Before it Was - Imperial Centre

Today, the Imperial Centre for the Arts and Sciences is a familiar part of downtown Rocky Mount. Its galleries, theatre, Children's Museum & Science Center and community programs bring people through its doors throughout the year.

But long before families explored the museum or audiences gathered for a show, these buildings served a very different purpose.

Before it was the Imperial Centre, this was part of Rocky Mount's tobacco industry.

Before the Arts, There Was Tobacco

The story of the property stretches back to the early 1900s, when the Imperial Tobacco Company established its Rocky Mount operation.

The Imperial Tobacco Company established its Rocky Mount plant in 1903, with the complex expanding over the years. For decades, the facility was used to process and pack tobacco for shipment, connecting the property to an industry that played a major role in Rocky Mount and eastern North Carolina. The operation continued through the 1960s.

The buildings were designed for industry, with load-bearing brick, heavy timber construction and other features characteristic of manufacturing facilities of the period.

More than a century later, pieces of that industrial past are still part of the Imperial Centre visitors see today.

During the property's rehabilitation, historic elements were incorporated into the new design rather than completely covered or removed. Original brick and metalwork from the Imperial Tobacco Company remain visible throughout the Imperial Centre, preserving a physical connection to the building's former use.

But the tobacco complex isn't the only historic property incorporated into today's Imperial Centre.

Another Piece of Rocky Mount History

Adjacent to the former tobacco property stood the Thomas Hackney Braswell Memorial Library.

The original portion of the library was constructed in 1923 after Dr. Mark Russell Braswell provided the land and funding for its construction in memory of his son, Thomas Hackney Braswell.

For decades, the tobacco operation and library served very different purposes.

Eventually, they would become part of the same vision.

But to understand how that happened, you have to look at another part of Rocky Mount's history.

Rocky Mount's Arts Community Had Another Home

The Arts Center existed long before the Imperial Centre.

Its history dates to 1957, when a group of local residents came together around the idea that Rocky Mount needed a place where people could learn, practice and exhibit different forms of art.

The effort eventually gained support from the City of Rocky Mount.

The City purchased an abandoned Atlantic Coast Line Railroad water tank and pump house and transformed the structures for cultural use.

The former water tank was converted into a three-story facility with gallery, office, theatre and classroom space, while the pump house provided additional room for classes.

The first floor was completed in 1963, and the "tank" opened that May as the permanent home of the Rocky Mount Arts Center.

For decades, Rocky Mount's cultural organizations operated from locations separate from the Imperial Tobacco property.

Then, in 1999, the city faced an unexpected need for a new home.

A New Need, A Historic Solution

In September 1999, Hurricane Floyd brought devastating flooding to Rocky Mount, severely impacting the facilities that housed the city's Arts Center and Children's Museum.

In the aftermath, the city needed a new home for these longtime cultural institutions.

That search led to a different piece of Rocky Mount history: the existing former Imperial Tobacco Company property and adjacent Thomas Hackney Braswell Memorial Library in downtown Rocky Mount.

Rather than constructing an entirely new facility, the city chose to rehabilitate and adapt these historic buildings for a new purpose.

The former tobacco complex wasn't recreated. Its existing historic character became part of the project.

Original brick, metalwork and other industrial details were preserved as the property was transformed from a place once associated with tobacco processing into a center for arts, science and community programming.

The Imperial Centre Takes Shape

The rehabilitation brought together pieces of Rocky Mount's history that had previously been separate—the former Imperial Tobacco Company complex, the Braswell Memorial Library and cultural organizations that needed a new home.

The Imperial Centre for the Arts and Sciences opened in January 2006.

Today, the complex is home to the Arts Center, Children's Museum & Science Center and Community Theatre, giving the historic property a purpose very different from the one it had more than a century ago.

But its past hasn't disappeared.

Look around the Imperial Centre and you'll still find reminders of the building's industrial beginnings. The exposed brick and preserved architectural details help tell the story of what occupied this property long before it became a cultural destination.

That's what makes the Imperial Centre an interesting piece of downtown Rocky Mount history.

It isn't simply a new facility built where an old tobacco plant once stood.

The old buildings became part of the new story.

What once served Rocky Mount's tobacco industry was preserved and adapted into a place centered around arts, education, science and community—a connection between the city's past and what the property has become today.

Visit the Imperial Centre for the Arts and Sciences at 270 Gay Street in downtown Rocky Mount.