The Ramsdell Theatre is a historic playhouse theater building and opera house at 101 Maple Street in downtown Manistee, Michigan.

The building was financed by local businessman and politician Thomas Jefferson Ramsdell and was built in 1902.

James Earl Jones started his acting career at the theater as an actor and stage manager.

The Ramsdell Theatre, characterized by the Society of Architectural Historians' Archipedia as "the finest of several opera houses built in small Michigan cities at the turn of the twentieth century",[2] was constructed between 1902 and 1903, paid for by the town's only lawyer Thomas Jefferson Ramsdell at a cost of $100,000,[3] equivalent to $3,131,923 in 2021.

[1] The front is a design of red brick with Doric columns that support the flat portico over the building's main entryway.

[3] The building has a hipped roof, with a closely spaced teeth-like block modillion cornice, a decorated colonnaded porch, an overarched entrance, ornamental brick panels, and an interior dome mural.

The seating has been cut back to 489 from its original capacity of 1200, one reason being the upper balcony has been closed-off to the public because of fire safety.

[3] The auditorium has been altered more than the outside of the building, the major difference in the present interior being the addition of a projection booth in the middle of the top balcony.

[4]: 48  Though the specific date the booth was constructed is unknown, it was built sometime before April 1925 — a 2012 article in The Manistee News Advocate quotes its April 8 edition: "The Ramsdell has been equipped with two of the latest type motion projection machines and they are already in place in a fireproof room at the rear of the balcony.

Burridge was a notable artist who painted theatrical scenery for plays and opera companies throughout the United States.

The lobby scenes depict women listening to a young musician and the dome in the house shows Venus, ringed by cherubs and riding a chariot through the sky.

[3] The neighboring Assembly Hall was finished in 1901 before the Theatre and an opening ball was held in December 1902 by the local Manistee Retail Clerk's Union.

The Ramsdell Governance Committee was formed in 2005 by the business people of Manistee and the city took over the responsibility for the building in 2006.