1876: Cincinnati architect Samuel Hannaford gets the contract to build Music Hall, which will cost $446,000

1878: Music Hall is dedicated; the May Festival opens its third season under maestro Theodore Thomas

1879: Machinery Hall (north wing) and Art Hall (south wing) are added

1880: The Democratic National Convention at Music Hall nominates Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock for President

1883: Thomas Edison wins a gold medal for best incandescent light at the 11th Industrial Exposition

1882-86: Home of the Art Museum

1886-90: Home of the Technical School of Cincinnati (later University of Cincinnati College of Engineering)

1896: Renovations include a stage with proscenium arch, electric lighting and steam heat, to prepare a home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra

1900: Appearance by John Phillip Sousa with his Concert Band

1904: Composer Richard Strauss conducts his Don Juan and Death and Transfiguration at the CSO

1907: Visiting orchestras from Chicago, Pittsburgh, Boston and New York fill the season because the CSO has temporarily disbanded

1910: President William Howard Taft attends the May Festival; Sergei Rachmaninoff plays his Piano Concerto No. 2 with the CSO.

1912-36: The CSO temporarily moves out of Music Hall to Emery Auditorium

1918: U.S. and Allied Governments' War Exposition

1927: North and south wings are expanded, including the new Topper Club Ballroom (called Graystone Ballroom for African-Americans)

1931: Society of American Florists and Ornamental Horticulturists hold the National Flower and Garden Show

1937: Deemed a fire hazard, Music Hall is almost razed, but instead is remodeled and updated. Opera superstars Kirsten Flagstad and Lauritz Melchoir, the world's greatest heldentenor, appear at the May Festival

1941: City buys back Music Hall when Music Hall Association goes bankrupt

1942: Violinist Isaac Stern, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky and composer Darius Milhaud appear with the CSO

1943: CSO commissions fanfares in honor of the war effort, starting with Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man. Arturo Toscanini guest conducts the CSO

1946: Wrestling, boxing and the UC Bearcats basketball team are among the sports attractions in the north wing

1954: WCET-TV makes its debut broadcast from the third floor (Dexter Hall)

1964: The Corbett Foundation, led by J. Ralph and Patricia Corbett, funds rebuilding of the backstage area, beginning nearly 40 years of Music Hall improvements by the Corbetts

1966: Cincinnati Civic Ballet's first performance (later Cincinnati Ballet)

1969: Offices, library, Green Room, new seating, escalators, air-conditioning and Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers are added

1972: Cincinnati Opera moves from the Zoo, opening with Boito's Mefistofele, starring Norman Treigle; Beverly Sills stars in La Traviata. At the Pops, it's Ella Fitzgerald, Roberta Flack and Lou Rawls.

1973: Soprano Kathleen Battle makes her debut in the May Festival's 100th anniversary season; Leonard Bernstein is honorary music director

1974: New seating and a new Baldwin electronic organ are installed; first Nutcracker by Cincinnati Ballet; Jimmy Buffett, cool jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and diva Maria Callas are among the season's performers; James Levine becomes music director of the May Festival

1975: Designated a National Historic Landmark

1977: Sarah Caldwell is the first woman to conduct in Music Hall at the CSO

1978: The U.S. Postal service issues commemorative Music Hall postcard for Music Hall's Centennial; Cincinnati Opera tapes the opera The Elixir of Love for PBS; Luciano Pavarotti gives a recital

1981: Appearances by Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, B.B. King and Bruce Springsteen

1984: Cincinnati Opera introduces "SurCaps" above the stage.

1987: Girl singer Rosemary Clooney, dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and magician David Copperfield are among the stars

1993: Singer Frank Sinatra, guitarist Chet Atkins and comedians Jerry Seinfeld, Tim Allen and Milton Berle perform

1996: Tenor Jose Carreras gives a recital; the Isley Brothers visit

1998: Music Hall Ballroom gets a $1.8 million facelift

2002: Cincinnati Opera begins renovating the north wing, to become Corbett Opera Center

Sources: The Society for the Preservation of Music Hall, Ashley L. Ford, Enquirer files