Town Hall is on 123 West 43rd Street, between Broadway and Sixth Avenue near Times Square, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City.

[15] The main elevation of the facade, facing south on 43rd Street, is clad in brown brick with Flemish bond and is divided into three horizontal sections.

The eastern elevation is clad with common brick and originally was not visible from the street, but the site immediately to the east was redeveloped in the 1970s with an office building, which is set back from the curb.

The extreme ends of the facade, on either side of the blind arcade, contain metal double doors that lead to The Town Hall's backstage hallways.

[57][58] At a June 1920 dinner of the Economic Club, real-estate operator Joseph P. Day raised $7,500 in subscriptions for Town Hall, then tried to compel its attendees to give $100 each by locking them inside a dining room.

[59] Town Hall was dedicated on January 12, 1921, with 1,600 audience members listing to speeches by John J. Pershing and Henry Waters Taft.

[56] Town Hall acquired a property at 125 West 43rd Street in May 1930,[90] and architect Louis Jallade filed plans to expand the original structure by five stories, as well as develop a twelve-story wing at number 125.

[95][97] In 1934, Denny was inspired to create America's Town Meeting of the Air, a radio show to promote the free exchange of ideas; it became the first public-affairs media program.

[37] To raise money, in 1966, NYU leased some air rights above Town Hall to the Durst Organization, developer of the neighboring building at 1133 Avenue of the Americas, for $25,000 a year.

[152][153] With Town Hall's annual operating costs ranging from $50,000 to $100,000, NYU's board of trustees voted in February 1978 to close the auditorium within six months.

[152][174] The mortgage ultimately came from Apple Bank chairman Jerome McDougal, who, as a child, had performed in a brass band at Town Hall.

Because of the landmark status of the building, the seats were restored to their original condition rather than being replaced, while the rear wall was coated in wash to preserve the acoustics.

[152] The foundation also wanted to produce its own events, so it started raising funds for a sound system, and it also sought to create a chamber orchestra and host a festival of foreign films.

[201] Singer and actor Paul Robeson first performed Black spiritual songs at the Town Hall in 1927,[202][203] guitarist Andrés Segovia first gave a recital in 1929,[4][204] and Richard Tauber made his American premiere there in 1931.

[205] In its first decade, the Town Hall's other events included Edna St. Vincent Millay's public poetry reading debut in 1928[206][207] and a screening of amateur films in 1929.

[228] One such concert by Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Don Byas, Al Haig, Curley Russell, Max Roach, and Sid Catlett on June 22, 1945,[229] was the first public performance of the jazz style that came to be known as bebop.

[237] The events in 1958 included Betty Allen's first New York City performance;[238] the American Opera Society's presentation of The Coronation of Poppea;[239] and the 25th Year Retrospective Concert of the music of John Cage.

[242] Shows in the 1960s included a benefit for the Morningside Mental Hygiene Clinic in 1960,[243] Bob Dylan's large-concert debut in 1963,[244] and a Coretta Scott King Freedom Concert in 1964.

[247] A panel debate between Norman Mailer and feminist activists Jacqueline Caballos, Jill Johnston, Diana Trilling, and Germaine Greer took place on April 30, 1971.

[153] The cast of the folk music mockumentary film A Mighty Wind performed in character at the Town Hall in September 2003 as part of a seven-city tour.

[252] When hosted by Garrison Keillor, the radio show A Prairie Home Companion was often broadcast live from the Town Hall in its New York appearances while on tour.

[61][66] Lady Astor, the first woman to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, spoke at Town Hall in its early years,[260] as did social reformer Jane Addams.

[261] The authors Edna Ferber, Henry James, Thomas Mann, and Carl Sandburg have also spoken at Town Hall,[262] as well as politicians including U.S. presidents Calvin Coolidge, Theodore Roosevelt, and Woodrow Wilson, and British prime minister Winston Churchill.

[195] Notable speeches have included a lecture on November 13, 1921, birth control advocate Margaret Sanger was arrested and carried off the stage after attempting to speak to a mixed-sex audience about contraception.

[265] In 1960, former U.S. first lady Eleanor Roosevelt spoke at Town Hall to promote Adlai E. Stevenson II's presidential campaign,[266] and an Africa Freedom Day rally was held.

[267] Town Hall also hosted what The New York Times described as "musical lectures", including an event in which Thomas Beecham spoke while playing the piano.

[157] When America's Town Meeting of the Air was broadcast from 1935 to 1956, each episode generally included a set of brief remarks on a predetermined topic from four speakers, followed by short questions from audience members.

[274] Other episodes of the 1940s included discussions on racial issues, with both Langston Hughes[275] and Clare Boothe Luce;[276] preventing world famine;[277] the legality of communism, with Joseph McCarthy;[4][278] and dependency on welfare, with Hubert Humphrey.

[284] Town Hall also began offering courses for adults in topics such as national politics, writing, philosophy, psychology, and world affairs in 1944.

Past participants in the series include The Art Ensemble of Chicago, the Lounge Lizards, Cassandra Wilson, Meredith Monk, and Allen Ginsberg.