[2] In 1924 Mr. and Mrs. William H. Murphy gifted a large 4-manual, 72-rank, 4,355-pipe Casavant Frères organ to the DSO and Orchestra Hall "so long as the society remained integrally what it was".

For ten years Orchestra Hall presented jazz artists under the name Paradise Theater, opening on Christmas Eve 1941.

The Paradise hosted the most renowned jazz musicians, including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington.

[5] The Paradise closed in 1951 and now Orchestra Hall sat vacant for nearly twenty years until the late 1960s when it was slated for demolition and the land used to construct a restaurant.

Paul Ganson, the assistant principal bassoonist of the DSO, spearheaded a movement to rediscover the hall and raise funds to restore it.

The original building required extensive renovations including: a new stage, all new seating, plaster and lath work, and restoration of historical decorations.