country roads that week after week, year after year lead us back to our musical home, the Grand Ole Opry House.”

Throughout the evening, the Opry honored members Bill Anderson, Jeannie Seely and Connie Smith, all of whom who were among those performing during opening night at the Opry House in 1974. Wills and those Opry honorees were joined on stage by Opry members Mandy Barnett, Clint Black, Jamie Dailey (of Dailey & Vincent), The Gatlin Brothers, Crystal Gayle, Del McCoury, Gary Mule Deer, Don Schlitz and Riders In The Sky. T Graham Brown, who was invited to become an official Opry member in February and will be inducted this spring, also joined the all-member cast. Black closed out the celebratory night with his “This Old House,” with fellow Opry members joining in as iconic photos from the Opry House’s five decades rolled on the Opry set behind them.

Opry cast March 16, 1974 with President Nixon. Photo: Les Levertt

The Opry House is the current ACM Theater of the Year, and was just named the South’s Best Music Venue in Tennessee in Southern Living’s reader-voted 2024 South’s Best Awards (April 2024 issue). It’s also included on this list of The Best Local Treasures in Every Southern State. In recognition of its effect on popular culture, entertainment and the communications industry, the Opry House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

On March 16, 1974, Acuff opened the first show in the brand new 4,400 seat Grand Ole Opry House in front of a standing-room-only audience attended by President and Mrs. Richard Nixon and other VIP guests. The evening marked the first time a U.S. president had ever attended the Opry, and Nixon still stands as the only president ever to have performed on the Opry stage, playing “My Wild Irish Rose” and “God Bless America” on the upright piano in addition to “Happy Birthday” in honor of First Lady Pat Nixon, who was celebrating her birthday that night.

The Grand Ole Opry House is the Opry’s sixth home. It is also the only home built specifically for the Opry and the residence the Opry has called home the longest. Since that first night on March 16, 1974, the Opry House has been witness to the Opry’s first live television broadcast and its first internet stream; its 5000th Saturday night broadcast; and countless “Opry moments” including debut performances, surprise superstar appearances, once-in-a-lifetime artist collaborations, and Opry member inductions. The Opry House’s 50th anniversary comes just one year before a celebration of the Opry’s milestone 100th year on the air.

Lorie Hollabaugh
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